The Archaeology program at SMU is largely focused on the New World, with
faculty research interests ranging in time from the earliest hunter-gatherers to
complex societies across North, Middle, and South America. The program offers
broad training in contemporary archaeological theory, method, and scientific
application, and is strongly field-oriented, with current projects in the North
American High Plains and desert Southwest, in the Maya Lowlands, and coastal
Peru. See appendix 2 for typical sequencing of courses. It provides graduate
students with a wide array of field and related laboratory research
opportunities.
The
program also provides training and help in obtaining funding for your
dissertation research – whether or not you are part of an ongoing,
already-funded research program.
The Department has established
links to the Clements Center for Southwest
Studies in the Department of History, and to the
Fort Burgwin Research Center on the SMU campus outside Taos, New Mexico.
Facilities in the Department and University include extensive archaeological
laboratories, computer facilities and research and teaching collections;
paleontological collections (in the
Shuler Museum of Paleontology); and, through the Geology Program and the Institute for the Study of Earth
and Man, laboratories for conducting scanning electron microscopy and
microprobe analyses,
pollen analysis, and
stable isotope geochemistry. The University libraries have extensive
holdings in New World archaeology, as well as archival holdings on the American
Southwest.
For more information about our
specific research interests, follow the links to individual faculty
RESEARCH.
Group A: Required Courses: 18 hours total (3 credit hours, except for the
Proseminars)
ANTH 5334--History
of Anthropology
ANTH
6301--Principles of Archaeology
ANTH
6312--Contemporary Theory in Anthropology
ANTH
6338--Paleolithic Archaeology or ANTH 6339 Neolithic Archaeology
ANTH
6033--Proseminar in Archaeological Ethics
ANTH 6034--Teaching
Proseminar
**Required, but not to be taken until after
successful completion of the Master's Exam:
ANTH 6342--Science
and the Human Past
ANTH 7317--Research
Strategies in Archaeology
Group B: Elective Courses: 36 hours
ANTH 6310--The
Prehistory of the American Southwest
ANTH 6332--Special
Problems in Anthropology
ANTH
6333--Laboratory Methods in Archaeology Lithics
ANTH 6337--Origins
of Complex Society
ANTH 6351, 6352,
6353, 6354, 6355, 6156, 6256--Research in Anthropology
ANTH
6357--Statistics in Archaeology (or ANTH 6302--Statistics in Anthropology)
ANTH 6368--North
American Archaeology
ANTH 6369--South American Archaeology
ANTH 7312--Archaeology of MesoAmaerica
ANTH
7313--Archaeological Theory
ANTH 7318--Late
Pleistocene Prehistory of North America
ANTH 7321--Ceramic
Analysis for Archaeologists
NOTE: With the advice and consent of the Director of
Graduate Studies and the student’s mentor, students may choose other courses
offered within the Department or
University as electives for up to 6 hours of credit. Students register for
these courses through an Independent Studies option in Anthropology. Additional
hours may be petitioned.
Group C: Field Courses: up to 9 hours
ANTH 5381, 5382, 5681, 5981 -- Field Methods in
In addition, various workshops in Archaeological Sciences for 2 or 3 hours
credit are occasionally offered at Fort Burgwin. The options include Palynology
and Ethnobotany. Students register for these courses under a Research in
Anthropology number. Students can fulfill three of the nine hours with
Anthropology 6333, but the student should check that the class will be offered
in the coming semesters.
MA General Examination
Students who wish to continue to the Ph.D. program are required
to show strong proficiency in a
General Examination taken at the end
of their second year of coursework.
Upon entering the graduate program (i.e., during your first week
in the department), you will receive a list of 24 questions. These questions
will serve as the pool from which will appear on your M.A. General Examination,
taken at the end of your fourth semester. You will be expected to provide
answers to four of these questions during a one-day written exam.
Note: If you enter our program with an Master’s degree in
anthropology, you will be expected to take the M.A. General Examination at the
end of your second semester of classes.
Note: If you have not completed an archaeology field school or
had equivalent archaeology field training, you must do so prior to taking the
M.A. General Examination.
Note: No M.A. General Examination may take place in the summer.
The exam will be administered on the first day of the exam week
at the end of your fourth semester or second semester for entrants with Master’s
degrees in Anthropology). Answers will be prepared on computer, and be
anonymous. You will answer two of three possible questions from the list during
the morning (covering archaeological theory and method) and two of three
possible questions from the list during the afternoon (on aspects of world
prehistory). There will be a 90 minute time limit for each question.
All members of the archaeology faculty in residence will grade
the exam. Each question will be given either a
"Pass with distinction," "Pass," "Low
pass," or
"Fail" by
each faculty member, and the average of these grades will stand as the grade for
that question. The average of all of the grades will determine your overall
performance on the exam. You will receive your results by the last day of the
same exam week.
Your advancement in the Ph.D. program is contingent on achieving
a grade of
"Pass"
or higher on the exam as a whole. Students who receive a grade of
"Low pass"
on their exam are awarded a Masters of Arts degree in
Anthropology, but will not be admitted into the Ph.D. program. Students who fail
the exam will not receive any degree and will not be allowed to continue in the
program. Students will not be allowed to retake the examination, either in part
or in whole.
