Anthropology Special Opportunities

SUMMER ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL

The Anthropology Department offers a summer course (ANTH 421 Field Research in Archaeology) in archaeological excavation methods at Hartwick's Pine Lake Environmental Campus. The month-long course teaches students excavation techniques as well as laboratory skills such as artifact cataloging, artifact analysis, soil identification, mapping, and drawing.

Students excavate in the field five days a week, and work in the laboratory four nights a week processing the objects they have discovered. The field school qualifies students for jobs in federally funded contract archaeology projects.

Excavations take place at the Pine Lake site every other year. The site is located on the flood plain of Charlotte Creek. A Late Archaic camp of the Lamoka culture dating about 3000-1500 BC has been found. Lamoka and Susquehanna Broadspear projectile points, fragments of steatite bowls, and stone lined fire hearths were found. The Pine Lake field school is a joint project between Hartwick College and SUNY Oneonta.

ANTHROPOLOGY LAB

The Anthropology Lab is a multi-functional space enjoyed by faculty members and students alike. The lab offers computers, scanners, printers, and equipment for technical analysis.

The lab and The Yager Museum of Art & Culture house large collections of artifacts from various Hartwick College field schools students may use for research projects or papers. Other lab equipment includes: a slide viewing table, slide projectors, microscopes, drafting tables, a fume hood, maps, and a large collection of hominid fossil casts and modern primate and human skeletons.

The lab is a place where faculty and students can hold classes and meetings, mingle, discuss questions about class work, or have coffee and relax. The lab offers a quiet place to read, write papers, or check e-mail. Work-study students, under the direction of anthropology faculty, use the lab to complete projects such as sorting prehistoric botanical remains, cataloging artifacts, drawing maps, transcribing field notes, and constructing webpages.

MUSEUM STUDIES MINOR

Students interested in learning about museums as part of our cultural heritage or as an aid in developing a museum-related career are invited to consider the Museum Studies minor. Coursework for this minor is complemented by the use of the Yager Museum of Art & Culture and permanent collections when appropriate.

Students take Museum Studies courses in conjunction with a major or minor in an academic field most often associated with museums, such as anthropology, art, art history, education, history, management, or one of the sciences. Some students may opt to design their own Individual Student Program. For more information see the Museum Studies Minor page or the Yager Museum of Art & Culture webpage.

OFF-CAMPUS STUDY

Many anthropologists got their start from study-abroad programs–studying abroad can shape academic study, career choices, and be a life-changing experience. A variety of short-term, study, and immersion experiences are available.

Professor Connie Anderson directs one of Hartwick’s most successful and longest-running J Term study-abroad experiences, her famous program in South Africa.

Anthropology students have had high rates of success obtaining these unique funding opportunities from the Duffy Family Ambassador Fund and the Emerson International Internship Scholarship to do research or an internship abroad. Working with a faculty advisor to design a project and then carrying it out can be the highlight of a Hartwick education.

Individually-tailored programs are available for a semester or year-abroad. Please contact anthropology faculty or the Office of Global Education for more details.

What students say about J Term in South Africa with Professor Anderson

“Only in an off-campus class can one be blessed by a witch doctor, learn about Zululand while actually visiting it and look at cave paintings in the village of Matatalie.”

“Seeing and learning about a new culture, I gained knowledge about myself.”

“Through interacting with people, talking to people in the rural villages and townships, I developed a better understanding of South African society.”

“The friends we made and the memories with which we returned will endure a lifetime.”

ANTHROPOLOGY CLUB

The Hartwick Anthropology Club is open to all anthropology majors, minors, and members of the student body. Current club members can join the Anthropology Club page on Hartlink.

  • Trip to the American Anthropological Association (AAA) meetings
  • End-of-the-year picnic
  • Trips to Washington D.C., Howe Caverns, and to regional museums
  • Club movie and food nights during each semester
  • Fun fundraising activities

The AAA meetings are a great place to learn what academic anthropology is all about. Students can attend presentations and lectures on nearly any topic that interests them, and find out what professors in prospective graduate school departments are like. There also are job postings for anthropology and anthropology-related work. It is a unique opportunity for Hartwick undergraduates to attend this conference.

Anthropology Club on HartLink

LAMBDA ALPHA SOCIETY

Lambda Alpha is the national collegiate honors society for anthropology. It recognizes academic superiority and provides incentives for exceptional performance. Every year it awards national scholarships to anthropology majors. Lambda Alpha publishes a journal in which half of the papers must be written by students.

The requirements for membership in Lambda Alpha are:

  • 3.3 minimum GPA in all classes
  • 3.5 minimum GPA in anthropology
  • Junior status or a minimum of five anthropology courses
    The Hartwick College chapter of Lambda Alpha is the Theta of New York, established on June 1, 1993.

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