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Thematic Focus of the

As a component of a General M.A. program in Anthropology,

• the interests of the faculty and students in archaeology are linked directly to broader anthropological concerns.
• Archaeology can best contribute to the anthropological enterprise by building on its strengths as a long-term history that has both material and symbolic dimensions. Archaeological theory dictates the appropriate methods of analysis that are used to interpret particular empirical records in a stepwise manner.
• Building on the long cultural ecological and processual tradition of anthropological archaeology, as well as our established regional M.A. program, we propose to focus on the dynamics of social relationships in the past, and their role in archaeological interpretation in the present.
• This perspective hinges on the ways in which power relations and social identities are created and reproduced and how these relations are expressed archaeologically through class, gender and ethnicity.
• We maintain that particular historical circumstances create the material conditions that serve to constrain and facilitate future actions: thus, it follows that the material world is both the product of and precedent for human activity.
• We are interested in examining the social, political, and economic conditions and assumptions shaping research and the orientation of the researcher. Historical research is not only about the past; it is also about the present, especially when interpretations of the past are contested. 

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This theoretical framework can be operationalized by employing logical derivative models and a wide range of new archaeological and post-processual methods and analytical techniques.

Equipment:

• We have access to a variety of technical equipment, available at Western Michigan University and hope to add to it over the next several years..
• Our goal is to acquaint our students with the newest relevant technologies and teach the application of these techniques to archaeological problems.
• The techniques include, but are not limited to, geophysics, geographical information systems analysis, digital imagery analysis, computer applications in archaeology, and characterization studies.

Areas of Interest:

We propose to use our theoretical and methodological orientation to explore a number of geographical and topical interests that we, the archaeology faculty, share. These include :

• the archaeology of the Great Lakes
• eastern North America
• South Asia,
• the Near East
• environmental archaeology,
• archaeobotany,
• material analysis,
• the origins of agriculture
• political economy,
• social inequality,
• the emergence of state formations,
• ethnohistory,
• historical archaeology
• the archaeology of colonialism.

Internet Archaeological Resources:

For Information on the Archaeology Program at Western Michigan University write to:

Dr. William Cremin             bill.cremin@wmich.edu
Dr. Michael Nassaney         nassaney@wmich.edu
Dr. Allen Zagarell               zagarell@wmich.edu

or apply to                            The Director of Graduate Studies
                                             Department of Anthropology
                                             Western Michgan University
                                             Kalamazoo, MI 49008 

Return to Zagarell's Archaeology Page