Failure to take this exam at the specified time can result in
dismissal from the program. Only serious extenuating circumstances will be
considered as a reason for postponement, and these must be presented in the form
of a well-documented petition to the Director of Graduate Studies and be
approved by a majority of the anthropology faculty.
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Ph.D. Qualifying Committee
Upon successful completion of the General Exam, students
should establish their Ph.D. Qualifying Exam committee, including the Chair of
the committee, if they have not done so by that time. This Committee must be set
up in accordance with university guidelines and approved by the Committee Chair.
The list of members should then be filed with the Department Director of
Graduate Studies and the Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. Students should
begin to work with this committee to formulate their regional and theoretical
interests.
Ph.D. Qualifying Examination and the Ph.D. Proposal
Defense
The Ph.D. Qualifying Examination consists of two parts: a
take-home written exam and a proposal defense.
Written Exam
No later than the 6th week of the sixth
semester (or no later than the 6th week of the semester in which
students are completing course work) students will take a written Ph.D.
Qualifying Examination. This exam will be tailored to the student’s research
topic, and will be set and evaluated by the student’s Advisor and Committee.
There will be two questions in the area of specialization, one on the region of
research, the other on methodological and/or theoretical matters related to the
proposed research. This will be a take-home exam, with a time limit of one week.
Each answer should be no more than 15 typed double-spaced
pages (Times-Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margins). Each answer should include a
bibliography of sources referenced (not counted in the page limit). Students are
expected to comply with the Honor Code of the University when taking these
exams.
The Qualifying Examination will receive a written
evaluation from the student's committee. This will identify strengths and
weaknesses, and suggest areas of further study as necessary. A student may be
asked to rewrite a paper that does not show sufficient grasp of a subject area.
NOTE: Failure to take these
exams at the specified time can result in dismissal from the program. Only
serious extenuating circumstances will be considered as a reason for
postponement and these must be presented in the form of a well-documented
petition to the Department Chair for approval by a majority of the anthropology
faculty. No examinations will be offered in the summer.
Proposal Defense:
During the sixth semester students are expected to
complete the proposal of their planned research project. Students must submit
this proposal to members of their committee at least one month in advance of the
scheduled date of their proposal defense to allow time for revisions. All
faculty members on the students committee must receive a final version of the
proposal two weeks in advance of the proposal defense date. Late submissions
will not be accepted.
The Ph.D. Proposal Defense will occur no later than the
final day of classes of the final semester of course work (normally the sixth
semester). The proposal will be defended orally before the student's committee.
Suggestions for changes or improvements made by the committee during the defense
must be included in a final draft before it is submitted for funding.
It is the student’s responsibility to adhere to this
schedule, to insure adequate time for resubmitting revised drafts, and for
insuring that committee members will be available for the exam and defense. It
is the Advisor’s responsibility to schedule the exam and defense with the
assistance of the Departmental Administrative Assistant.
The Department’s Director of Graduate Studies, with the
assistance of the Departmental Administrative Assistant, is responsible for
tracking the student’s progress in completing course and language requirements.
The language requirement (explained elsewhere in this document) must be
successfully completed prior to the defense of the Ph.D. proposal.
Ph.D. Candidacy (ABD)
Ph.D. Candidacy is conferred upon the completion of 54
hours of coursework, completion of the language requirement, successful
completion of the written qualifying exam and successful defense of a
dissertation proposal.
Teacher Training and Teaching Practicum
During the second semester of the first year students are
required to take a one-hour non-credit teacher-training seminar (ANTH 6034). An
outline of this seminar is included in Appendix 3.
During the final semester of course work students will
enroll in a 3-credit teaching practicum. This practicum can take one of several
formats: team-teaching with a faculty member, team-teaching with another student
under the supervision of a faculty-member; teaching alone under the supervision
of a faculty member.
Preparing for the Ph.D. Dissertation
After successfully completing and defending their research
proposal, students must constitute their dissertation committee (which may be
the same as their Ph.D. qualifying exam committee). Students must communicate to
the Director of Graduate Studies, in writing, the composition of the Committee,
and must include a C.V. of the outside Committee member. Students will then
conduct their dissertation field research.
When they return from the field, students
enroll for an additional six hours of dissertation writing. Doctoral students
should complete their dissertations within five years after being admitted to
candidacy.
Committee members must receive a final draft of the
dissertation well in advance of the scheduled oral defense. (This draft must be
approved by all members of the committee before scheduling the oral defense.)
After consultation with the Chair of the Committee and all Committee members,
the student should schedule the defense through the Director of Graduate
Studies. Doctoral students are encouraged to complete their dissertations within
three to five years after being admitted to candidacy. Students defend their
Dissertations in an open forum to which all members of the University community
is invited. Any additional recommendations raised at that time should be
incorporated in the final version of the Dissertation.
The Dean of Research and Graduate Studies
does not permit students to claim full-time status (by registering for 8049) for
more than five years after admission to candidacy, whether they are full or part
time, and will not certify students as full-time after this period.
Post-Doctoral Teaching
Student's who complete all Ph.D. requirements within six
years may be offered a one-year Visiting Assistant Professorship in the
Department, and the opportunity to teach three courses per semester for the next
two semesters.
