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| Texas A&M’s archaeology program includes a well-respected nautical archaeology research emphasis [Credit: Texas A&M] |
"It's going to be a track," Valadez said. "The major is actually going to say ‘anthropology,' but the transcripts say it's an archaeology track. You take the same introductory classes that anthropology students take, but then you take archaeology electives. We're going to require field school, or lab experience, with one of the archaeologists on staff."
Felipe Castro, associate professor of nautical archaeology, said the idea for the track came about from the excellence of the programs offered by the department of anthropology. The program has been in the works for a few years. This new path will add to Texas A&M's accomplishments in the field.
"The idea was around a few years ago, because we felt that there was a lot of interest among anthropology students for archaeology," Castro said. "The main reason why we started was because the study for the center of early Americans is the best in the world, and then the nautical archaeology program is the best in the world."
"[The track] is built for people who either want to work in archaeology or go to grad school for archaeology, so it's going to be very specific," Valadez said.
When the track begins in the Fall of 2012, advisors and faculty within the department of anthropology will be monitoring the success of their students to determine if making the track a Bachelor of Science would more beneficial. According to Valadez, the archaeology track is meant to provide students with more of a focused education on archaeology rather than just anthropology.
"One of the things I'd like to do over the next two-three years is to hopefully do a bachelor of science in it, which will add more geology to the coursework," Valadez said. "This is a way for us to see how much people are interested, how successful we can make them. We want to help them get jobs or get into grad programs for archaeology."
Currently, the nautical archaeology program is preserving and conserving the hull of the Belle, the La Salle shipwreck from the late 17th Century in Matagorda Bay. That project is located close by, at the Riverside Campus. This is just one example of exciting opportunities made available to students through the program.
Castro believes that the future of nautical archaeology depends on virtual reality.
"We work a lot with computer science," Castro said. "We have all sorts of projects with them and the visual lab, which is the best in the U.S. We reconstruct ships in 3D. The best way to study is to have a model."
Even students who are not interested in changing their majors to be part of the program can find ways to be involved in archaeology.
"If they like their majors but want to get involved, they can look at the [Texas A&M] Anthropology Society, which does weekend field trips and work at archaeological field sites around Texas," Valadez said.
Students will have access to many opportunities currently being pursued by the nautical archaeology program, like a first century A.D. Italian shipwreck, a Spanish shipwreck in Portugal, a Revolutionary War ship excavation beneath the Twin Towers in New York and, believe it or not, a steamboat excavation in Oklahoma.
India Johnson, a junior anthropology major, is one of the students looking forward to participating in the track in the fall.
"I chose archaeology because, even though it seems like it's a worn out field, it's something I can get passionate about, and there is always something you can learn from the past," Johnson said. "I'm excited because modern technology has continued to expand and help us find more and more sites that we had no idea were out there."
Michael Waters agrees that archaeology is a thriving field with a good job market.
"There is a good job market out there for archaeologists," Waters said. "At the [Bachelor of Arts] level, you can go in and work with CRM archaeology, which means Cultural Resource Management. In fact, I would say that 95 percent of all the archaeology done in the U.S. is done with CRM."
Authors: Haley Lawson & Michal Ann Morrison | Source: The Battalion Online [February 09, 2012]