ACS Archaeology Program
ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
Most undergraduates who wish to study archaeology have traditionally had the choice between two options: 1) the large research-oriented school (usually a state university), where the depth and scope of educational resources are superb, but the quality of undergraduate teaching is often limited (or not a high priority); 2) the small liberal arts college, where the quality of undergraduate education is very high, but the depth and scope of educational resources are often limited. With the advent of Internet technologies (especially through the world-wide web), and the resulting greater ease of communication and information sharing across great distances, a third option has now emerged: a consortium of individuals and departments based in liberal arts colleges working in coordination to offer the student the depth and scope of resources available at the large state schools but in the environment of the small liberal arts college.
The initial focus of our proposed archaeology program is an upland plain (the ElmalI plain) located in southwestern Turkey, the area known in antiquity as Lycia. The ElmalI plain contains a wealth of ancient sites, including the mound of HacImusalar, the largest mound in Lycia and one of the most important sites in the region. The project described here has as its goal the reconstruction of ancient life and its associated physical environment through archaeological excavation and a variety of survey-based data retrieval methods. The actual excavation and survey projects are a collaborative effort of Turkish and American faculty and students. Permission to work in Turkey is due to the generosity of Dr. Ilknur Özgen, Chair of the Department of Archaeology at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, and the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
The archaeological project is aimed at two audiences: 1) undergraduate students, who want to learn basic archaeological methods and techniques and to have the opportunity to put those skills to use in a real archaeological project; 2) ACS faculty, who are interested in pursuing new models of undergraduate teaching, exploring the potentials of information technology in pedagogy, engaging in a collaborative research project with faculty at other ACS institutions, and working with their own undergraduates in this research project, perhaps even leading to joint publication of original research. Students in the program will first enroll in a collaboratively taught on-line course (offered in the spring), after which they will participate in an on-site field school during the summer. Upon returning home, they will have the opportunity to enroll in more advanced courses that make use of data collected in the field. Faculty and students will also work together throughout the academic year analyzing the data collected on the site. It is our hope that students will ultimately assume leadership roles in various aspects of the collection and analysis of data, as well as in its final publication on the project’s web site.
In the summer of 1998 a group of ACS faculty participated in the initial ACS archaeology project workshop in Turkey, thanks to funding provided by the Mellon Technology grant. Six ACS institutions were represented by faculty from six different disciplines (archaeology, classical studies, art history, geosciences, biology and engineering). Specialized research projects involving study and publication of the archaeological data were initiated for four of the ACS faculty, who will continue to develop their own research projects within the framework of the greater archaeological project. In the 1998 season we also implemented the first stage of our information technology initiative. ACS faculty began using databases (laptops running FileMaker Pro; server running Oracle); geographic information systems (state-of-the-art GPS collecting data corrected on the fly; data processed on laptops running ArcView), computer automated drawing (digitizing pad with a laptop running MicroStation), digital photography (digital camera; images processed on-site with Adobe PhotoShop) and web interfaces for data stored on remote servers (i.e., web pages generated by database queries). All faculty also participated in planning both for the on-line course, which will be taught for the first time in spring 1999 and for the summer 1999 field school.
The ACS archaeology project is now prepared to move to the next phase. This phase consists of: 1) implementation of the on-line course (spring 1999) and the summer field school; 2) building faculty and institutional ties within the ACS with the goal of establishing a long-term research/teaching alliance in archaeology and anthropology.
ON-LINE COURSE OFFERED TO STUDENTS PLANNING TO ATTEND THE SUMMER EXCAVATION AND SURVEY
In the spring semester before students go to Turkey, an on-line course (tentatively entitled "The Archaeology of Western Anatolia in the Graeco-Roman Period") will be offered by Dr. Garrison (Trinity University), ACS Archaeology Program leader and co-director of the HacImusalar excavations. ACS colleagues who are participating in the project will also play a significant role in the course. This on-line course will:
1. survey the arrival of Greek and Roman cultures in Western Anatolia and examine the importance of Anatolia to Greece and Rome;
2. explore in-depth the cultural history of the area of ancient Lycia (where the mound of HacImusalar is located);
3. provide some basic background on archaeological field method and technique as preparation for actual excavation in the summer months (as outlined below);
4. introduce the use of information technologies in the collection, analysis, interpretation and publication of archaeological data.
