The Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World (JIAAW) is dedicated to the academic study and public promotion of archaeology and the ancient world. Archaeology pertains to the material study of the human past. The ancient world, as used here, refers to a wide temporal expanse of human history that encompasses the globe prior to the intensification of European colonialism in the sixteenth century. The nexus of archaeology and the ancient world is at the core of the JIAAW’s mission, particularly these areas pertain to the study of the ancient Mediterranean, Egypt, and southwest Asia (i.e., the Near East). Nevertheless, the JIAAW embraces all scholarship that advances archaeology in any time and place. Moreover, the JIAAW supports all methods that are engaged with advancing our understanding of the ancient world.

The goal of the Institute is to foster an interdisciplinary community of interest in archaeology and the ancient world. At Brown University this includes, but is not limited to, scholars from the Departments of Anthropology, Classics, Egyptology and Assyriology, History, History of Art and Architecture, and Religious Studies. The mandate of the JIAAW is to promote research, fieldwork, teaching, and public outreach, with the Institute’s associated faculty, students, and facilities serving as a hub for this activity. While much of the research focus is oriented towards understanding the past, faculty and students associated with the JIAAW are also engaged with understanding how the past is (re)produced in the present and the broader social implications of the work that is performed by scholars of archaeology and the ancient world.

In order to promote archaeology and the ancient world, the primary activities of the JIAAW are: education, research, postdoctoral training, conferences and lectures, public outreach, and initiatives that collaboratively advance these activities in new directions.

Established in 2004 ("Brown establishes Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World"), the Joukowsky Institute incorporates and amplifies the activities of Brown’s former Center for Old World Archaeology and Art. Susan E. Alcock became the Institute's first Director in January 2006, and was succeeded by Peter van Dommelen in July 2015. Andrew Scherer has been Director of the Institute since July 2023.

The goal of the Joukowsky Institute is to foster an interdisciplinary community of interest in archaeology and the ancient world. The Institute embraces all scholarship that advances archaeology in all times and places. Moreover, the JIAAW supports all methods that are engaged with advancing our understanding of the ancient world.  Joukowsky Institute faculty and students are from a wide range of countries and backgrounds -- and Brown University's fieldwork and research in archaeology and the ancient world reflects and builds on that multiplicity of perspectives.

The undergraduate and graduate programs in Archaeology and the Ancient World are based in the Joukowsky Institute, as are many of Brown University's archaeology courses. An active program of scholarly and public lectures, conferences and workshops is in place, offering frequent events for the Brown University community, as well as interested members of our broader, off-campus communities.

The Joukowsky Institute regularly hosts visiting students and faculty members, whose backgrounds, perspectives, experiences and skills enhance our intellectual and professional breadth and connections, as well as our social and cultural vitality. Our Postdoctoral Fellowship program, in particular, has become known internationally for providing an intellectual home for some of archaeology's most thoughtful and innovative young scholars.

A core aspect of the Joukowsky Institute's mission is outreach to the Providence and Rhode Island communities, in which we are based. The Institute is one of the founders of Think Like an Archaeologist, a program for 6th grade students in the Providence Public Schools, developed collaboration with RISD Museum at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University’s Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.

The Joukowsky Institute also runs an active field project, The Archaeology of College Hill, which introduces undergraduate students to archaeological excavation at sites in the immediate vicinity of Brown University.

Each October, the Institute holds a Community Archaeology Day, in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America's International Archaeology Day and Brown University's Family Weekend. We sponsor a range of family-friendly activities for the general public, in our building and on-site at The Archaeology of College Hill's excavation.