From the editors of Beneath the Ivory Tower: The Archaeology of Academia (Inside Higher Ed):Conducting archaeological investigations on a college or university campus is important for a number of reasons. All of these relate to making the university’s past relevant both to its ongoing role as an institution as well as to its students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the larger university community. …
All schools, colleges, and universities have a land base. Under those campuses may be preserved evidence of prehistoric, nonacademic, or early academic life. These are natural laboratories for the study of local and institutional histories and should be used for education and research … [these] stories need to be told and archaeology can tell stories that were never recorded in campus newspapers and official histories.
Image: Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria , Flickr Commons.
