Archaeology Major, B.A.
C. Margaret Scarry, Chair
Jennifer Gate-Foster, Director of Undergraduate Study
The undergraduate major in archaeology focuses on the systematic study of the human past through its material remains by means of the excavation, recovery, and interpretation of artifacts and other associated evidence.
Department Programs
Major
Minor
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the archaeology program, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of archaeological reasoning (the ability to analyze ancient material culture and archaeological contexts)
- Demonstrate appropriate skills of archaeological exposition
- Demonstrate proficiency in recovering and documenting a variety of forms of material culture and archaeological contexts
- Demonstrate the ability to utilize both data sets and theoretical frameworks for interpreting and reconstructing long-term human history
Requirements
In addition to the program requirements, students must
- attain a final cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
- complete a minimum of 45 academic credit hours earned from UNC–Chapel Hill courses
- take at least half of their major course requirements (courses and credit hours) at UNC–Chapel Hill
- earn a minimum of 18 hours of C or better in the major core requirements (some majors require 21 hours).
For more information, please consult the degree requirements section of the catalog.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Core Requirements | ||
| One course in the logic of archaeological inference: | 3 | |
| Principles of Archaeology | ||
| Archaeological Theory and Practice | ||
| Archaeological Field Methods | ||
| Two courses in archaeological practice. | 6-10 | |
One must be a laboratory course: | ||
| The Identification and Analysis of Historical Artifacts | ||
| Laboratory Methods in Archaeology H | ||
| Laboratory Methods: Archaeobotany and Archaeobotany Lab | ||
| Laboratory Methods: Human Osteology and Human Osteology Lab | ||
| Laboratory Methods: Zooarchaeology and Zooarchaeology Lab | ||
| Bioarchaeology | ||
| Laboratory Methods: Lithic Seminar and Lithic Analysis Lab | ||
| Laboratory Methods: Ceramic Analysis | ||
| Public Archaeology Practicum | ||
One must be a field school (may be satisfied with a minimum of 3 hours of transfer credit): | ||
| Field School in North American Archaeology H | ||
| Field School in South American Archaeology H | ||
| Field School in Classical Archaeology | ||
| One course in comparative perspectives from the following list: | 3 | |
| Ancient Cities of the Americas | ||
| Habitat and Humanity | ||
| Introduction to World Prehistory | ||
| Prehistoric Art | ||
| Archaeology and Ethnography of Small-Scale Societies | ||
| State Formation | ||
| Origins of Agriculture in the Ancient World | ||
| First-Year Seminar: Art in the Ancient City H | ||
| Ancient Cities H | ||
| Two courses in long-term history from the list below | 6 | |
| One course in topics in archaeology from the list below | 3 | |
| One elective course chosen from any of the courses/requirements listed above. Internship, independent research, directed readings, or honors thesis hours selected from ARCH 393, ARCH 395, ARCH 396, ARCH 691H, or ARCH 692H may be substituted for the elective. | 3 | |
| Two additional electives from related fields (see lists below). The elective courses are listed by potential student interest. Any two may be used to fulfill the major requirement. | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 30-34 | |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Additional Requirements
- In choosing their comparative perspectives, long-term history, and topics in archaeology courses students are required to select courses from at least two of the participating departments (art, anthropology, classics, and religious studies).
- Of the 30 hours required for the major, at least 21 must be completed with a grade of C or better.
- Students may count only three introductory archaeology courses (numbered below 200) toward their major. This restriction does not include courses used to fill electives in related fields.
- For transfer students, at least half of the coursework in the major must be completed within the curriculum at UNC–Chapel Hill.
Subject to the approval of the advisor for the major, students may count graduate seminars towards fulfillment of their comparative perspectives, long-term history, and topics in archaeology or electives requirements. Also subject to the approval of the archaeology major advisor, field schools sponsored by Study Abroad or other universities may be used to fulfill the archaeological practice field experience requirement.
