Teaching Geophysics to the Next Generation of Archaeologists: A Developing Pedagogical Model at Brown University
Thomas M. Urban
As non-destructive geophysical methods become an increasingly popular tool for archaeological investigations for reasons of economy and site preservation, educational programs struggle to incorporate these methods into the standard archaeological curriculum. A large part of this struggle stems from the fact that geophysics is an entirely separate discipline that, like most professions, requires years of training and experience to master. What then should the typical archeologist (who cannot necessarily devote years of additional specialized study) know about geophysics? In the interest of addressing this question, the Brown University Environmental Geophysics Group in cooperation with the Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharpe Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, also at Brown, has been working for the past two years to incorporate near surface geophysics into the archaeological curriculum at the university. The developing pedagogical model presented here as a result of this cooperative effort, focuses not on turning budding archaeologists into budding geophysicists, but on training future archaeologist to collaborate more effectively with geophysicists, paving the way for better interdisciplinary research and cultural resource planning. This collaborative teaching effort began with undergraduate students, but is now filtering into the graduate program through a newly developed workshop series.
Image source: The Archaeology of College Hill
The joint endeavor began in 2006, when Professor Susan Alcock, Director of the Joukowsky Institute, invited geophysicists from Brown's Department of Geological Sciences to conduct a non-invasive survey for an undergraduate archaeological field methods course. Dr. Robert Jacob and I conducted the survey early in the fall semester of 2006-07, using two-loop electromagnetic induction and ground penetrating radar methods. We later returned to the field site to conduct a demonstration for the students. Finally, we produced a report that was incorporated into the general site report compiled by the students and course instructors. While we enjoyed the collaboration, and the students seemed interested in our activities, we questioned how much the students actually took away from this type of interaction. Our research group decided that if invited back the following year, an effort would be made to engage students more fully in the process geophysical site assessment.
