A Liberal Arts Approach to an Archaeological Curriculum

FAIN: AKA-265666-19

Trustees of Roanoke College (Salem, VA 24153-3794)
Leslie A Warden (Project Director: October 2018 to March 2022)

The development of an interdisciplinary archaeological curriculum incorporating skills and perspectives from humanities and the sciences.

This proposal seeks to create an interdisciplinary archaeological curriculum at Roanoke College that will focus on the skillsets needed for understanding and working with the archaeological past. During a planning year, we will create a curriculum that explores the archaeological intersections in the disciplines of Art History, History, Anthropology, Biology, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, and Statistics; we expect to create a minor or certificate in Archaeology. A committee of nine faculty members from six different disciplines will work together on lectures and exercises for archaeology classes, create new syllabi or restructure old ones, and meet with outside consultants. A key element of our work will be to design a field school using our on-campus archaeological site, Monterey House, to train students in excavation and analysis. We plan to place successful exercises and, once implemented, our curriculum online for other colleges and universities to use as a model.

Associated Products

Archaeological computing lab (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Archaeological computing lab
Author: Leslie Anne Warden
Author: Anil Shende
Author: Durell Bouchard
Abstract: Archaeological projects, whether they are surveys or excavations, are awash in data. Computer programs allow for data to be efficiently input, retrieved, and analyzed. This lab will walk through the translation of archaeological records into two different digital formats, exploring the pros and cons of both and what types of analysis they empower.
Year: 2021
Audience: Undergraduate

Tidewater and Native Peoples: Using Botanical Understanding to Elucidate Human Use (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Tidewater and Native Peoples: Using Botanical Understanding to Elucidate Human Use
Author: DorothyBelle Poli
Author: Whitney Leeson
Author: Leslie Anne Warden
Abstract: Goal of the Experience: To expose students to the ways that biology/plant biology and archaeology complement one another Learning Objectives: At the end of this laboratory experience, a student will be able to: Define archaeobotany. Identify and explain the purpose and importance of floatation sample processing and analysis. Discuss how special botanical features are valuable and utilized in botany and archaeobotany studies. Apply recent skills to a new scenario to make suggestions for the botanical presence in archaeological specimen.
Year: 2021
Audience: Undergraduate

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