The Department of Archaeology is recognized by the University as a centre of excellence for its research and in the international scope of its program. BA/BSc, MA and PhD degree programs are offered.
Faculty and student interests cover a broad spectrum and field work is currently being carried out in a number of areas including the Caribbean, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Cameroon, Ghana, Yemen, Egypt, the American Southwest, the Canadian Plains, and the High Arctic. In addition there is a well-established Physical Anthropology program with a human osteologist and a specialist in human biology and adaptation. The University offers a multi-disciplinary BSc program in Earth Sciences offered through the departments of Archaeology, Geography, and Geology and Geophysics.
FACULTY
Full-time faculty members ranked Assistant Professor through to Full Professor are entitled to supervise graduates. In considering potential supervisors, students should be guided by the areas of expertise listed.
Other faculty members such as Instructors, Emeritus and some Adjuncts may be available to serve as members of graduate committees and to work with graduate students.
In addition, the department of Archaeology is able to draw upon the expertise of faculty throughout the University.
The department has close ties with the department of Anthropology at the University of Alberta. Members of that faculty are able to serve on supervisory committees, and with prior arrangement, laboratory and other facilities may be available to students from Calgary. The two departments have begun making available courses by distance learning (video-conferencing).
FACILITIES
Graduate students are allocated office space, usually three or four to an office. Lab space is limited but every endeavour is made to accommodate the needs of staff and students.
The department does its utmost to upgrade its collections and the equipment used in instruction and research. These facilities, subject to certain restrictions, are generally available for student use. They include the following:
- A physical anthropology laboratory. Most equipment needed for anthropometric and osteological analysis is available.
- Lab facilities are available for micro-botanical and geo-archaeological research. Facilities in the departments of Geography and Geology and Geophysics are also available to the department of Archaeology.
- A collection of artifacts for teaching and comparative purposes.
- A comparative faunal collection and zoo-archaeology laboratory.
- Photographic and drafting facilities.
- Field equipment. The department has a supply of survey and photographic equipment for field use. The department makes every reasonable attempt to provide students with the facilities needed to carry out their projects in the field and the laboratory.
- The departmental reading room which has some 2000 books on archaeological and anthropological subjects as well as major archaeological journals (currently we subscribe to approximately 20 journals). The reading room also houses the Martha Biggar Anders Collection, a collection of books and journals dealing largely with the archaeology and ethnology of South America. The main library catalogue can be accessed from a terminal in the reading room. The room is usually kept open during regular office hours in the fall and winter session through a system of graduate and undergraduate volunteers under the supervision of a senior undergraduate.
The Department has strong ties with the Glenbow Museum and arrangements can be made for students to use the collections and archives.
The Arctic Institute of North America is housed on the University of Calgary campus, and their collections are available to archaeology students. Links also exist with the Provincial Museum of Alberta, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, as well as other institutions in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa and Australia.
DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES
All members of the department take an active role in national and international associations. In the past faculty have served on the executives or committees of associations such as: the Canadian Archaeological Association, the Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology, the American Association of Physical Anthropology, the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association. Dr. Gerald Oetelaar is Past President of the Canadian Archaeological Association.
Faculty and students regularly present papers at conferences in Canada, the States, and overseas.
The Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary (Chacmool) presents an annual conference each November. This unique student-run conference celebrated its thirty-eighth anniversary in 2005 and is now one of the major international archaeological conferences held in North America, regularly attracting top scholars in the field. The Proceedings of each conference are published. All students in the department are encouraged to get involved in the Chacmool conference, either as a member of the organizing committee, providing assistance at the meeting itself or by presenting papers.
The Department publishes an Occasional Papers series; five titles are currently in print.
GRADUATE STUDENTS AND THEIR ROLE IN THE DEPARTMENT AND UNIVERSITY
Graduate Students are encouraged to take an active role in departmental and university affairs.
All graduate students are automatically members of the Graduate Students Association of the University of Calgary and as such may elect representatives to attend meetings of the Association Council. In addition to serving on the Graduate Faculty Council and ad hoc committees of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, representatives of the Graduate Student Association serve on all official University bodies.
Graduate students can gain experience by teaching non-credit courses offered by the Faculty of Continuing Education conditional upon the approval of the Department Head.
Graduate students are encouraged to participate in professional meetings and as a result they regularly give papers at meetings of the Canadian Archaeological Association, the American Anthropological Association, the Society for American Archaeology and other conferences, in addition to the annual Chacmool conference run at the University of Calgary.