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Students learn the sum of shattered parts 

By Karen Herland

Jane Francis really digs her job.

She is the sole professor in the Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics (CMLL) department to exclusively focus on archeology, her CLAS 370 offers students opportunities to participate in excavating digs in unique corners of the globe.

“Our students have been all over the world,” she says of the course she has taught since 1996. Over the years, students have spent three or four weeks in different locations in Europe, excavated the remains of a Spanish fort in the Bahamas and camped in tents in Ontario. One student even examined the fossilized remains of prehistoric giant beavers at Canada’s Museum of Civilization.

“The students in this course are very self-sufficient,” she says. Students approach her with possible dig sites and, if the project sounds viable, she helps them develop a project (many summer internship opportunities are offered at www.archaeological.org).

Students who register in CLAS 370 go with an approved research topic, so they can collect the notes and photos they will need on site, submitting their final research paper upon their return. Many of the programs are affiliated with other universities. Students can choose to transfer credits for the host university’s course as well as CLAS 370 and earn a total of six credits for their trip as long as the projects don’t overlap.

Earlier this year, several students presented their experiences from last summer to their peers. They described unearthing pottery in burial sites in Pintia, Spain, where the Romans had fought the Vacceans, evidence of William the Conqueror in York, England, and a Roman fort in Germany.

They explained it’s easier to excavate in wet soil and that some enjoyed the digging, while others preferred classifying and piecing shards together; none of them enjoyed the delicate and seemingly endless brushwork required to expose pieces in their found locations.

“It’s a great opportunity for other students to hear about the experience directly from their peers,” says Francis of the annual show-and-tell. “They realize that this is possible.”

Francis herself was short on such opportunities as a student. When she was studying, the practice was to only offer one course in archeology, along with ancient history, Latin and Greek. After two MAs here, she eventually earned an MA and PhD in archeology in the U.S.

Francis’ position offering classes in archeology and antiquities in the CMLL is fairly rare in Classics departments in Canada, where most professors supplement teaching about artifacts with courses in Greek or Latin. The courses she offers are part of a minor in classical archeology available to students here.

In addition to a basic roster of courses, she adds special topics. Next year, she will offer a course on food in antiquity, a subject she is very interested in.

“Food is integral to every society, especially here in Montreal.”

She and her colleague George Harrison are also offering a 23-day study tour of Greece in May. The carefully plotted course takes students on a whirlwind tour of major archeological sites and museums in Greece and Crete.

The two professors will prepare lectures and discussions on the major monuments. Each student will also be responsible for one monument and will research and present it to their peers, submitting two formal research papers on their return.

For more information on this course contact janef@alcor.concordia.ca before March 9.