The study of archaeology is traditionally associated with sociology, anthropology and history, so it may seem odd that on April 1, the department of archaeology left the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) to join the Faculty of Environment (FENV).

John Pierce, dean of FENV, says it’s a move that makes sense.

“There are two main reasons,” he says. “Archaeology is inherently an interdisciplinary program and, like FENV’s geography department and School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM), it spans the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Secondly, faculty do really zero in on areas of common interest, such as human/environment inter-relations and biodiversity dynamics.”

The 15-member archaeology department, which has been independently rated as one of the top archaeology research and teaching programs in the world, is one of only two stand-alone programs in Canada. It has strengths in many areas that complement FENV, such as archaeological science, environmental archaeology, human evolutionary studies, forensics, heritage management and First Nations Studies.

As well, the department already had several links with FENV, including a cross-appointment with REM, faculty collaboration on a research project and graduate-student participation in a research project.

“These are synergies that we can exploit as a faculty in a very positive way,” says Pierce, who praises FASS for putting the university first by agreeing to the switch.

John Craig, dean of FASS, regrets losing the program but says FASS members’ collaboration with archaeology faculty members will continue.