Archaeological Field School & Lab Opportunities and Internships
Archaeological Field School and Lab Opportunities and Internships Summer 2024
Koster Site, near Kampsville, IL Summer 1973
This curated compilation of archaeological field schools is provided as a convenient starting point for students seeking out archaeological field and lab experiences. The list is not complete, and we will add additional opportunities as we learn of them–please let us know of additional US- and international field schools so we can consider including them. The text and images below are taken from each project’s website, through the links provided below. Note that Boston University is not affiliated with any of these projects. While we try to ensure that the information provided below is accurate, the ongoing Covid pandemic might require adjustments (or even cancellations) to some programs. Please be sure to get updated information frequently from each individual project’s website and field school director(s).
NOTE: While updated information for Summer 2024 opportunities is being received, some of the listings below still show 2023 information and will be updated as soon as we receive new information.
Special note for Boston University Archaeology majors:You are reminded that all field schools must be pre-approved in order to meet the archaeological field school requirement, and field schools offering transfer credits must be pre-approved by BU Study Abroad. If you are interested in the field schools listed below or others, discuss them with your faculty advisor and with the Archaeology DUS to ensure that they will meet the BU Archaeology Program’s requirements and, if applicable, will provide course credits that are transferable to BU. Remember that even if you are approved to receive transfer credits for your successful participation in a non-BU field school, you will NOT receive the BU Hub units that are associated with BU-run AR503 field schools.
We welcome your comments and suggested additions and edits to this list of archaeological field schools, lab opportunities, and museum internships! Please contact Robert Murowchick <remurow [at] bu.edu> (Director of Undergraduate Studies, Archaeology Program, Boston University)
Some potential sources of funding support to participate in archaeological fieldwork:
Established in honor of AIA Honorary President Jane Waldbaum, this scholarship is intended to help students who are planning to participate in archaeological field work for the first time. Students majoring in archaeology or related disciplines are especially encouraged to apply. The Scholarship Fund provides $1000 each to help pay expenses associated with participation in an archaeological field work project (minimum stay one month/4 weeks).
ASOR plans to award 43 fieldwork participation scholarships of $2,000 each for 2024 (see COVID disclaimer below).
In the summer of 2007, ASOR renewed its emphasis on providing funding scholarships that enable individuals to participate in fieldwork in Western Asia and the wider Mediterranean, and also by awarding grants to support the archaeological projects themselves. Since 2007, ASOR has awarded well over $1 million to more than 900 researchers and students with excavation grants, dig and survey scholarships, travel scholarships, and other research fellowships.
The U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship is a grant program that enables students of limited financial means to study or intern abroad, thereby gaining skills critical to our national security and economic competitiveness. The Gilman Scholarship Program is open to U.S. citizen undergraduate students who are receiving Federal Pell Grant funding at a two-year or four-year college or university to participate in study and intern abroad programs worldwide.
American Archaeology Abroad holds an annual competition for scholarships for undergraduate students to attend archaeological excavations abroad. Current funding allows for one award of $1500 per year, but we intend to expand this program in future years to accommodate additional students. These competitions promote the organization’s goals of supporting archaeological excavations while also supporting the education of future archaeologists.
Sacramento Archaeological Society is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of aspiring archaeologists and anthropologists currently enrolled in an accredited educational institution through its annual scholarship program. The Sacramento Archaeological Society, Inc. (SAS) is seeking applicants for one or more scholarships. The total funds available are approximately $1,500. The scholarships may be in lesser amounts, so that multiple scholarships may be awarded. Should several worthy applications be received, funding in excess of $1,500 may be available.
The mission of the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) is to provide scholarships and ongoing support to students who are underrepresented among the US study abroad population. FEA makes life-changing, international experiences accessible to all by supporting minority and first-generation college students before, during, and after they participate in education abroad programs.
UNITED STATES
ALASKA
NUNALLEQ PROJECT (On the Bering Sea coast of Alaska , Quinhagak, AK) Summer 2024
Dates: June 17 to August 17, 2024 (Lab placements June 17 to Sept. 1, 2024) Application deadline April 10, 2024
Every tree has a story to tell. Dendrochronology is the study of natural and human processes that are recorded in the annual growth rings of trees. This tree-ring record is archived thanks to the remarkable preservation qualities of wood, and across the wide geographical distribution of trees. Through the science of dendrochronology, a broad range of ecological, climatic, geological, and cultural phenomena can be reconstructed and analyzed with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Course dates: Monday, May 13 through Friday, May 31, 2024
What is DISC2024?
Participants will learn fundamental Dendrochronology concepts and be introduced to its rich interdisciplinary nature. In addition, they will hone their skills in track-specific techniques. All tracks will include a fieldwork component and cover sample collection, sample processing, data analysis and will culminate in a project presentation. Ample opportunities to network and interact with participants in other tracks, as well as Invited speakers, are an important and integral part of DISC.
