Archaeology is the study of the origin, development, and evolution of human culture, as exhibited in the material record. As one of the few institutions in the country to offer a separate major in archaeology, the Interdisciplinary Program in Archaeology at Washington University seeks to integrate a wide range of directions, from paleoanthropology and classical archaeology to specialties such as paleoethno-botany, zooarchaeology, or geoarchaeology. The program takes an interdisciplinary approach that can be tailored to individual needs by working with specialists from several different departments, and students will have access to several specialized research laboratories, including the paleoethnobotany laboratory, the zooarchaeology laboratory, and lithic and ceramic analysis laboratory.

Undergraduates can earn a major or minor in archaeology from the program. Majors will complete at least one supervised field project, which is selected to best meet the student's long-term goals. Most field research projects are small to allow students to work closely with faculty and staff. Recently, students have worked at excavations in such diverse areas as Ireland, France, Kazakhstan, Israel, Greece, China, Japan, Guatemala, Bolivia, and the U.S. Southwest.

The program also works with doctoral students in the archaeology PhD concentration, which is housed in the Department of Anthropology, emphasizing the combination of strong theoretical grounding in anthropology and archaeology with topical specialization. Current faculty research is focused on the Mississippi Valley, the Southwest (including northern Mexico), Eastern Africa, and the Andean Highlands of South America. Faculty in the program share interests in understanding the origins of early plant and animal domestication, the study of hunter-gatherer societies, and the emergence and evolution of socio-economic complexity.