Graduate Program

Doctoral Degree in Archaeology and Archaeological Materials (AAM)

The field of archaeological materials utilizes the scientific principles and laboratory methods of materials science and engineering to study the natural and cultural artifacts central to archaeological inquiry. It involves determination of the materials that early and non-industrial societies exploited from the natural environment, their processing, and the engineering design that, together with processing, transformed these natural materials into cultural objects. Research includes archaeological fieldwork coupled with laboratory analysis and experiment in an effort to reconstruct the materials technologies of societies known principally from their archeological remains.

Core Subjects

All PhD students must take four core subjects, all H-level.

Archaeology* (2 subjects)

1. Method and Theory in Archaeology
2. Physical Anthropology: Human Biological Evolution

Materials (2 subjects)

1. 3.20 Materials at Equilibrium
2. 3.21 Kinetic Processes in Materials

Restricted Electives

All Ph.D. students must take three restricted electives from the following list, all H-level.

Archaeology* (2 subjects)

1. A subject in the student’s geographic area of study, (for example: Mesoamerica, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia, China)
2. A subject in the student’s area of theoretical interest, (for example: high-altitude adaptations, evolution of technological style, economic archaeology)

Materials (1 subject)

• A subject in materials properties, (for example: 3.22, Mechanical Properties of Materials; 3.35, Fracture and Fatigue; 3.951J, Deformation and Fracture of Polymers)

OR

• A subject in the material most relevant to the student’s research, (for example: 3.40J, Modern Physical Metallurgy; 3.63, Ceramic Processes; 10.560, Structure and Properties of Polymers)

Unrestricted Electives

All students must take three unrestricted electives, all H-level.

Archaeology* (2 subjects)

1. A subject in a geographic area outside of the student’s primary focus, or in a field such as geoarchaeology or palaeoecology
2. A subject relevant to the student’s research focus (for example: craft specialization and the development of complex society; the built environment as a component of ideational systems; materials management and environmental conservation and degradation in prehistory)

Materials (1 subject)

• A subject in materials processing, in engineering design, or in special techniques in the analysis of the mechanical or thermal behavior of materials (for example: 3.371, Fabrication Technology; 3.52J, Advanced Materials Processing; 1.366, Geotechnical Engineering; 4.406, Ecologies of Construction; 10.50, Analysis of Transport Phenomena)

OR

• A subject in materials application (for example: 1.381, Rock Mechanics; 1.541, Mechanics and Design of Concrete Structures; 2.094, Finite Element Analysis of Solids and Fluids)

*Graduate subjects in archaeology to fulfill the Ph.D. program requirements may be taken at Harvard University with permission of the student’s MIT faculty advisor.

Back to Ph.D. requirements.