Byzantine archaeology in the US?

[archer]

I'm a sophomore in college who is looking for graduate programs in Byzantine archaeology. While the UK seems to have many programs devoted to this subject, the US doesn't (that I've been able to find at least). There are programs devoted to Medieval studies (which falls into the right time period, but they seem to focus almost exclusively on the Latin West), and there are Classical archaeology programs (which focuses on the cultures that eventually created the Byzantine empire, but doesn't fall into the right time period). What should I be looking for? If anyone could give me some advice, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. :mrgreen:

[archer]

One more thing - I am looking at Berkeley's Classical Archaeology page for prospective students - they require several courses taken in Greek and Latin to even admit into their program. I was under the impression that these courses could be taken while in grad school! Are all programs like this? My school doesn't even offer Greek or Latin! Am I completely screwed?

[Yismet]

So Byzantine archaeology is a little out of my area, but I can give you my ideas. Searching for programs might be futile - I think it would be better just to search for people. Byz. archaeology is not a big field, but find what books and articles you can, see who wrote them, and see what schools they are at/ their departments. Archaeologists sometimes like to "hide" in other programs like art history. If you can't find anybody, you may need to make a compromise, like going to grad school for art history, but choose a school/program that has strong ties to an anthropology program, or the other way around, etc... One particular place to look is University of Pennsylvania's Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World (AAMW) program. I am pretty sure they have someone who does Byzantine art/architecture, and they also have good archaeologists. You could also consider doing a Master's first, and doing it abroad. Not just England, but also look at Turkey and Greece.

As far as languages go, it will be very hard to get into any Classics/ classical archaeology program without ANY Latin or Greek. Obviously, you are going to need both, but Greek would be a better start for you. I won't say it is impossible to get in without the languages, and please don't change your mind about what you want to study because of it. It will just be harder - though professors do realize that not every school offers Greek/Latin. One of my friends is applying to grad school for Byzantine art history and he has been told he also needs to learn Turkish, since most of the ruins are in Turkey and there are A LOT of publications in Turkish. If you can't get Greek or Latin at your school, can you take it through an online course through your school or at other universities nearby? Also consider studying abroad in countries like England or Turkey (for example, Bogazici University) where you can take classes directly related to Byzantine studies and the languages, which will look good to admission's committees. Taking initiative in situations like this is important and will show you really care.

Also, some schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania, offer post- bacs, which are pretty much intensive year long programs in Greek and Latin to prepare students for grad school.

I hope some of this has been helpful - Byzantine archaeology is not my area of study, though I do find it very interesting. Good luck!

[archer]

Thanks for the advice! I did end up finding a prof who was interested in Byzantine archaeology hiding out at the UC Berkeley Classics department, so that's definitely the way I'm going to have to search. I'm actually doing a language program in Turkey this summer, so yay!

Thanks again (I love this site so much - always someone wiling to answer my stupid questions!