Archaeology

The Archaeology subfield focuses on major theoretical issues of wide concern in anthropology (institutions and statehood, human environmental impacts, power and inequality, cultural flows and change), while at the same time providing rigorous training in archaeological method (lithic and pottery technology, spatial analyses, zooarchaeology and paleobotany, and archival analysis). The faculty maintains a strong tradition and solid basic training in the science of archaeology alongside a commitment to community archaeology and decolonial heritage practice. In recent years the Archaeology subfield has developed particular strengths in the study of historical ecology and climate change, materiality, foodways, and the archaeology of colonial encounters.
Archaeology faculty at the Graduate Center maintain major research programs on the historic and pre-Colonial North Atlantic, Mesoamerica, and Western Asia and the Mediterranean. These projects provide students with a broad range of field and research opportunities. Major facilities include bioarchaeology, zooarchaeology, paleobotany, and ceramics laboratories, and the Human Ecodynamics Research Center (HERC) at the Graduate Center. In 2019, the New York Anthropological Archaeology Research Consortium (NYAARC) was launched in collaboration with anthropology faculty from NYU and Columbia in order to combine our strengths and increase opportunities for student research and training. Additional relationships exist with Fordham University, Princeton University, and the American Museum of Natural History.

Sample Dissertations

Field schools

  • Iceland
  • Brooklyn
  • Antigua

Links

  • NABO (The North Atlantic Biocultural Organization)

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