Archaelogy
The Bachelor's degree in Archeology prepares professionals who study and understand the societies of the past and their way of life through the material remains left by the cultural activity of our ancestors. The results contribute to explaining the history of our human species and the societies that have been formed in the world.
Our degree involves field practices, such as prospecting, excavation, anthropological study, and laboratory activities that, combining it with knowledge of other related sciences, makes it the only transdisciplinary Archeology degree in Ecuador.
The archaeological study of the pre-Hispanic past in Ecuador is central to our history as a nation state, which allows the graduate of this degree to recover the historical memory and ancestral knowledge of the first cultures that inhabited the country; and consequently, understand ourselves as a society today.
* Undergraduate tuition/fees:
The Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador in its Article 356, among other principles, establishes that third-level public higher education will be tuition/fees free. Zero cost education is linked to the academic responsibility of the students.
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Graphs show the figures in real time, at the time of the query
We are looking for young people with ethical principles, that likes for field work and an interest in knowing, discovering and valuing the history and sociocultural reality of Ecuador and Latin America.
Applicants must:
- Be analytical, observant and have the ability to argue logically and thoughtfully.
- Be critical and proactive.
- Plan and solve problems.
- Have interest in the protection, conservation and restoration of Archaeological and Anthropological Cultural Heritage.
- Possess skills to understand sociocultural reality, based on the explanation of various phenomena, with the support of the scientific method.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
- Allow the graduates to respond to the social and academic demands in the research, educational and patrimony management fields.
- Promote an academic and comprenhenive training based on theory, methodologies and archaelogical techniques, providing the students with modern tools to manage the patrimony.
- Prepare the students to recover, value and disseminate the cultural uniqueness of Ecuador in the regional context.
- Develop abilities that allow the graduates to particpate in multidisciplinary projects of patrimonial intervention, archaelogical impact, resources management and research
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Have the ability to integrate the archaeological knowledge with other disciplines participating in any research.
- Have the theoretical knowledge of the Antropological and Archaelogical theory.
- Have the theoretical and scientific knowledge to register archaeological data.
- Have the ability to integrate archaeological data in the local and international context.
- Have the ability to analyze the design of any archaelogical research project and be part of it.
- Have the ability to interact with different participants that take part of the research, conservation and dissemination process of the patrimony.
First Year
Description:
In this course, students apply the Design Thinking methodology to identify, analyze real-life problems or needs, to design innovative solutions. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to present solution proposals that add value to customers/users from private companies, public organizations and non-profit organizations.
Description:
Mathematics is a basic course aimed at the training of professionals in Archeology, Nutrition and Tourism. His program comprises four units: logic and sets, real numbers, and systems of equations, real variable functions, and plane and space geometry. Each unit analyzes the theoretical foundations and their application in problem solving.
Description:
This basic and general education subject presents grammatical structures to produce a simple paragraph based on a writing program. Additionally, it allows the identification of a specific argument in oral and written communication. It also considers learners’ personal opinions about different topics related to social, academic, and professional aspects. It includes the necessary vocabulary to make comparisons between present and past, books or movies description, creation of simple students’ profile, opinions about inventions, formal apologies and tell past events.
Description:
WIth this first semester course from the BA track, studentes will be able to understand how the exact and human sciences relate to geography, how space is addressed from differente subjectivities, and the discourses associated with them. Fundamental issues in Physical and Human Geography, together with tools and methods from Geographical Information Systems (GIS) will be studied.
Description:
This course will study the evolution of the forms of historical knowledge through time, as well as its epistemological and methodological problems and the innovations of contemporary historiography in terms of inclusion of subjects of study and related methodological requirements. It will aim at reconstructing the historical path of Ethnohistory as a field of study within the framework of the approach of Anthropology to History, characterizing specific developments in the study of Andean societies, different research strategies, construction of new categories of analysis and methodologies (selection, analysis and articulation of written, oral and archaeological sources).
Description:
This course examines how the history of our species has been constructed, from our origins, passing through the fundamental moments that have conditioned today's society, with its different interpretations. This subject contributes to the formation of the epistemological foundations on which Anthropology and Archaeology are based.
Description:
The course presents students with strategies to solve common problems in various professional fields through the design and implementation of solutions based on the use of a programming language. It covers the basic principles so that the student can read and write programs; emphasizing the design and analysis of algorithms. In addition, it introduces students to the use of development and debugging tools.
