New Archeology Minor Has Stockton Students Exploring The Past

GALLOWAY, NJ — A new Archeology minor at Stockton University affords students a hands-on glimpse into past cultures.

When Andreya Rusnak first heard about the school’s new Archaeology minor, she didn’t think it would interest her, even though she’s always loved history, Stockton shared in a news release.

“When I think of an archaeologist, I always think of someone who digs up dinosaur bones,” said the sophomore from Vineland. “But when Dr. Hornbeck explained it to me, she talked about how it’s actually the study of cultures of the past.”

And this is exactly what Bobbi Hornbeck, assistant professor of Archaeology and the creator of the new minor, wants to hear.

“There’s not enough awareness of the fact that Archaeology is applicable to so many different disciplines and jobs,” she said. “It literally is appropriate for anybody.”

Anybody meaning people with an interest in the scientific study of the material culture left behind by humans in the past.

The minor is unique among New Jersey schools, Hornbeck said, because of its tailored structure. Students must choose a focus — general archaeology, classics, geoarchaeology or zooarchaeology, which involves biology. These subjects echo the real-world demands of the field and can lead to jobs in research science, protecting or preserving heritage sites or museum curation.

“People can’t agree on whether Archaeology is history, a social science or an environmental science because it doesn’t actually fit into one box,” Hornbeck said. “You have incorporate all of it to actually answer questions about humanity and what it means to be human.”

Archeology is not just what is under the ground, but under the sea as well. Junior Justin Popdan, who grew up in Cape May, wants to mix his love of marine science and shipwrecks with archeology.

“The normal anthropology side of finding bones or looking at ancient civilizations is cool to me, but I like the ocean aspect, specifically because of how unexplored it is. So much has gone missing at sea that’s just so untouched,” Popdan, who plans to declare an Archeology minor, said.

Hornbeck is taking a unique approach to the minor. She wants to separate it from its long and ugly history with Indigenous cultures, including the ignoring of Indigenous voices and perspectives in favor of Western science.

“The discipline is undergoing a radical transformation,” she said. “Many archaeologists and Indigenous tribal communities today are collaborating to uncover the truth about the past. There is still a great deal of work to do, but the discipline has been trying to make equitable and respectful research a priority.”

Hornbeck also expressed excitement over the minor’s hands-on research. Students are studying Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and has students working on an archaeological dig at the Museum of Cape May County and helping to catalogue about 5,000 Indigenous and colonial artifacts found in the Richard Cook Curation Collection. Cook, a former longtime Cape May County resident, donated his collection to the Nature Center of Cape May.

Rusnak, a Communication Studies major, can’t wait to get involved in some of that research. She originally declared her minor in Anthropology but is now switching to Archaeology.

“It fits more of my interests. I’d love to have opportunities like those. Having a minor in Archaeology is one way to make stuff like that more accessible to me,” she said. “I just want to learn more about the history of humans and how different cultures have shaped us today.”