The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Program combines the faculty and resources of several departments. Our undergraduate majors undertake a program of study that combines prehistoric, historic, and classical archaeology, while graduate students pursue more focused research through the departments of Anthropology or Art History. The discipline of Archaeology is concerned with the recovery, analysis, and interpretation of the material remains of past cultures and societies. The topics of study at UVa can vary widely, ranging from issues of human origins and cultural evolution to the study of Classical Greece and Rome; from the structure of ancestral Pueblo societies to colonialism in Virginia; and from the study of the ancient Near East to the development of Swahili culture on the East African coast.
The Archaeology faculty is composed of a group of core faculty, all archaeologists from the Anthropology and Art History departments. In addition, faculty from Architectural History, History, Religious Studies, Classics, and Environmental Sciences offer many courses of direct relevance. Faculty sponsored field research is currently being conducted in Italy, Greece,Turkey, East Africa, the Southwestern United States, Virginia and the Caribbean.