Description:
In this subject, we study the development of the academic prosumer profile of the students, which should be consolidated throughout each individual's life, based on the processing of complex, holistic, and critical thinking. We aim to foster understanding and the production of academic knowledge through rigorous analysis of realities and readings from various academic/scientific sources.
Description:
The course will allow understanding the approaches on the original peoples of the Northern Andean Area to value their contributions and ancestral knowledge in the present. Will develop theknowledge of archaeological sites for training in the recognition of different cultural manifestations of pre-Columbian societies.
Description:
This course addresses the prehistory of the Old World from different perspectives. It begins with a discussion on Western thought and the construction of archaeology as a discipline. It develops elements of the theory of the origin of the species, in order to present basic facts on the evolution of the first hominids. Working with recent publications, the main theories on the cognitive revolution and periodization of lithic industries will be analyzed. There will be a special focus on the processes of social and economic change known as the Neolithic Revolution, based on the reading of classical and contemporary texts.
Description:
This subject of basic formation and general education presents the grammatical structures for the production of an academic paragraph, through the development of the writing program in a transversal way. In addition, it allows the identification of specific arguments in oral and written communication, considering the production of one's own criteria on different topics of a social, academic or professional nature. The necessary vocabulary is also applied to refer to the different forms of communication, share work experiences and the use of digitl technology, tell short stories about interpersoanl relationship and personalities, and comment on the future of the environment.
Description:
This subject exposes the problems present in the study of the societies of the prehistoric and historical past. Emphasizing the different theoretical concepts that structure the archaeological and anthropological discipline, and how these concepts and methods have been opening up other theoretical schools, highlighting contemporary socio-political ideologies The explanatory approaches on the prehistoric cultural process (ecological and processual) will be reviewed, as well as the anthropological theories that in their reflections on otherness and inter-ethnic relations were promoted from the 1970s to the 21st century.
Second Year
Description:
The Statistics course provides students with the basic knowledge that will help them convert a data set into useful information for making decisions in scenarios of uncertainty. It encompasses different methods of tabulation and data analysis, the introduction of the concept of probability as a measure of uncertainty and mathematical models of discrete and continuous random variables. Additionally, analysis techniques such as regression and hypothesis testing of population parameters are included.
Description:
This course, taken during the third semester of the curriculum, examines the sequence of events that led to the consolidation of regional political units throughout the various geographic regions of Ecuador (coast, mountains, Amazon) into stable confederations organized through alliances and relationships. Cultures covered in this course include the Manteño-Huancavilca, Inca, Maya (New World), and Sumerian and Egyptian (Old World).
Description:
Genesis8939 The course provides to the student with the main theoretical prospects of Latin American social archaeology as a theoretical position, for the study of demographic archaeology and the social organization perceptible in archaeological settlements. They're reviewing methods for Categorizing material culture from the standpoint of Latin American social archaeology assuming society as a concrete historical totality, dialectically integrated by the Culture, the ways of life and the social formation dimensions.
Description:
This subject of basic instruction and general education presents grammatical topics for the elaboration of an outline and a structured composition, through the development of the writing program in a transversal way. In addition, it allows the identification of arguments in oral and written communication on contemporary and academic topics. Additionally, appropriate vocabulary is applied to discuss issues related to different cultures, places where we live, everyday news, entertainment media, and past and future opportunities.
Description:
This course addresses the study of the initial settlement of the Americas, including the dispersion of the first settlers throughout the various geographical and environmental areas of the New World as well as the techniques and technologies used for their hunting, fishing and gathering activities.
Description:
This module is a discipline that groups other sciences in the management of geospatial information that can be applied to archaeology. The use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing provides non-invasive solutions to archaeological work which provide more detailed information on the sites for the analysis and management of archaeological heritage. The course will begin with a theoretical introduction to the basic concepts of Geomatics and GIS to continue with vector data, raster data, and an introduction to the basic concepts of remote sensing and it will culminate with practices with GIS tools applied to archaeology.
Description:
This transversal course addresses the conditions required to innovate and the process associated with developing an innovation from an entrepreneurial point of view. Subsequently, topics such as the identification of opportunities, value creation, and prototyping and validation of products/services proposals are reviewed, as well as the elements of the business toghether with tools for the evaluation of a budget/financial management plan and the interpretation of financial data. Considerations that are essential for the feasibility and adoption of an innovation. Finally, entrepreneurial competences and process associated with the development and adoption of an innovation are studied.
