wINFORMATIONw
UNDERGRADUATE
| GRADUATE
For Prospective Undergraduates
The faculty and students in the department welcome inquiries and visits from students interested in applying to Bryn Mawr College, and to students interested in majoring in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. We recommend that, in addition to contacting the Admissions Office and taking a tour of the college, you arrange to meet with faculty members, attend some classes, and talk with current undergraduate majors. You will also want to see our facilities: the excellent library, study and classroom in the Carpenter Library and the Ella Riegel Archaeological Collection.Please contact any of the following faculty, whose general specialties and departmental duties are listed:
Stella Miller-Collett, Chair. Greek Art and Archaeology, Hellenistic Art and Archaeology, Ancient Painting Email
Alice A. Donohue, Undergraduate Advisor. Greek Art and Archaeology, the Historiography of Classical Art and Archaeology. Email
Jean MacIntosh Turfa. The Etruscans , the Phoenicians. Email
Richard S. Ellis, Graduate Advisor. Near Eastern Art, Archaeology and History, Egyptian Archaeology, Persian Archaeology. Email
James C. Wright. Greek Prehistory, Greek architecture. Email
For
Prospective Graduate Students
Table of Contents (click to go to section desired)Arranging a Visit
A Brief Description
Student body
Instruction
Fields of Study and Allied Subjects
Language Requirements
Seminar Offerings
Seminars and Graduate Courses
Cooperative Arrangements
Financial Aid
Assistantships
Graduate Student Symposia
A Brief History of the Department
Prerequisites
Extract of Requirements from the Graduate Handbook
The faculty and students in the department welcome inquiries and visits from students interested in applying to Bryn Mawr College, and to students interested in majoring in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology. We recommend that, in addition to contacting the Admissions Office and taking a tour of the college, you arrange to meet with faculty members, attend some classes, and talk with current undergraduate majors. You will also want to see our facilities: the excellent library, study and classroom in the Carpenter Library and the Ella Riegel Archaeological Collection.Arranging a Visit
Students interested in applying to the program are strongly encouraged to make an appointment to visit the campus. Please contact the departmental secretary, Ms. Pamela Cohen at (610) 526-5053/5334, e-mail pjcohen@brynmawr.edu, to make arrangements for a visit. Please note that during the academic year 2001-2002, the college is on break between October 12 and October 22, December 21 and January 21, and between March 8 and March 18.Faculty in the Department for 2001-2002 are as follows:
Stella Miller-Collett, Professor and Chair: Ancient Painting, Greek and Roman Archaeology,
Macedonian Archaeology EmailRichard S. Ellis, Professor and Graduate Advisor: Near Eastern Archaeology Email
James C. Wright, Professor: Greek Prehistory, Greek Architecture Email
A. A. Donohue, Associate Professor: Greek Sculpture, Greek Archaeology, Historiography of Greek and Roman Art Email
Peter Magee, Assistant Professor: Archaeology of Iran, Arabia and Pakistan Email
Jean MacIntosh Turfa, Lecturer: Etruscan Archaeology and Punic Archaeology Email
Machteld J. Mellink, Professor emeritus: Anatolian and Near Eastern Archaeology
Brunilde S. Ridgway, Professor emeritus: Greek and Roman Sculpture, Greek
and Roman Archaeology
A Brief Description
The Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology is a fully supported graduate program at Bryn Mawr and part of a cluster that includes the classics (Greek and Latin) and the history of art. Each of these departments has a distinguished tradition and strong national standing, and interdisciplinary study is encouraged by the faculty, promoting a strong sense of community and collegiality among the graduate students. The graduate curriculum, which stresses both breadth and depth of study, has prepared students for successful careers in a variety of fields, including teaching, research, publishing, and work in museums and foundations.Student body
The department normally accepts from three to six students per year. At present there are 21 registered graduate students, making the department one of the largest in the United States. The size is a special asset since the large number promotes a strong sense of community that extends outside the classroom and beyond the academic year, for example, through fieldwork activity in the summer. Students are usually resident three or four years at the college. Some live in graduate housing, while others choose to live off-campus. Initially all students are accepted into the two-year M.A. program. The third year and fourth years in residence are usually given to finishing coursework; preparing for and completing preliminary examinations for the doctorate, which require four special fields of study; and beginning work on the doctoral thesis. Two years are then frequently spent abroad taking part in programs such as that of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and researching the doctoral dissertation.Instruction
Graduate instruction takes the form of seminars and tutorial units of supervised study. A Graduate Intensive Survey, covering all the topics dealt with in the department, is required of all first-year students. The Graduate Advisor, in consultation with the faculty and the student, designs a course of study that provides each student with breadth of training as well as specialized preparation in his or her chosen areas of emphasis. Depending on their major fields, students normally pursue appropriate language study in ancient Greek or Latin at Bryn Mawr, or in Akkadian and Sumerian at the University of Pennsylvania. Appropriate coursework in history and art history is also advised.Fields of Study and Allied Subjects
