For the first time at Georgia Tech, the School of History and Sociology will offer archaeology classes beginning this Spring. The introductory undergraduate "This is Archaeology" course will debut first, with ethics and skills classes to follow.
The courses will be taught by Allison Mickel, the new H. Bruce McEver Chair in Archaeological Science and Technologies. Mickel, who researches the impact of excavations on local communities, has excavated in Jordan, Turkey, Kenya, and the United States.
Why Archaeology at Georgia Tech?
Mickel says archaeology has something for every student at Georgia Tech because it’s a profoundly innovative discipline.
"One of the people who helped develop self-driving cars was an archaeologist, because archaeologists have a long view of how humans interact with technology and how that fits into society,” she said. “For people in any field, archaeology offers creativity, an appreciation for difference and diversity in human thriving, and a grounding in real human needs and lives.”
Urban Archaeology
A new archaeology lab in the Old Civil Engineering Building will be the program's central hub, with excavation equipment, microscopes, cameras, and archival materials for labeling found artifacts and collections. Mickel will also lead community archaeology projects throughout Atlanta, where anyone can participate.
"Some of the most exciting archaeology today is work that looks at challenges in the present," she explained. "Atlanta is dealing with questions of urban crisis and affordable housing, and these are all questions we can answer archaeologically.”
A Generous Gift
Bruce McEver, IE 1966, established the chair because he sees Georgia Tech as a potential major innovator in the world of archaeology technologies, an area which has seen dramatic change in recent years.
“Georgia Tech brings to the table a range of technical disciplines that can help accelerate the use and effectiveness of new innovations in archaeology research,” he said. “This program gives Georgia Tech a chance to play an integral role as part of the larger archaeology research community in the United States and beyond.”
At Home in the Ivan Allen College
Archaeology combines elements of STEM disciplines and the liberal arts, making the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts an ideal home for such inquiry.
“There’s so much quantitative data analysis in archaeology and heavy use of scientific methods and principles. We also use a lot of scientific technologies such as X-ray fluorescence, chemical analysis, and isotope and radiocarbon dating,” Mickel said.
“You need to be a good logical thinker and skilled at noticing and recognizing patterns in data. But then, ultimately, the task is to tell a story with it, and the story has to connect to people. It has to be important and resonate with people’s questions about the human past.”
To learn more about archaeology at Georgia Tech, contact Allison Mickel at amickel3@gatech.edu