Description:
This subjet theoretical-practice of professional formation is responsible for the study of human variability from a biopsicosociocultural approach.<span '="" style="text-decoration-line: none !important;text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-spacing:0px" id="s2_2">Addresses research on contemporary or past human populations from theoretical-evolutionary approaches and teaches the different techniques and methodologies of field excavation and laboratory analysis of human bone remains.
Description:
The subject will talk of Mesoamerica as a clearly defined geographic - cultural area that, in the context of history, constructed relations with the southwest of North America, Central America and Andinoamerica, thus constituting complex societies in the New World. It studies cultures that defined the evolution of civilization from the beginning of the State, such as Teotihuacan, Mayan and Zapotec cultures, etc.
Description:
This course provides an overview of the sociocultural evolution of the peoples and cultures in the Andean area, beginning with the development of urban societies, leading to the emergence of social complexity and the formation of states and empires.
Description:
This professional course offers a broad vision about the archeology of the Lowlands of South America and the Caribbean, a socio-spatial geographical concept that historically includes the societies of the South American continent that inhabited the territory to the east of the Andes Mountains during the pre-Columbian period. Special attention will be given to the socio-historical formations of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, and their relationship with the different cultures of the American continent. Likewise, topics such as domestication and management of plants, social complexity, ceramic technology and long-term indigenous history will be discussed, so that it is possible to form a broad scenario of pre-Columbian human occupation in the American continent.
Description:
This subject of basic formation and general education, presents the grammar structures to produce a persuasive essay, through the transversal development of the writing programme. In addition, it allows students to identify specific arguments in the oral and written communication, as well as, to express their own opinions about different topics of social, academic, or professional fields. It also includes the necessary vocabulary to stablish a conversation, narrate situations of their environment, activities to reach their goals, analyze cause and effect and personal and professional opportunities.
Third Year
Description:
This subjet theoretical-practice of professional formation, studies the approaches of the Bioarcheology, and retakes the knowledge acquired of Biological Anthropology course. It grants the necessary foundations for the excavation and analysis of human remains within the framework of a research project.
Description:
This discipline is focus in students of the middle level of the archeology program. Its objective is to offer the student theoretical and practical knowledge for the exercise of field research, management of techniques for prospecting and surface recognition in the search for archaeological sites for subsequent excavation. Through intensive practical activities of field work, it seeks to study directly and practically, the methodological experience of archeology, prospecting techniques (site survey), survey of materials, with the due registration of their origin and registration of georeferenced data on the site; as well as the transversal ethical approach to all scientific research. It is proposed to strengthen the complementarity between disciplines for comprehensive archaeological training.
Description:
The subject introduces the learning process of sociocultural research. Students will be trained to generate their first experiences in field work through participant observation. In a direct and practical way, they will know the methodological experience of ethnography, the techniques of observation, data collection and recording, as well as the ethical approach in the field. The course also focuses on the basic tasks of organizing the recovered material, systematizing the data, identifying topics of theoretical and applied interest, proposing future research topics, protocols for presenting results, and an approach to questions of objectivity and ethics. in social research.
Description:
The subject corresponds to the first learning moment of the archaeological practice and analysis in the laboratory, which is carried out from the material extracted in the field, with its procedure registered using surface recognition and prospecting techniques. Once the information is gathered in the field diary and the use of appropriate technologies, in the laboratory the recovered archaeological materials (pottery, lithic, faunal and archaeobotanical remains) will be identified, processed and analyzed, contrasting them with bibliographic sources and systematizing the research process in general.
Description:
This professional subject allows students to study, through description, analysis and critical reflection, the development in historical terms and concepts of the main theories about the factors that led humanity to the formation of the State social organization. They are analyzed with the cases of the pre-Hispanic states of the northern Andean area, the central Andes and the central south, and the relevance of distance traffic between Mesoamerica, western Mexico and the Central Andes to understand the social organization of the pristine states.
