Longwood University's Department of Anthropology just became very competitive among other undergraduate programs this October with the addition of the Institute of Archaeology (IOA), a non-profit organization. Headed by Dr. Brian Bates, executive director and senior principal investigator, undergraduates will now have a new opportunity to engage in world class archaeological projects while getting paid.
“We have always had a pretty strong program with the archaeology field school but I wanted to take the skills students learn in the field school and give them an opportunity to apply it to a real world contracted archaeology program which is where they would go in their career field,” said Bates.
This unique opportunity is like no other in the Mid-Atlantic region. Providing undergraduates with the real-world experience of contracted assignments, students will now be able to truly apply methods, skills and theories they have learned in the classroom.
Taking care of their own, the IOA staffs all Longwood alumni including Dr. Bates who graduated in 1992, principal investigator and senior archaeologist Craig Rose, lab supervisor and archaeologist Mary Farrell, and field supervisor and archaeologist Erin West.
“All being alumni gives us a bit more of a family sense (than) if we had just been coming in to a random company from random places,” said West, who graduated in 2009 then continued her education in archaeology at University College London.
“Gelling fast” as West described the Institute, which seems to already be off to a strong start after being open for hardly a month this October. Currently the team is working on a contracted assignment with The National Trust for Historic Preservation as well as an 18-month project surveying a 100-mile shoreline of the Northern Neck peninsula.
“Any profit that comes from our projects goes into an endowment that will fund student research and it is also going to help sustain our organization,” said Rose, who graduated from Longwood in 2000. “In the long term the goal is to get to a point where the organization is self sufficient and it's capable of funding itself at which point, we can go on all types of crazy digs anywhere in the world.”
The plans of the IOA are already in action but earlier this year Dr. Bates was busy pulling contacts and working on lining up contracts. With success, the $525,000 of start up funds needed was reached and has ensured the IOA’s existence for the first two years. The Institute is now currently looking into writing grants as well as constantly reaching out and applying to other contracted jobs.
Rose brings over 14 years of experience in this type of contract-to-contract archaeology they are looking to bring in.“Normally a site last(s) about a month and then it’s on to the next one,” said Rose, “The idea behind the institute is we are also going to provide students with a better understanding of what contract archaeology is and the type of work they are most likely to get employed in after graduating.”
Students looking to apply for the positions must have completed Dr. James W. Jordan’s Field School prior to application and are predicted to mostly be working during the summer when they are not in class.
Dr. Bates said, “There are very few programs that are providing students with this type of experience and I thought that if we could do this, that our students would be better prepared, so in return that would make us a stronger department.”