This year, the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) is offering three dendrochronology tracks and two modes of instruction for its intensive summer course. The Dendroarchaeology track will be conducted in-person and will be led by Drs. Ron Towner and Nick Kessler. The Dendroecology track will also be conducted in-person and will be led by Dr. Paul Sheppard. And finally, the Dendroclimatology track will have two options this year allowing participation in-person or live-online and will be led by Drs. David Frank, Kiyomi Morino and Alex Nolin.
Read on for more details about each of the tracks!
Dendroarchaeology
This track will emphasize the process of conducting Dendroarchaeological research from start to finish. During this course, participants will collect, analyze and interpret archaeological tree-rings. Participants (undergrads, grads, professionals) will learn the most accurate and precise dating method used by archaeologists via lectures, laboratory exercises, and field work. The centerpiece of this track is the field trip – a tour through multiple archaeological sites in Arizona. Participants will embark into the field after first receiving instruction in the basics of dendrochronological method and theory. Upon returning from the field, participants will prepare, crossdate and interpret dendroarcheological samples collected during the field trip. Lectures will be presented by course instructors as well as leading tree-ring scientists, including Jeffrey S. Dean and Charlotte Pearson.
The Dendroarchaeology section meets in-person beginning May 13th and ending May 31st. The field work for this track will involve camping for a few days, so bring your tent, sleeping bag and other camping gear if you have it (gear can be rented if you don’t have it).
Dendroecology
In this track, the field instruction will include site and tree selection criteria for dendro projects (fire history, stand dynamics), learning how to collect high-quality tree cores and possibly cross sections from fallen logs, and proper care and maintenance of the equipment. Samples collected in the field will be processed in the wood shop and lab and further analyzed during the remainder of DISC.
The Dendroecology section meets in-person beginning May 13th and ending May 31st. The field work for this track will involve camping for a few days, so bring your tent, sleeping bag and other camping gear if you have it (gear can be rented if you don’t have it).
Dendroclimatology
This track will emphasize the application of tree-ring data to the reconstruction of climatic and hydrologic time series. With guidance, students will design and conduct a mini-research project that includes 1) assembly and quality control of data, 2) tree-ring standardization, 3) climate signal identification, 4) climate or streamflow reconstruction, and 5) climatological interpretation of reconstructions with the aid of time series and statistical methods.
This track has TWO options for participation: in-person and live online. The in-person option will include both field and lab work. For the field portion, we will update classic precipitation-sensitive tree-ring sites in the Southwest. In the lab, we will mount and prepare cores for measuring. In-person participants will work with these tree-ring samples for their mini-research project. Live-online participants will be encouraged to bring their own tree-ring data or use data from the International Tree-Ring Databank (ITRDB).
The Dendroclimatology IN-PERSON track runs from May 13 and ending May 31. The field work for this track will involve camping for a few days, so bring your tent, sleeping bag and other camping gear if you have it (gear can be rented if you don’t have it).
The Dendroclimatology LIVE-ONLINE track runs from May 22 and ends on May 31 and will focus on analysis and reconstruction methods. The portion from May 22nd to May 31st will be run in a hybrid mode to allow in-person or remote live online participation.
Preservation Archaeology Field School in Southwest New Mexico A collaborative field school with Archaeology Southwest, Western New Mexico University, and the University of Arizona
Join Archaeology Southwest, Western New Mexico University, and the University of Arizona this summer for our Preservation Archaeology Museum Curation and Survey Field School. Learn collections-based research, museum curation, experimental archaeology, and archaeological survey while investigating how households cooperated in 11th-century southwest New Mexico. Field trips to archaeological sites, contemporary Native American communities, and public outreach events in our project area emphasize communication with diverse audiences and reinforce the principles of
Preservation Archaeology as we focus on recovering maximum information with limited impacts on the archaeological record. Our staff’s backgrounds include CRM, academic, and nonprofit work.
About the Field SchoolOur curriculum highlights the goals, ethics, and practice of Preservation Archaeology, which integrates research, education, preservation, and engagement with Indigenous and local communities. We share what we learn throughout the project with the public via local events, blog posts, and other venues. Together, students and staff explore ethically responsible and scientifically rigorous field and research methods while investigating compelling questions about people’s lives in the past.
Students will research and catalog collections from the NAN Ranch, a large Classic Mimbres period pueblo in the Mimbres Valley excavated by the Texas A&M University summer archaeological field school from 1978 to 1989 and now housed at theWestern New Mexico University (WNMU) Museum. Archaeological survey experience on the NAN Ranch provides essential field training and contextualizes museum collections research, and experimental archaeology gives us additional insights into how the items in museum collections were made.
The field school begins in Tucson, Arizona, where students take part in a three-day orientation to the principles of Preservation Archaeology at Archaeology Southwest and the University of Arizona. The remainder of the program takes place at WNMU in Silver City, New Mexico.