Description:
This transversal training course for all students of the institution has five chapters. It introduces the key principles of sustainability and the path to sustainable development. Addresses ecological principles by deepen into biodiversity, ecosystems, human population and ecosystem services. Study the fundamentals of renewable and non-renewable resources as well as the alternatives for sustainable use. Analyzes environmental quality specifically in the air, water and soil components, delving into issues such as climate change, eutrophication and deforestation. Finally, it emphasizes on the economic axis with topics such as circular economy and on the social axis on topics such as governance and urban planning.
Fourth Year
Description:
The course will discuss the theoretical and methodological tools of a research project, the definition of the problem and the elaboration of hypotheses, the development of the justification that includes the principles and premises of the area of value in the research project. In addition, a general objective is elaborated according to the proposed topic. Finally, the application of the relevant research methodology and techniques is reflected upon.
Description:
The subject is focused on the methodology of sociocultural fieldwork based on themes identified in the first stage of practical training. It addresses the design and application of new techniques and instruments for the collection of information, highlighting the semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Using these techniques, the information necessary to test a hypothesis developed methodologically and technically is collected. It promotes the search for interpretations about a particular problem for its treatment, discussion and analysis. Within the framework of the process of operationalization and final systematization of information, the applied techniques are articulated and a joint assessment of the data obtained is carried out for the preparation of a final report and its presentation.
Description:
In this advanced professional subject, the student will delve into the methodology of fieldwork, designing and applying new information recording techniques and reflecting theoretical lines of thought, understanding archaeological excavation problems identified in the first stage of practical training. It promotes the search for advanced interpretations on an archaeological problem for its treatment, discussion and analysis.
Description:
In this end-of-degree course, the student carries out a project where the application of the profiles declared in his career is evidenced, developing processes of creativity, organization and relevance that involve him in a professional design experience. In the first part of the course, the needs of the client / user / public are identified, the problem / opportunity is defined, data is collected and critical factors are analyzed. In the second part, alternative solutions are created framed in the regulations and restrictions of each user. It is concluded with the design and / or implementation of the feasible solution or prototyping and analysis and validation of results.
Description:
This discipline is formulated for the most advanced levels of the mesh, and has as its primary objective the practice of advanced laboratory techniques, in what it says regarding the analysis of archaeological materials. We work with modal and iconographic analysis, in the case of ceramics, and the identification of micro and macro remains, in the case of the archaeobotanical material. The identification of these materials allows the student to make inferences about the past of the peoples with whom they were associated in a complete contextual reading.
Additional
SELECTED ELECTIVE COURSE
3 credits - 5.8 ECTS
ARTS, SPORTS AND LANGUAGES ELECTIVE COURSES
1 credits - 1.9 ECTS
HUMANITIES ELECTIVE COURSES
1 credits - 1.9 ECTS
SELECTED ELECTIVE COURSE
3 credits - 5.8 ECTS
After four years, the Archeology degree will prepare professionals and scientific researchers:
- That will study and disseminate the findings of material remains of past populations settled in Ecuador.
- With capabilities to lead archaeological management and research projects, both national and international.
- They will have theoretical and practical knowledge about the social processes of production and reproduction of societies of the past and present in Ecuador and the region.
- That will learn the correct use of the necessary tools for planning, analysis and enhancement of cultural heritage and dissemination of Ecuadorian cultural identity.
Occupational Profile
At the completion of the degree students will have the tools needed to develop in two areas: archaeological collection management in museums, development of activities to spread the cultural and archaeological heritage, work linked to construction sites in dry land and in the ocean. Activities related to the heritage management, together with multidisciplinary research teams.
- Complete the curriculum
- Complete the internship program according to the degree.
- Deliver the required documentation to update the student file.
The Capstone Project is a culminating requirement for graduation. These projects provide students with the experience of applying acquired knowledge and skills to the needs of society, with a focus on sustainability.
The IDEAR Fair showcases all Capstone projects, offering students a valuable opportunity to showcase their work and hone soft skills such as communication and teamwork. It is also a space for students to network with potential clients and future employers.
Explore all of the Capstone projects completed by the Degree in Archaelogy program.
DID YOU KNOW?
La carrera de Arqueología en la ESPOL se distingue del resto de universidades nacionales e internacionales por incorporar prácticas de campo, excavación y laboratorios, tanto de arqueología como antropología sociocultural. La carrera cuenta con su propio sitio arqueológico, en el complejo cultural Real Alto, situado en la Provincia de Santa Elena, donde podrás realizar tu trabajo de campo.
