Bioarchaeology programs

[huntress]

Hey everyone,

I am new here, etc. Anyway, I am currently a third year at UCSB (I am a physical anth. major/minoring in art history) and I would really like to get either a MA or Phd in bioarch. Problem is, I am not 100% sure what I would like to focus on--although I am interested in paleopathology as well. I was a transfer student, so I do not have a lot of research under my belt, but I have done two internships. One working in my department's repository and another one doing lab work/analysis. I spend the majority of my time sorting through unsorted bags/boxes, identifying: artifacts, otoliths, etc., and sorting the remaining material. And some other things as well. I am also a research assistant. I'm helping a grad. student conduct research work for psychological anthropology. I honestly enjoy my "job" and I would love to actually work in academia.

As for schools, I am not sure at the moment. I am currently researching faculty members at different schools. Although, I do love my current school, I feel like I am not a perfect match with a lot of the faculty. I am not that interested in Latin America or Native Americans. Although, I do believe that UCSB has a good physical anthropology department. But I feel like I should "branch out". Lab work has made me realize that I do love bioarch., but I also do love art history (I know this is beginning to sound ridiculous, but I do think anth. and art history relate to one another in some way). I am mostly interested in prehistoric peoples & the Old World. Mostly Africa and Mesopotamia to be a bit more specific.

I am desperately trying to morph everything that I want to do, but I'm having a difficult time. Please advise? Also, I am mostly looking for schools outside of California because the cost of living is way too high.

[anthropologygeek]

You should not go to your undergrad institution for grad school. It's academic imbreeding and career suicide. You need at least two different schools and three is prefered. You need to be well-rounded and you only get one point of view instead of two or three.

[huntress]

So, I am assuming I should get my MA at another school (which is something that I would actually prefer doing) and apply for a Phd program at another school?

[TooMuchCaffeine]

No matter what, you should get your MA at another program. You can go back to UCSB for your Ph.D., but you may find that your research interests have changed and would prefer another program.

[anthropologygeek]

Yes you can go back as long as you went to at least 2

[huntress]

OK everyone. I did some research and I'm settling on getting my MA in bioarch. at Illinois State University. I was looking at the bios of the faculty and I'm really interested in Fred H. and Maria Ostendorf. Website here.

Does anyone know if the program is impacted? As for my background, I have a 3.3GPA currently (plan on making it better--transferred with a 0.0GPA, so RN only last quarter's grades are calculated; I received two A's, a pass in my internship and a C from a class that everyone failed in). I plan on getting a 4.0 this quarter. I was wondering if being a minority would also help my chances? I know that being an URM helps for med school, but I'm assuming not so much for anything else? I know that a lot of schools like to pretend they're not doing affirmative action, but it definitely feels like they are a lot of the time. Especially since I'm a Black female. What do you think?

I am a hard worker and I am working and communicating with my school's faculty, so I hope that helps my chances. I'll start studying for the GRE after winter quarter.

[anthropologygeek]

You may want to chose a few more schools. No school is a guarantee and I have heard of good students going there so they do get good applicants.

[laurissimo]

Huntress-

You sound EXACTLY like me. Bioarch, but my preferred area is Europe I did a TON of research this past year... I actually changed my path last year. I was accepted to Edinburgh and Durham for European Arch, but turned them down because I -really- wanted to study bioarch. Both of those schools have excellent bioarch programs as well. As do a lot in the UK. They are much more intense about it than the US is, in my opinion.

BUT- some other US colleges worth looking in to- NCSU and Arizona State both have their own dedicated programs. And there are plenty of other Anthro progams who have faculty with bioarch interests- just do some digging on the internet. UPenn, OSU, PSU, UCSB, UNC... What will be hard is the old world aspect, because a lot of colleges are on the "Native kick" (believe me, after trying to apply to specialize in Old World and not getting into a single US School..) GWU has a good paleoanthropology department, too- probably one of the best in the nation if you're interested in human origins.

[sp101]

Huntress-

Could you clarify more on what topics/areas you are interested in Bioarchaeology? The field has quickly diversified and specialized in the past few years. I too, am a Bioarch major and Art History minor at UPenn, and am looking at places to continue research. Combining these two areas of research is not unknown, but the biological analysis of artifacts usually falls under the auspices of Art Conservation.

Some ares of Bioarch/ArtHist study:

-Tomb Grave Assemblages(think skeletonized/mummifed/clothed remains in situ of formal burial sites)

-Synthesis of pottery form/function and interior residue analysis

-Dating studies

-Prehistoric and ancient tool-making

-Medical Imaging of artifacts

-Metallurgy

-Forensics

Some schools with known bioarch/art/paleopath programs are:

Oxford- scientific study of material culture

Cambridge- Biological Anthropology

UCL- Bioarchaelogy and Analysis of Archaeological materials

Ohio State- Bioarchaelogy

Arizona State- Bioarchaelogy

Durham- Bioarchaelogy

Delaware- Art Conservation

[shoffman]

University of Leicester (UK) also has a Bioarch study path in the archaeology MA program: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/postgraduate/ma/archaeology

[elunia]

Hi huntress,

Is there a reason you want to get an MA and not go straight to a PhD? An MA can be the right move for some people, but if you skip the MA you will avoid tons of debt an shave some time off your total grad career. But, it can also help to sort out your interests and boost credentials before the PhD applications. I went straight to PhD, so that's just my opinion. If you do this option, I'd also consider taking some time off before grad school, it can keep you sane and give you perspective.

When I started applying for bioarch places I looked at the AAPA's website's list of programs and went to every single school's website to narrow down where there were people I was interested in working with. You should consider what kind of training you want: some schools are straight up bioanth/bioarch, and others incorporate training in archaeology and anthro more generally, which obviously gives you a different perspective. (I'm in the latter type of program.)

If you have only done labwork so far, I would VERY strongly suggest you do a bioarch field school. Even if you don't plan to be a field researcher, you need to see how excavations work to understand the biases/problems/issues of the material you'll be seeing in the lab, and it will help in your grad apps.

Also check out Arizona State, Ohio State, the NYCEP consortium in NYC (all heavily bioanth programs) - there are plenty of programs out there, but again the focus might be different in each.