Sandra Steele, Educational Consultant

Brevard College Students Take Geology and Archaeology Trip To Greece

Brevard, NC
June 21, 2005

Sixteen Brevard College students recently returned from a two and a half-week field trip to study the geology and archaeology of Greece. The trip was led by Brevard College professors Dr. Jim Reynolds, associate professor of geology; Dr. Anne Chapin, associate professor of art history; and Dr. Robert Bauslaugh, professor of history. Both Chapin and Bauslaugh are archaeologists.

The trip was the field component of a semester-long course the students took during the spring semester. The group visited the Acropolis and other noted sites in Athens before visiting Crete and Santorini, one of the Cycladic Islands. On Santorini, they investigated prehistoric ruins of the Minoan civilization for possible geological causes for the disappearance of its people roughly 3,600 years ago following a catastrophic volcano eruption and accompanying tsunami.

“Experiences like this bring the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to education to life,” said Reynolds. “We, like the ancients, are strongly dependent on our natural environment for our prosperity.”

According to Bauslaugh, it’s impossible to study just one group anywhere in Greece because the area has been continuously inhabited for the last 8,000 years. For example, pottery shards representing various ethnic groups from Neolithic tribes, the Minoans, Myceneaens, Greeks, Romans, the Byzantine Empire, Venetians, and the Ottoman Turks are plentiful in the area.

“By studying their art we can get an understanding of how their cultures developed,” said Chapin.

For Molly Carlson, a Brevard College sophomore and art major from Pittsboro, North Carolina, the trip represented her first overseas trip and an once-in-a-lifetime experience to photograph Greek ruins, art and plants to use as inspiration for her own artwork. But, she said the best part of the trip was finding ancient relics. “It was cool to hold something that someone made 3,000 years ago,” said Carlson. “You can still see their fingerprints on the pottery.”

For senior Ruth Hobson, a health science major from Snellville, Georgia, the trip offered her a chance to learn first-hand about Greek culture. “Before the trip, I didn’t know much about the culture or the history,” said Hobson. “I was in awe of everything.”

From Crete, the group traveled to the Cycladic Islands where, on Santorini, they explored the effects of a large caldera-type volcano that produced a cataclysmic eruption around 1630 BC. The eruption and the tsunami it produced were probably major contributors to the deteriorating conditions the Minoans experienced on nearby Crete. The group also visited the islands of Naxos, Mykonos, and Dilos.