All upcoming Archaeology programs

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79, it inadvertently preserved the most extensive and intact ruins anywhere in the ancient world. Drawing on the material remains of Herculaneum and Pompeii, historian Justin M. Jacobs paints a lively portrait of daily urban life in the Roman Empire. He explores the fascinating history of the earliest digs at these sites during the 18th century, when they were regarded as a private quarry of Roman antiquities for a Bourbon king.

Using evidence from the most recent archaeological discoveries, Jacquelyn Williamson, a specialist in Egypt and an associate professor of ancient art and archeology at George Mason University, surveys the social and historical realities of the Egyptian civilization from its early pyramids through its art created under King Akhenaten, who upended centuries of tradition to create new artistic conventions. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)

The word Babylon carries a dual legacy: the powerful ancient Mesopotamian city and the symbolic Babylon that echoes through global culture—from the Tower of Babel to the Whore of Babylon and even the reggae classic “Rivers of Babylon.” Founded by the Amorite ruler Sumu-la-El long after Sumer’s fall, Babylon rose along the Euphrates, expanding south to the Persian Gulf and north into Syria. Under its growing might, Babylonia emerged as a defining force in Near Eastern civilization, a legacy explored by historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones of Cardiff University.

When Octavian received the title Augustus from the Roman Senate in 27 B.C.E., he inaugurated a new political order known as the Principate. The shift marked the beginning of an era defined by stability, cultural renewal, and the calculated use of imagery to legitimize imperial rule. Art historian Renee Gondek discusses how art and architecture shaped and communicated the emerging identity of the Augustan era. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1/2 credit)

Mycenaean civilization has long resisted simple interpretation—neither purely the start of Greek culture nor an alien precursor. Classicist and archaeologist Dimitri Nakassis argues that archaeological and textual evidence reveals a diverse, evolving world spanning 1650–1100 B.C.E. across the Aegean and Ionian regions and reveals a complex Late Bronze Age society that defies neat categorization.

Once the largest urban center north of Mexico, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois, stands as one of the most significant archaeological landscapes in North America. At its peak, ca. 950–1350, Cahokia was a thriving city of tens of thousands, defined by monumental earthworks, sophisticated planning, and far-reaching influence. Today it is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Site interpreter Angela Cooper places Cahokia within the broader story of Indigenous North America, outlining its deep historical roots and the shared traditions of the Mississippian world.

For more than 140 million years, dinosaurs were among the dominant land animals on Earth. Thousands of species lived and died across all climates and environments and on every landmass. The National Museum of Natural History’s curator of Dinosauria, paleontologist Matthew Carrano, explores what life was like for dinosaurs in these ecosystems as he discusses what scientists know, don’t know, and hope to learn about the ecology of dinosaurs.

Few days in ancient history can be reconstructed in nearly hour-by-hour detail, but the Battle of Salamis in September 480 B.C.E. is one of them. Professor emeritus of classics Robert Garland recounts this consequential clash between the Greeks and the Persian Empire, often called “the battle that saved Western civilization.” The Greek victory against a much larger Persian navy was a lasting reminder of how strategy can overcome overwhelming power and how hubris invites defeat.