Archaeologists and linguists have worked together for many years to understand the origins of Indo-European languages, such as English.

Michigan State University has a terrific campus archaeology program.  Recently (during Black History Month) their blog included a post on John Wesley Gilbert, who may have been the first African American with an advanced archaeology degree–I certainly don’t know of any earlier!  Archaeology still isn’t very racially diverse, but check out the Society of Black Archaeologists to learn about what his “descendants” are doing.