Dr. Nicholas Freidin
Retired Professor of Archaeology, Marshall University
Freidin received his D.Phil. in Archaeology from the University of Oxford (Keble College) in 1981, his Diploma in European Archaeology from the University of Oxford (Keble College) in 1975, and his A.B. from Georgetown University (Washington DC) in 1973. He is a member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists and the Council for West Virginia Archaeology. His research interests are Eastern Woodlands prehistory; Late Prehistoric and Contact Period archaeology in the eastern USA.
Freidin is an archaeologist who began his research in Britain and France, and pursued additional studies in Israel and Cyprus. After he was hired by Marshall in 1983, his focus changed to the Late Prehistoric Period in the Eastern Woodlands, a period between approximately AD 1000 and the time of contact between Native Americans and the European –African societies of Colonial America.
His research has involved the indigenous cultural transformations and/or responses following contact with external, more dominant societies. His research concerning the native peoples of the Middle Ohio Valley and their first contact with Euro-African (colonial) society has resulted in published papers, conference presentations, and museum exhibitions.
Freidin taught several courses, including Physical Anthropology, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and Methods, Theory in Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, and World Prehistory. In addition, he teaches courses that focus on prehistory and ethnography of various parts of the world, including North America, Africa, and Oceania. He long spent part of his summers teaching the archaeological field training class (i.e., the field school), the longest continuously offered archaeological field school in the state.
Having served as the Director of the Archaeological Field School, Freidin led students into field sites in West Virginia to learn how to survey, excavate, and record their findings. Through their research, students discovered remnants of West Virginia’s first inhabitants. Field projects included several seasons at Clover and Snidow, both Late Prehistoric villages; and at Saint-Albans, an Early Archaic site with a Woodland Period component. Occasionally, other institutions, such as Concord University, and various vocational organizations, such as the WV Archaeological Society, have participate din the Field School. Dr. Freidin also ran the archaeology laboratory, where materials recovered from field projects are processed and analyzed.
Freidin is certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists in fieldwork and teaching. He is a member of the Society for American Archaeology, the Council for West Virginia Archaeology, the West Virginia Academy of Science, and the West Virginia Humanities Center. In addition, he served as the Chair of the Huntington Preservation Commission.
Dr. Freidin retired from Marshall University's Department of Sociology and Anthropology in 2022.