Long-term History
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 148 | Human Origins | 3 |
| ANTH 231 | Archaeology of South America | 3 |
| ANTH 233 | Prehistory of Southwest Asia and Egypt: From the Earliest Humans to the Rise of Civilization | 3 |
| ANTH 250 | Archaeology of North America H | 3 |
| ANTH 457 | Perspectives in Historical Archaeology | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 262 | Art of Classical Greece | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 263 | Roman Art | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 460 | Greek Painting | 3 |
| CLAR 241 | Archaeology of Ancient Near East | 3 |
| CLAR 242 | Archaeology of Egypt | 3 |
| CLAR 244 | Greek Archaeology | 3 |
| CLAR 245 | Archaeology of Italy | 3 |
| CLAR 247 | Roman Archaeology | 3 |
| CLAR 268 | Hellenistic Art and Archaeology (350-31 BCE) | 3 |
| CLAR 480 | Egypt after the Pharaohs | 3 |
| CLAR 475 | Frontiers and Provinces of the Roman Empire | 3 |
| CLAR 561 | Mosaics: The Art of Mosaic in Greece, Rome, and Byzantium | 3 |
| CLAR/JWST/RELI 110 | The Archaeology of Palestine in the New Testament Period | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Topics in Archaeology
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST/ANTH 54 | First-Year Seminar: The Indians' New Worlds: Southeastern Histories from 1200 to 1800 | 3 |
| ANTH 50 | First-Year Seminar: Skeletons in the Closet | 3 |
| ANTH 60 | First-Year Seminar: Crisis & Resilience: Past and Future of Human Societies H | 3 |
| ANTH 64 | First-Year Seminar: Public Archaeology in Bronzeville, Chicago's Black Metropolis | 3 |
| ANTH 65 | First-Year Seminar: Humans and Animals: Anthropological Perspectives | 3 |
| ANTH 144 | Archaeology and the Media | 3 |
| ANTH 149 | Great Discoveries in Archaeology | 3 |
| ANTH 232 | Ancestral Maya Civilizations H | 3 |
| ANTH 252 | Archaeology of Food | 3 |
| ANTH 412 | Paleoanthropology | 3 |
| ANTH 420 | Public Archaeology | 3 |
| ANTH 423 | Written in Bone: CSI and the Science of Death Investigation from Skeletal Remains | 3 |
| ANTH 454 | The Archaeology of African Diasporas | 3 |
| ANTH 538 | Disease and Discrimination in Colonial Atlantic America | 3 |
| ANTH 550 | Archaeology of the American South | 3 |
| ANTH 650 | Reconstructing Life: Nutrition and Disease in Past Populations | 3 |
| ANTH 651 | Identity, Memory, and the Afterlife: The Space and Place of Death | 3 |
| ANTH 674 | Issues in Cultural Heritage | 3 |
| ANTH/ENEC 460 | Historical Ecology | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 455 | Ethnohistory | 3 |
| ANTH/GEOL 421 | Archaeological Geology | 3 |
| ANTH/WGST 458 | Archaeology of Sex and Gender | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 461 | Archaic Greek Sculpture | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 462 | Classical Greek Sculpture | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 463 | Hellenistic Greek Sculpture | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 464 | Greek Architecture | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 465 | Architecture of Etruria and Rome | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 474 | Roman Sculpture | 3 |
| ARTH/CLAR 476 | Roman Painting | 3 |
| CLAR 51 | First-Year Seminar: Who Owns the Past? H | 3 |
| CLAR 243 | Minoans and Mycenaeans: The Archaeology of Bronze Age Greece | 3 |
| CLAR 488 | The Archaeology of the Near East in the Iron Age | 3 |
| CLAR 489 | The Archaeology of Anatolia in the Bronze and Iron Ages | 3 |
| CLAR 491 | The Archaeology of Early Greece (1200-500 BCE) | 3 |
| CLAR/JWST/RELI 512 | Ancient Synagogues | 3 |
| CLAR/RELI 375 | Archaeology of Cult | 3 |
| CLAS 71 | First-Year Seminar: The Architecture of Empire H | 3 |
| LING 558 | Ancient Mayan Hieroglyphs | 3 |
| LING 560 | Mesoamerican Languages and Linguistics | 3 |
| LING 561 | Native Languages of the Americas | 3 |
| RELI 63 | First-Year Seminar: The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Electives–General Interest Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 143 | Human Evolution and Adaptation | 3 |
| ANTH 151 | Anthropological Perspectives on Food and Culture | 3 |
| ANTH 377 | European Societies | 3 |
| ANTH 438 | Religion, Nature, and Environment H | 3 |
| ANTH 452 | The Past in the Present | 3 |
| ANTH 459 | Ecological Anthropology | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 334 | Art, Nature, and Religion: Cross-Cultural Perspectives | 3 |
| ARTH 151 | History of Western Art I H | 3 |
| ARTH 152 | History of Western Art II H | 3 |
| ARTH 450 | The City as Monument H | 3 |
| ARTH 551 | Introduction to Museum Studies | 3 |
| ARTH 592 | History and Theory of Museums | 3 |
| ARTH/HIST 514 | Monuments and Memory | 3 |
| ARTS 213 | Ceramic I | 3 |
| BIOL/ENEC 461 | Fundamentals of Ecology | 4 |
| ENEC 201 | Introduction to Environment and Society H | 4 |
