Horn Lectureship Series Features Undergraduate Students

"Making a Future for Our Past..."

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The Horn Lectureship Series is proud to present: “Making a Future for our Past: Student Research at the Institute of Archaeology and the Siegfried Horn Archaeological Museum,” on Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. in the Seminary Chapel on the campus of Andrews University.

Robert D. Bates, PhD research associate for the Institute of Archaeology, and Andrews University students will be presenting ongoing research projects for the museum. The diverse projects included photographing artifacts, ceramic analysis, remodeling museum displays, serving as docents, correlating bones, scanning coins and creating archaeological illustrations.

The Horn Lectureship Series is presented by the Siegfried H. Horn Museum. This installment is a product of the hard work of undergraduate students who are taking general studies courses in history and behavioral sciences. For the past four years, these students have been privileged to participate in ongoing research at the Institute of Archaeology. Although most of the students were not archaeology or anthropology majors, they were given the unprecedented opportunity not only to handle ancient artifacts, but to study their history and context, along with making an important contribution to archaeology, history and even our understanding of the Bible. This type of research is usually limited to graduate students.

The Horn Museum already houses more than 8,500 ancient Near-Eastern artifacts, including coins, pottery, sculptures, tools, weapons, figurines, jewelry, seals and glass vessels, among a myriad of other artifacts. The students added to this body of research, gaining hands-on experience by engaging in artifact examination from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Ottoman period.

As of today, nearly 300 undergraduate and high school students have participated in this program, including students from the Berrien County RESA program. The work showcases their ability to contribute to the archaeological research goals of the Institute of Archaeology and the Horn Museum.

Learning about the past teaches us more about ourselves, and how to deal with the future. This presentation will do just that. In the words of one of the presenting students, “We as humans can not know who we truly are unless we know where we came from, and I think that this archaeological work is a step in the right direction.”

To learn more about the Siegfried H. Horn Museum or schedule an appointment, visit andrews.edu/archaeology/museum or call 269-471-3273.

By Marcus Larivaux, student writer for Integrated Marketing & Communication