"When I take students to Italy for Roman Archaeology, we not only read about the Colosseum or Pompeii or the Greek temple of Hera at Paestum, but we experience it, walking on the same steps and passageways as Romans did when they attended the games. Being on site is not only a truly multi-disciplinary experience, it allows students to understand how the Romans might have experienced it temporally and spatially."
-- John Gruber-Miller, Archaeology Program Advisor
Curriculum
The archaeology program at Cornell is highly flexible and intentionally multi-disciplinary. It includes a set of core courses in anthropology, the sciences, and language study. It also includes several options for investigating themes of time and place, along with a choice of electives and a senior thesis project.
Students may develop an individualized major in Archaeology by following the recommendations given on our major requirements page and developing an Individualized Major. For students intending to attend graduate school in archaeology, we also recommended completing an additional major or minor in a related discipline, such as anthropology, art history, classical studies, geology, history, religion, or Spanish.
Off-campus Study
Cornell's One Course At A Time schedule gives students a great deal of flexibility in pursuing off-campus courses, such as Intro to Archaeological Field Methods (taught locally), or Greek Archaeology. Students also enjoy access to high-level internship and research opportunities through our relationship with the Office of the State Archaeologist at the University of Iowa, the Cornell Fellows program, and other programs.