There are two fields of concentration: (1) The art and archaeology of the Greek and Roman world and its Mediterranean predecessors; (2) the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. These fields may be combined in a program of major and allied subjects. Allied subjects are ancient languages (Greek, Linear B, Latin, Sumerian, Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew, Hittite, Egyptian), ancient history, history of art, anthropology or a science related to the program of the student. See also Classical Studies.Language Requirements
Language requirements are as follows. For the M.A., reading competence in French and German is mandatory and is measured by examinations which are set several times a year. For the Ph.D., competence in an appropriate ancient language can be demonstrated by examination or by successful coursework at Bryn Mawr or the University of Pennsylvania.Seminar Offerings
Graduate seminars offer different approaches: some seminars are focused on study of the sites and artifacts from specific periods and others on thematic issues of method and theory of interpretation, and yet others cross geographic boundaries to study interconnections among different societies.Seminars offered in 2001-2002 are:
620: Monumental Painting and Mosaics (Miller-Collett)
631: The Early Bronze Age in the Aegean (Wright)
632: Early and Middle Minoan Crete (Wright)
680: Problems in the Archaeology of Mesopotamia: The Assyrians (Ellis)
TBN: Problems in Greek Art (Donohue)
TBN: The Application of Archaeometric Techniques (Magee)N.B. A new Graduate Group seminar on issues of theory in art history, classics, and archaeology will be offered in the spring, 2002 by Professors Steven Levine (Art History), David Chamberlain (Classics), and James Wright (Archaeology).
Seminars and Graduate Courses
Seminar topics are determined for each semester in consultation with the graduate students.602, 603 Graduate Intensive Survey (staff)
605 The Concept of “Style” (Donohue)
608 The Interpretation of Programs of Greek Architectural Sculpture (Donohue)
609 Greek Sanctuaries (Miller-Collett)
611 Athenian Topography (Miller-Collett)
612 The Acropolis of Athens (Miller-Collett)
614 Greek Identity (staff)
617 The Origins of the Greek Polis (Wright)
618 Macedonian Archaeology (Miller-Collett)
619 Problems in Hellenistic Archaeology (Miller-Collett)
620 Monumental Painting and Mosaics (Miller-Collett)
622 Classical Conceptions of the Human Figure (Donohue)
624 Issues in Greek Vase Painting (Miller-Collett)
625 The Historiography of Greek and Roman Art (Donohue)
627 The Idea of the Monument (Donohue)
631 The Early Bronze Age in the Aegean: the Cyclades and the Mainland (Wright)
632 Early and Middle Minoan Crete (Wright)
633 Neo- and Post-Palatial Crete (Wright)
635 The Shaft Graves, Thera and Neo-Palatial Crete (Wright)
636 The Mycenaeans (Wright)
637 Middle Helladic and Early Mycenaean Archaeology (Wright)
641 Case Studies in Mortuary Analysis (Wright)
645 Ethnicity in Near Eastern Archaeology (staff)
647 Methods of Comparative Chronology (staff)
648 Method and Theory in Archaeology (staff)
652 Hittite Archaeology and History (staff)
653 Style Analysis of Ceramics (Magee)
655 Urartu and Feudalism (staff)
657 Syro-Hittite Sites and Their Art (Ellis)
658 Nomadism and Urbanism in Syria-Palestine (staff)
664 Problems in Third Millennium Syria-Palestine (staff)
665 The Halaf Period (staff)
680 Problems in the Archaeology of Mesopotamia (Ellis)
681 Organization and Planning of Near Eastern Cities (Ellis)
683 The Art of the Assyrians (Ellis)
692 Achaemenids and Persians (Ellis)SELECTED UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
Incoming students with incomplete preparation in archaeology will be advised to take selected undergraduate courses (with additional work for graduate credit) during their first years in graduate school.Cooperative Arrangements
Through a cooperative arrangement with the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, students in the three institutions may take courses at the others. At Temple courses are offered in the Department of Art History, and at Penn in several departments, including Oriental Languages, Art History, Classics, and Anthropology. Penn also offers special facilities at the University Museum, with its exceptional world-wide collection of archaeological and ethnographic materials, and at MASCA, its center for scientific analysis of archaeological materials. Within reasonable distance are also the facilities of Princeton University, the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, in Baltimore, the Walters Art Museum.Financial Aid
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers a variety of forms of financial awards and financial aid to students, ranging from guaranteed support for three years (tuition and stipend) to government loans and on-campus employment. We feel strongly that students should be able to spend their time focused on their study and therefore prefer to see that virtually every student receives some kind of funding. Traditionally our students have been successful in winning awards ranging from Mellon and Jacob Javits Fellowships to Fulbright, Canada Council, and American School Fellowships. We encourage students to pursue outside sources throughout their tenure in the department.Fellowships for Excellence in the Classics.
