Graduate Study in Historical Archaeology
Department of Anthropology, Ball State University
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Historical archaeology is at an exciting juncture in the early 21st century. Emerging from humble origins in the 1950s and 1960s as a supplementary information source for architectural historians involved in period reconstructions, the discipline became a formal topic of study during its adolescence in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 1990s, historical archaeology has matured into a hybrid perspective, using a multidisciplinary approach that transcends academic boundaries. Today, historical archaeologists wear many hats--they rely on archaeological techniques, use historical methods, especially thought within social history, and borrow liberally from social theory--all for the purpose of better understanding anthropologically the everyday lives of people that inhabited the recent past.
Historical archaeology conducted in the Department of Anthropology at Ball State University (BSU) is guided by a holistic research design that explores the major cultural-historical trends that have shaped material life in the surrounding Midwest study region since the 1700s. Potential historical archaeology topics that can be pursued through graduate student research for the M.A. degree in anthropology consist of historic Native Americans, the settler period, the development of commercial agriculture, the growth of communities, industry, and the surrounding transportation infrastructure. Graduate students in the department often conduct historical archaeology research through grants, contracts, and in collaboration with research projects conducted by department faculty and staff. The Department of Anthropology at Ball State University emphasizes a four-field approach. Graduate students in the department receive instruction in the main subdisciplines of anthropology and then focus upon a specific topic for thesis research.
Faculty Specializing in Historical Archaeology
Mark Groover (Ph.D., University of Tennessee, 1998; Associate Professor of Anthropology). Historical archaeology of eastern U.S., Southeast, Midwest, 1700s-1950s; archaeological theory, quantitative methods; research designs, regional syntheses, cultural resource management. email: mdgroover@bsu.edu
Historical Archaeology Research Design
M.A. Degree Requirements and Suggested Courses
BSU M.A. Theses in Historical Archaeology
News, Events, and Announcements
Mark Groover's BSU
Anthropology Courses, Spring 2013
Mark Groover's Archaeological Publications and Research Projects
Alpha Chapter of Indiana, Lambda Alpha Honor Society
BSU Department of Anthropology Web Page
"Blessed by Him an Entire Nation"
1814 Napoleonic medallion of Frederick Wilhelm III of Prussia,
recovered from 2004 summer excavations at the Moore-Youse house, Muncie.
Napoleonic medallions were circulated during the 1800s as
political commemoratives.
Copyright 2011 Mark Groover; site last updated September 24, 2012.
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