What colleges offer the best archaeology programs?

Question

I'm looking for a college that has a great archaeology program and offers near/middle eastern languages but is not too expensive.

Answer 1

Honestly, the College of Charleston in South Carolina has a strong arabic program and fairly decent archaeology program.  It is only offered as a minor, but the college offers majors in history, historic preservation, anthropology, geology, etc that work well in conjunction with the minor.  Dr. Newhard, the head of the archaeology program takes students to Turkey every summer for a field school outside of Ankara.  The college's anthropology program is closely ties to the Charleston museum, the oldest museum in the country and an organization with close ties to the British museum.

Other than preliminary networking, undergrad schools are not really important in the long run.  Graduate work is what counts in archaeology.

EDIT: In the US, archaeology is a sub-field of anthropology.  You will be hard-pressed to find a program that deals exclusively with archaeology and not at all with anthropology.

Answer 2

Very few programs offer exotic languages like the ones you're looking for. The University of Pennsylvania is one of them, other large universities such as Michigan might. Your undergraduate institution won't really matter, as most don't offer archaeology as its own discipline (although some do).

Answer 3

it matters what u r best at

Answer 4

I would look into the University of Stony Brook, NY.  I believe they have a middle east program and their archeology department is strong.  Professors are well educated and active in their respective fields.  I know Dr. Stone did work in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) and Dr. Shea worked in Israel.  Because it's a state university, cost is not a big issue.  SBU was third in the country at one point under Harvard and Duke university.

http://www.sunysb.edu/anthro/staff.shtml