A web-based course syllabus with reading assignments and discussion topics will be updated as the course progresses. Once a week the instructor and students will meet on-line for live discussions of the readings and presentation of visual material (via web browsers). An e-mail discussion list will allow students to respond to and discuss issues at their convenience, including topics of general interest that emerge during the on-line discussions. Students will also work with materials on the HacImusalar web site, analyzing data from previous seasons. These resources will allow the possibility of joint inter-institutional student projects. Grades will be based upon periodic written reports, which the students will post to the web site, as well as a final written project.
We plan to work with the Virtual GRS department in the appointment of the visiting Mellon professors so that they will be able to assist with the on-line course and perhaps with the actual field school. Possible candidates for this position include a number of specialists who work on the project or any of a number of Turkish and American colleagues who specialize in the cultural history of Anatolia and/or the use of information technology in archaeology. In addition to teaching on-line, the Mellon Visiting Professor will travel to ACS institutions to deliver lectures, which might also be "broadcast" to locations with videoconferencing facilities, in order to spread this specialist’s expertise as widely as possible among ACS institutions.
STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN EXCAVATION AND SURVEY IN TURKEY
Once in Turkey, students will participate in all research programs that comprise the project, viz.:
1. Field Survey
Using GIS (geographical information systems), the students will survey and map the ElmalI plain. Students will enter all data collected into an on-line database, upload the data to servers in the USA and then build web interfaces for users to access the data.
2. Geophysical Survey
A major component in understanding ancient life in the ElmalI Plain is the reconstruction of the ancient physical environment, including natural resources available in the area and the relationship of the human population to the physical environment and resources through time. Like the field survey, the geophysical survey will exploit information technology in all aspects of the research, and the results of the survey will be published on the web.
3. Excavation of the Mound HacImusalar
The 1999 season will be the fourth season of excavation on the mound. Building on their experiences from the on-line seminar students will receive further orientation to the topography, geology and environment of the plain upon their arrival in ElmalI. Their training in the use of technology will also continue as they learn about the specific databases and digital imaging they will use on the mound. Through their participation in the excavation, students will develop their expertise in field methods and techniques, including the recording of archaeological data. Eventually, they will assume important roles in the analysis of the archaeological data and have the opportunity to work on the small finds in the registry, help analyze samples of the fauna and flora, receive training in the sorting and identification of ceramic finds, participate in the epigraphic survey, experiment with digital drawing, and take part in the planning and development of the web site.
A critical aspect of the summer field school is the opportunity for students to experience life in Turkey. The excavation, as mentioned above, is a joint Turkish-American project. We live in a rural setting where many traditional modes of life have remained unchanged for thousands of years. ACS students will be working side-by-side with Turkish undergraduate students and university faculty. We intend to offer daily instruction for the ACS students in the Turkish language. The students will also attend lectures from various individuals from ElmalI on a wide range of issues about life in a rural Turkish community (e.g., the role of Islam in Turkish culture, the local education system and Turkish history).
FACULTY PARTICIPATION IN EXCAVATION AND SURVEY IN TURKEY
The large size and interdisciplinary scope of the work in the ElmalI plain leaves room for many different types of specialists. One of the primary goals of this project is to bring together faculty in diverse disciplines from different ACS institutions. This project has research and teaching potential for the disciplines of anthropology and sociology (both ancient and modern), art history, biology, history, geosciences, climatology, botany, classical studies and computer science, to mention only a few of the disciplines in which research projects either already exist or could be started immediately based on our existing data. As noted above, faculty members from six ACS institutions participated in the project last summer. These scholars are now actively engaged in their research projects and have already begun to incorporate the results into their teaching. They will continue their research and pedagogical work this summer in Turkey with their own and other ACS students. We also plan to increase faculty participation in the 1999 season; indeed, faculty from four other ACS institutions have already expressed an interest in participating in the project.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THE PROJECT
Because of the rapidly changing pace of information technology, we do not want to tie ourselves down to any specific agenda. However, there are certain aspects of the project that we plan to actively pursue in the immediate future.
Critical for the long-term success of the project is the building of strong faculty and institutional ties within the ACS. The goal here is the establishment of a long-term research/teaching alliance that does not rely exclusively on any one specific archaeological project. Once we have successfully offered our on-line archaeology course and summer field school in Turkey, we envision the program expanding to integrate other excavations in which ACS faculty participate (e.g., ongoing excavations in Israel and Costa Rica that faculty from Centre College and Millsaps College help direct), and/or to integrate other types of social and cultural anthropological field work. This kind of expansion would provide students with a unique opportunity to gain a wide range of archaeological experience at the undergraduate level, and thus contribute to the expansion of the number of offerings for our undergraduate students.