| ENEC 202 | Introduction to the Environmental Sciences | 4 |
| ENEC 308 | Environmental History | 3 |
| ENEC 479 | Landscape Analysis | 3 |
| ENEC/GEOL 417 | Geomorphology | 3 |
| GEOG 110 | The Blue Planet: An Introduction to Earth's Environmental Systems H | 3 |
| GEOG 111 | Weather and Climate | 3 |
| GEOG 123 | Cultural Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 125 | Cultural Landscapes | 3 |
| GEOG 228 | Urban Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 370 | Introduction to Geographic Information | 3 |
| GEOG 419 | Field Methods in Physical Geography | 3 |
| GEOG 444 | Landscape Biogeography | 3 |
| GEOG 597 | Ecological Modeling | 3 |
| GEOG/PLAN 491 | Introduction to GIS | 3 |
| GEOL 77 | First-Year Seminar: Volcanoes and Civilization: An Uneasy Coexistence | 3 |
| GEOL 101 | Planet Earth | 3 |
| GEOL 301 | Earth Materials: Minerals | 4 |
| GEOL 304 | Petrology and Plate Tectonics | 4 |
| GEOL 501 | Geological Research Techniques | 3 |
| HIST 514 | Monuments and Memory | 3 |
| HIST 671 | Introduction to Public History | 3 |
| RELI 438 | Religion, Nature, and Environment H | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Electives–Appropriate for Students Interested in Historical Archaeology
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AAAD 130 | Introduction to African American and Diaspora Studies | 3 |
| AAAD 211 | African Art and Culture | 3 |
| AAAD 231 | African American History since 1865 | 3 |
| AAAD 254 | African Americans in North Carolina | 3 |
| AAAD 232/WGST 266 | Black Women in America | 3 |
| AMST 102 | Myth and History in American Memory | 3 |
| AMST 210 | Approaches to Southern Studies: A Historical Analysis of the American South | 3 |
| AMST 475 | Documenting Communities H | 3 |
| AMST/FOLK 488 | No Place like Home: Material Culture of the American South | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 340 | Southern Styles, Southern Cultures | 4 |
| ARTH 156 | Introduction to Architecture H | 3 |
| ARTH 274 | European Baroque Art | 3 |
| ARTH 275 | 18th-Century Art | 3 |
| GEOG/FOLK 254 | American Historical Geographies | 3 |
| GEOG 261 | The South | 3 |
| GEOG 262 | Geography of North Carolina | 3 |
| HIST 107 | Medieval History | 3 |
| HIST 127 | American History to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 128 | American History since 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 278 | The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade H | 3 |
| HIST 366 | North Carolina History before 1865 | 3 |
| HIST 376 | History of African Americans to 1865 | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 385 | African American Women's History | 3 |
| HIST 516 | Historical Time H | 3 |
| HIST 531 | History of the Caribbean | 3 |
| HIST 534 | The African Diaspora | 3 |
| HIST 561 | The American Colonial Experience | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 568 | Women in the South | 3 |
| HIST 584 | The Promise of Urbanization: American Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Electives–Appropriate for Students Interested in the Archaeology of the Americas
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| AMST 203 | Approaches to American Indian Studies | 3 |
| AMST/ANTH/HIST 234 | Native American Tribal Studies H | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 110 | Introduction to the Cultures and Histories of Native North America | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 231 | Native American History: The East | 3 |
| AMST/HIST 233 | Native American History: The West | 3 |
| ANTH/FOLK 230 | Native American Cultures | 3 |
| ANTH/LING 303 | Native Languages of the Americas | 3 |
| ARTH 157 | Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture | 3 |
| ARTH 469 | Art of the Aztec Empire | 3 |
| GEOG 259 | Society and Environment in Latin America | 3 |
| GEOG 260 | North America's Landscapes | 3 |
| HIST 142 | Latin America under Colonial Rule | 3 |
| HIST 143 | Latin America since Independence | 3 |
| HIST 531 | History of the Caribbean | 3 |
| HIST/WGST 576 | The Ethnohistory of Native American Women | 3 |
| LTAM 411 | Summer Intensive Introductory Course in Yucatec Maya | 6 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Electives–Appropriate for Students Interested in the Archaeology of the Mediterranean and Ancient Near East
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| ARTH 467 | Celtic Art and Cultures | 3 |
| CLAS 71 | First-Year Seminar: The Architecture of Empire H | 3 |
| CLAS 73 | First-Year Seminar: Life in Ancient Pompeii H | 3 |
| CLAS 253 | The Age of Pericles H | 3 |
| CLAS 254 | Alexander and the Age of Hellenism | 3 |
| CLAS 257 | The Age of Augustus H | 3 |
| CLAS 258 | The Age of the Early Roman Empire | 3 |
| CLAS/WGST 240 | Women in Greek Art and Literature H | 3 |
