Dr. Matthew Biwer, Anthropology and Archaeology
Environmental Archeology
During the 2022 Valley and Ridge workshop, I focused on redesigning a semester-long assignment for my ANTH/ARCH 260 “Environmental Archaeology” course. Previously, students identified an archaeological case study that revolves around ancient human-environment interactions, conducted background research, and provided a presentation of their findings at the end of the course. The course emphasizes anthropogenic change in the past, or the ways in which humans directly impacted environments, climate, and landscapes, as seen through the archaeological record. The assignment previously did not consider sustainability in a major way, but instead focused on how humans had impacted ancient environments and what the outcomes were.
By participating in the workshop, I gained familiarity with sustainability concepts and vocabulary and considered the various ways that archaeological research is directly relevant to modern sustainability, including social, economic, political, and environmental issues. In particular, I found the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SGDs) as a useful way for students to identify a modern sustainability issue that is important to them and then conduct research to identify how archaeology might provide a useful perspective on the issue. For example, a student might choose to investigate how ancient people impacted and responded to climate change in the past and how an archaeological perspective has bearing on the issue today. Students might also consider how archaeological studies intersect with indigenous perspectives, decolonization, and issues of heritage as related to sustainability. Ultimately, students make a recommendation on how an archaeological perspective might improve the modern-day problem. This assignment orients archaeology as relevant to myriad sustainability issues today and how an archaeological perspective has bearing on how we may address these issues. In the future, I hope to integrate place-based learning into the course so that students can gain a local perspective of sustainability in its many forms.