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What is Hocking College's Archaeology Technology ?
The Archaeology Technology prepares individuals for careers as entry level field and laboratory archaeological technicians in both the public and private sector of archaeology and provides sufficient background for growth and advancement in the profession of archaeology. The result of this program is an Associate of Applied Science degree. The emphasis of the program is to provide practical hands-on training and education. The student will not just hear and read about archaeology, they will learn by doing it. The objective of Hocking College's Archaeology Technology is to prepare students for employment in the cultural resource management industry and further education.
The Program
Archaeology is the study of the human past. It is a subdivision of anthropology, which is the study of human cultural and physical evolution. There are three other major sub-disciplines of Anthropology:cultural anthropology studies present and recent cultural diversity at all levels of society; linguistics explores human language; physical anthropology examines human and primate biological evolution and variation. Most anthropologists focus on one of the major groups of Anthropology, however all facets of the discipline are interconnected.
Archaeologists try to reconstruct the human past through tangible evidence, written documentation, and even oral histories when investigating the recent past. Tangible evidence includes artifacts ( various kinds of stone tools, ceramics, bone, figurines, pipes... ), features ( fire pits, post molds, trash pits, and other soil stains as well as, structures such as earthworks, mounds, temples, pyramids, and building foundations ), and ecofacts ( nuts, seeds, pollen, charcoal, and other natural objects that help archaeologists recreate past environments ). Written documentation includes maps, geologic reports, archival documents, and information recorded by previous archaeologists. The ability to analyze and interpret these sources of information or cultural resources, is a central component in archaeology.
North American archaeologists study prehistoric and historic Native Americans, as well as, the historic colonial period. This covers a span of time that goes back to at least 12,500 years and possibly to ca. 20,000 years. The public perception of archaeology is typically centered around Europe, Africa, Mesoamerica and the Near East. However, the cultural history of the Native Peoples of North America are equally intriguing and unfortunately, probably more elusive than those previously mentioned. Some of these ancient cultures include: Paleo-Indian, Adena, Hopewell, Anasazi, Mississippian, and Fort Ancient.
What is Cultural Resource Management?
American Archaeology has seen many changes since the early 1960's due to new state and federal laws. Presently, over 10,000 archaeologists (about 80% of all the archaeologists in North America)) work for Cultural Resource Management (CRM) firms. The purpose of CRM is to identify, evaluate, and protect our cultural resources from the adverse impacts of development. Examples of these kinds of development include the construction of roads, bridges, dams, pipelines, mining operations or other land disturbing activities on federal or state land or involving federal or state money. It is the responsibility of the agency to ensure that their activities will not destroy areas of historical importance. In most cases, the developers know nothing about archaeology and have to contract someone who does. This is the justification of CRM firms. They are usually private companies who are paid by their individual clients, not the government. They are found throughout North America and this concept is also spreading to other parts of the world. These firms range from single person consultants to corporations with a staff of over 400 people. For the most part, American Archaeology is cultural resource management.
How was the Archaeology Technology created?
The development of the Archaeology Technology began in the spring of 1997. The nature of this program is unique, as there are only two other schools in the nation that offer a two year anthropology or archaeology degree program (Austin Community College and Randolph Community College). Our program is especially distinctive as we are focused purely on archaeology. Furthermore, Hocking College is among a handful of colleges and universities in the nation to offer a CRM oriented archaeology program.
Two panels of professional archaeologists from throughout North America have convened at Hocking College to aid in the development of the curriculum. This diverse group of archaeologists included field technicians, field supervisors, graduate students and principle investigators from the CRM industry, U.S. Forest Service, and the National Park Service. They helped to identify the knowledge areas and skills that are vital for entry level field and laboratory technicians. These knowledge areas and skills then became the outcomes for the courses in the Archaeology Technology. In essence, the potential employers of the Archaeology Technology graduates have molded the curriculum to meet their specific needs. The goal of this kind of curriculum development is to produce multi-skilled entry level field and laboratory technicians who require little on-the-job training and will therefore be extremely employable.
Learn By Doing
We educate and train our students by immersing them in archaeology and related fields. Once students complete the introduction courses in method, theory and prehistory they begin to take classes with strong hands on components.
Many of these classes are very unique to undergraduate education. They include:
- Three separate laboratory analysis classes for stone tools (lithics), Zooarchaeology (animal and human bone analysis) and prehistoric ceramics.
- Archaeological photography. Students learn how to use a 35mm camera by photographing outdoor archaeological sites and using indoor copy stands.
- The Research lab is taught in Columbus, Ohio at the State Historic Preservation Office by one of our adjunct professors. Students learn how to find and interpret archival information, site forms and maps. The end result of this course is teaching students how to do a literature review.
- Our Geoarchaeology class focuses on soil genesis, stratigraphy, geomorphology and how these geologic processes effect archaeology sites. This class has a small lecture component and a day long lab so plan on getting nice and dirty.
- Students hone their mapping skills in 3 separate classes (Map reading and Interpretation, Surveying I and II). This group of classes will train students to navigate in the field with a compass and topographical map, use a transit and total stations.
- The students also take classes in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning Systems). This introduces our students to the cutting edge of cartography.
- The crowning gem of our learn by doing curriculum is our 11 week, 8 hours a day, 5 days a week archaeological field methods class. It is one of the most comprehensive field classes that you can find for the field of archaeology. We spend time covering all of the phases of archaeological field work, not just excavation. Please note that this class is both mentally and physically challenging.
- The class starts with Phase I survey techniques in plowed fields and the deep woods. This taught while doing research on our main campus property and occasionally with other state and federal agencies and / or CRM firms.
We then move to Phase II and III experience by assessing and excavating one of the several potentially significant prehistoric sites on our campus. These sites were found in our field classes by students in the last few years. We have excavated about 2% of one prehistoric site and have still yielded over 7000 artifacts. The appears to have been inhabited from around 9,000 years ago to 2,000 years ago. We know this from the specific kinds of flint knives, spearheads and pottery found to this point. We will continue investigating these sites every summer in our extensive field class.
Finally, our students now spend their final quartert in Peru.
Jobs for Grads
Many CRM firms and government agencies who have had some of our graduates work for them continue to hire our students every year. Some even hire our top graduates before they look at anyone else. This is attributed to our specialized and unique curriculum. Subsequently, graduates of our program have had enormous success. The majority of these have been with archaeological CRM firms in the midwest region. The average pay has been $12.50 - $17.00 an hour. Furthermore, these positions have been primarily field oriented which means that they do a lot of traveling. When the field crews are on the road, all living expenses (food, lodging and travel) are paid by day ranging from $150.00 to $250.00 a week. Combined, this creates a very attractive entry level salary of $26000-$35000. Essentially, if you successfully complete the program at Hocking College and are willing to travel, you will be able to pick your job in archaeology.
The Bachelor of Science in Archaeology offered by the University of Rio Grande through the University Center is designed to complement the unique Associate Degree in Archaeology from Hocking College. Upon completion of the BS degree, graduates will have two degrees both in science and Archaeology. These degrees will give graduates a distinctive edge for Archaeological employment including:
- Field and Laboratory Supervisor for state and federal government agencies, cultural resource management firms, and research assistants.
All courses are taught at Hocking College by a combination of Rio Grande and HC professors.
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