One direction that we plan to explore is the development of a community-outreach program. We hope to be able to have the students, while they are in Turkey, construct an "on-line excavation." In this scenario, students in Turkey could post daily results of their work, both in print and visual format (using digital photos), on the HacImusalar web page. All interested parties, both at the home institutions and elsewhere, could follow this on-line excavation. For example, it may be possible to structure all or part of a high school summer program to the on-line excavation and expand the significance and impact of the project beyond the college level.
Another potential direction for the program is toward the development of ties with our Turkish colleagues and students. We envision the creation of exciting opportunities for cultural and educational exchanges between the ACS and various Turkish educational institutions. If the project expands to other areas of the world, the potential pool of cultural and educational exchanges will likewise increase.
GOALS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROGRAM
The general pedagogical and research goals of the archaeology program are:
1. to make faculty more aware of how technology can help them fulfill their teaching objectives;
2. to introduce technology which will demonstrate ways to be more flexible in presenting, discussing and interpreting information;
3. to provide opportunities for faculty to explore changing roles, moving toward a more interactive relationship with students;
4. to explore the redesign of relationships with students in order to free faculty time to stimulate learning rather than merely collecting or conveying information;
5. to employ technology to stimulate cross-disciplinary collaboration;
6. to use the Internet (and collaborative work in the field) to provide opportunities for faculty members to engage in collaborative research and teaching both at their home institutions and with other campuses in the ACS.
7. to introduce collaborative learning among students, stimulating student communication through electronic means;
8. to stimulate faculty to explore different ways of assessing student performance.
Although it has just gotten underway, the archaeology program is already beginning to achieve these goals. Participants in the classics and archaeology programs are leading the way in the ACS in: 1) the active use of technology resources in the classroom and the field; and 2) the deployment of mechanisms for linking faculty, students and resources in collaborative teaching and research environments.
Given its interdisciplinary nature, the ACS archaeology program will appeal to students and faculty in both the humanities and sciences. It is our hope that the project will serve as a model of how scientists and humanists can work together in meaningful ways in the best liberal arts tradition, thereby modeling for our students the real value of a liberal arts education.
The ACS archaeology project is also international in its scope, thus providing the opportunity for widespread public exposure of the ACS and its members. This is a major research project, and only a handful of large research institutions in North America can offer their students and faculty an opportunity of this caliber and magnitude.
The collaborative nature of the project can also serve as a means of gaining wider exposure and a greater market for our programs among potential students. The heightened awareness of the member institutions in their respective communities can only be advantageous. The proposed outreach program to local schools may also be an important recruitment vehicle. This type of exposure in the secondary schools can help to build interest not only in archaeology and the Classics, but also in the humanities as a whole. Exposure of more students at the secondary schools to projects of an interdisciplinary nature will be especially important for the liberal arts college, given the increasing tendency of a "professional school" mentality among younger students.
Because it has an established infrastructure, the excavation itself requires almost no administrative overhead. Moreover, this collaboration enables 15 institutions to offer advanced archaeology and information technology courses along with the opportunity to participate in a major international research project at a fraction of what it would cost each school to do so individually.
In summary, the ACS archaeology program provides concrete answers to the perennial problems faced by small colleges. It provides students and faculty at different institutions with the opportunity to meet and engage with a wider variety of students and faculty than is available in any one school, especially in smaller humanities departments. This project has already shown that it can serve as a vehicle to bring a diverse group of ACS faculty together in a new type of research/teaching environment associated with an important archaeological project in the eastern Mediterranean.
PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
The ACS Archaeology Program is led by Dr. Mark B. Garrison of the Department of Classical Studies at Trinity University. Dr. Garrison has nineteen years of archaeological field experience, and he has been directing or co-directing archaeological projects in Tunisia and Turkey since 1987. He has been especially active in exploring the applications of information technology in the collecting and interpretation of archaeological data in the field, the publication of archaeological data and results via electronic media, and the teaching of archaeology and ancient Mediterranean cultures in an undergraduate setting. Dr. Garrison is a specialist in the material culture of the eastern Mediterranean c. 1000-500 B.C. He is the co-director of a large project to publish the seal impressions preserved on the Persepolis Fortification Tablets. He has published extensively on early Achaemenid Persian art, and he has produced several preliminary reports of his archaeological work in Tunisia.