In addition to the regular fellowships and scholarships, three special Fellowships for Excellence in the Classics are awarded each year on the recommendation of the Classical Committee to new students in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology and the Department of Greek, Latin and Ancient History.Assistantships
Student teaching positions are not the norm for the department though there are two teaching assistantships for the undergraduate introductory courses. These positions are normally held for two years. Other assistantships, such as the Bibliographic Assistantship, are also available.Graduate Student Symposia
In 1997 the graduate students of the Department initiated a program of biannual graduate symposia, which are now sponsored together with the students in Greek and Latin and the History of Art. The symposia bring together graduate students from institutions throughout the United States. The next symposium will take place in Fall 2001.1997: All for One or One for All? (Re)constructing Identity in the Ancient World
1999: Decline: All Good Things Must Come to an End?
2001: Amateur or Professional: Experts, Dabblers, Hirelings and HacksA Brief History of the Department
The department traces its origins to the founding of the College in 1885. It assumed its status as an independent department in 1914 with the appointment of Rhys Carpenter, after whom the art and archaeology library, which received an award-winning new building in 1997, is named. Its approximately 100,000 volumes and 500 periodical titles support research in archaeology, history of art, classics, and urban studies. Additional materials relating to these fields are held in Canaday Library, the main library of the College, which also houses the collection of rare books and manuscripts. The archaeological collection, built steadily since the nineteenth century, attracts research scholars in archaeology from around the world. The department also shares with the programs in art history and urban studies an exceptionally large and diverse slide collection that is used for teaching and seminars. The department has always been active in fieldwork that has provided training grounds and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. Excavation projects that are presently in the stage of publication are Gritille in Turkey (Richard Ellis) and the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project in Greece (James Wright). A recent initiative is the Tarsus Regional Project, jointly sponsored by Bryn Mawr College and Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, including the investigation of the Gözlü Kule mound at Tarsus and its vicinity; a regional survey and geomorphological examination are being undertaken in preparation for excavation. Peter Magee, who joins the department in January 2002, is co-director of the Akra Excavation in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, and director of the Australian Excavation at Muweilah in the United Arab Emirates. The Ella Riegel Memorial Study Collection holds an excellent and diverse teaching collection of material in many media that permits students to work first hand on such objects as coins, Near Eastern seals, Greek and Roman pottery, and prehistoric and historic pottery from much of the Mediterranean area, including specific collections from individual excavated sites.Prerequisites
An undergraduate major in archaeology or at least two courses in archaeology or ancient art combined with a major in history of art, anthropology, Greek, Latin or ancient history. It is expected that students of classical archaeology will have a basic knowledge of Greek, Latin and ancient history, and a reading knowledge of German and French (or Italian). For students of Near Eastern archaeology the prerequisites are ancient history and a reading knowledge of German and French (or Italian); some preliminary study of an ancient Near Eastern language is desirable. Each application will be judged individually on its aims and soundness of preparation. All applicants must submit scores in the aptitude test of the Graduate Record Examinations.Extract of Requirements from the Graduate Handbook
Language Requirements.
For the M.A. and the Ph.D., a good reading knowledge of German and French. For the Ph.D., a reading knowledge of one ancient language. Modern language skills will be tested by examinations administered by the department.Program and Examinations for the M.A.
Six units of work in the Department of Archaeology or in archaeology and an allied field; a research paper prepared under the supervision of a departmental adviser or two special papers prepared in consultation with faculty of the department; three hours of written examination concerning the field in which the research paper was undertaken; one hour of oral examination to discuss the results. This M.A. is prerequisite for the Ph.D. program and will normally take two years to complete. First-year students take two units of the Graduate Intensive Survey.Program and Examinations for the Ph.D.
After completion of the M.A. program, students continue to take seminars and supervised work in preparation for the preliminary examinations and the Ph.D. dissertation. A program of study is designed for each individual student in consultation with the department. Four special fields of study (one of which may be an allied field) are prepared for the preliminary examinations. The examinations consist of four four-hour papers and an oral examination.All graduate students are encouraged to spend their third or fourth year of graduate study abroad. Students in classical archaeology are advised to spend a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Students of Near Eastern archaeology will be advised to attend a center of archaeological research in their area of concentration. Museums in Europe and the Near East should be visited in the course of the year(s) spent abroad. Participation in excavations under the auspices of Bryn Mawr College or other schools is arranged when possible.
Depending upon individual study programs, the preliminary examinations are normally taken at the end of the third or in the course of the fourth year of graduate study.
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