| CLAS/WGST 241 | Women in Ancient Rome H | 3 |
| FOLK/RELI 502 | Myths and Epics of the Ancient Near East H | 3 |
| HIST 225 | History of Greece | 3 |
| HIST 226 | History of Rome | 3 |
| HIST 423 | Archaic Greece, 800-480 BCE | 3 |
| HIST 424 | Classical Greece (Sixth-Fourth Centuries BCE) | 3 |
| HIST 425 | Roman History, 154 BCE-14 CE | 3 |
| HIST 427 | The Early Roman Empire, 14 CE-193 CE | 3 |
| HIST 428 | The Later Roman Empire, 193 CE-378 CE | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 421 | Alexander | 3 |
| HIST/PWAD 422 | Ancient Greek Warfare H | 3 |
| JWST/RELI 103 | Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Literature H | 3 |
| JWST/RELI 106 | Introduction to Early Judaism | 3 |
| JWST/RELI 503 | Exploring the Dead Sea Scrolls H | 3 |
| RELI 104 | Introduction to the New Testament H | 3 |
| RELI 105 | Religions of the Greco-Roman World | 3 |
| RELI 109 | History and Culture of Ancient Israel H | 3 |
| RELI 117 | Culture of the Ancient Near East | 3 |
| H | Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply. |
Special Opportunities in Archaeology
Honors in Archaeology
Students with a grade point average of 3.3 or higher are eligible to pursue a degree with honors. A student who wishes to take this track should identify and contact a faculty thesis advisor before the end of the junior year. During the senior year the student enrolls in a two-semester course sequence, ARCH 691H and ARCH 692H, which provides the opportunity to carry out an independent research project and write a thesis under the direction of the faculty advisor. Prior to registering for the honors courses, the student and faculty mentor must fill out a contract and have it signed by the curriculum’s director of undergraduate studies. The thesis is evaluated by a committee consisting of the advisor and two readers. The advisor and at least one reader must be members of the Curriculum in Archaeology’s faculty. A student who successfully completes the thesis may be awarded honors or highest honors by the committee. Highest honors is awarded only in cases where the thesis is judged to be exceptional in comparison to other such works.
Research Laboratories of Archaeology
Founded in 1939, the Research Laboratories of Archaeology (RLA) was the first center for the study of North Carolina archaeology. Serving the interests of students, scholars, and the general public, it is currently one of the leading institutes for archaeological teaching and research in the South. Located within the College of Arts and Sciences, it provides support and research opportunities for UNC–Chapel Hill students working not only in North Carolina but also throughout the Americas and overseas.
Duke–UNC Consortium for Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology (CCMA)
The Duke–UNC Consortium for Classical and Mediterranean Archaeology represents a collaboration between the institutions in order to enhance archaeology curricula and concentrations in the respective departments and programs in archaeology. The consortium fosters an interdisciplinary dialogue on methods, theory, and practice in classical archaeology and material culture, providing students access to coursework, seminars, excavations, and other research opportunities; academic advising; and avenues for curricular and extracurricular interaction.
Experiential Education
The development of skills and perspectives beyond the classroom is considered central to the curriculum in archaeology. Hands-on training in field archeology provides students with the basic tools not only necessary for graduate training and advanced research in archaeology, but also for careers in cultural resource and heritage management through government agencies, contract firms, and museums. Developing an understanding of context and physical environment in archaeology requires field and laboratory experiences that are impossible to teach effectively in the classroom. Excavation and laboratory experiences allow students to participate directly in faculty research and to learn firsthand important aspects of the research process. Two or more field schools in archaeology are generally offered during summer sessions through the Study Abroad Office by faculty from the departments of anthropology, classics, religious studies, and history. In addition, many faculty research associates offer laboratory experiences through independent study projects and internships. These field work and laboratory experiences are designed to enhance the classroom training, allowing students to work as assistants to field archaeologists and specialists—such as surveyors, archaeological architects, palaeoethnobotanists, zooarchaeologists, biological anthropologists, and geomorphologists—learning firsthand various aspects of data recovery, processing, and interpretation associated with archaeological field projects.