This project is committed to increasing the diversity of views represented in archaeology, including improving communication between archaeologists and nonprofessionals and between researchers with different backgrounds and training. Students from backgrounds and institutions traditionally underrepresented in archaeology (including small colleges and community colleges) are especially encouraged to apply. Applications due March 15;for more information, see http://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/field-school/.
Project Faculty:
Karen Gust Schollmeyeris a Preservation Archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Arizona State University in 2009. Her interests include long-term human-environment interactions; food security and landscape use; and how archaeologists’ long-term insights can be applied to modern issues in conservation and development. Her research has been published inAmerican Antiquity, theJournal of Archaeological Method and Theory, theJournal of Anthropological Archaeology,Kiva, and various book chapters. She has directed numerous field schools in southwest New Mexico.
Jeffery J. Clarkis also a Preservation Archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 1997. Dr. Clark has worked extensively in Southwest Asia and the southern U.S. Southwest. His primary research interest is assessing the scale and impact of ancient migration using archaeological data. He has written extensively on the topic, including one monograph, an edited book, several book chapters, and articles inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American Antiquity,Kiva,Journal of Field Archaeology, andJournal of Archaeological Research.
Allen Denoyeris a Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert at Archaeology Southwest. He has been working as a professional archaeologist since the early 1990s, with field experience spanning the Paleoindian through historic time periods. He is also an expert in ancient technologies, and guides students in replicating and using traditional tools for the experimental archaeology component of the field school.
Danielle Romerois Director of the WNMU Museum and a PhD candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has 10 years of field experience in the Southwest, and her research has focused on Mimbres archaeology and archaeological ceramic analysis. Prior to her current position, she worked at the Nevada State Historic Preservation Office as a database manager and Section 106 reviewer.
CALIFORNIA
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY IN THEORY & PRACTICE: ANALYZING MATERIALS FROM LOS ANGELES NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM AND CHANNEL ISLANDS, CALIFORNIA (US)
Project dates: June 17 to July 12, 2024 Tuition payment deadline: April 5, 2024; Orientation date: April 14, 2024
INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Aharon Sasson, San Diego Natural History Museum, Co-director, San Diego Zooarchaeology Laboratory asasson@sdnhm.organd Dr. Amy Gusick, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Associate Curator of Anthropology, <agusick@nhm.org>
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This is a laboratory program, focused on the identification and interpretation of archaeological faunal materials. In addition to covering theoretical approaches to faunal remain interpretations, laboratory course work will concentrate on developing proficiency in identifying mammal, fish, bird, and herptile specimens. In addition to learning species identification, students will study taphonomic processes, assemblage formation, and the use of bone data to investigate archaeological research questions.
Students will learn how to use comparative collections for actual research of materials excavated archaeologically. Using the Natural History Museum comparative collections, students will archaeological materials from the Channel Islands (including remains from Daisy Cave and the Big Dog Cave as well as 19th century historic material recovered from the area surrounding the museum. The course is design to develop experienced and capable researchers in zooarcheology, a first step to a possible career in academia or the Cultural Resource Management sector. Students will be shown the many career pathways available to anthropology majors and will prepare application materials for a job in their preferred pathway. Students will be trained in both academic writing and public interpretation of faunal materials. Honors thesis and graduate level research work with the collections is possible and encouraged.
[Foothill College also offers a variety of lab and field programs during the winter and spring of 2024–details can be found here]
This is a college research and service leadership program of study focused on the people of the Clear Lake, California region through time, beginning specifically when the first colonizers arrived from Spain and the East Coast. In uncovering unremembered stories of the past and working to incorporate the research ideas and goals of the local population of the region, we hope to gain a richer understanding of the past.
The field school will begin July 1st at Foothill College at the Anthropology Lab where we will be training for 3 days before heading to Clear Lake for the project. The students will be camping at Clear Lake State Park for 10 nights from July 4-14.
The program fees are limited to costs for camping reservations for ten daysin the Clear Lake basin on a research and service learning program of study.Course creditsare offered for Anth 52 –Archaeological Field Methods. Allother costs will be directly incurred by the students, to include food and transport. We will provide options for group dining, fees are arranged directly with the provider.
Finally, Foothill College’s Department of Anthropology is offering a low cost field program in California. Led by Dr Samuel Connell and colleagues, we are studying the remarkable history of the Clear Lake region through time. Research plans in 2024 will be at theKelsey Creek Schoolhouse, the last standing original one room schoolhouse in Lake County. In 2021summer student survey and excavations focused on the historically significant site of theEly Stage Stop,which was used as a stage coach stop, public house, hotel and a school for boys. Students will be learning all aspects of fieldwork from survey, ground-penetrating radar, excavation techniques and laboratory work. The work involves defining foundations of the main building, finding the privies and excavating the out buildings. Each student is required to carry out individual research on a topic of their choice and prepare a Student Independent Pilot Project final paper. Lastly, every student will be heavily involved in community development projects with various stakeholders, to include the Lake County Historical Society.
Kelsey Creek Schoolhouse. Site of 2024 geophysical surveys and excavations.
The Amache Archaeology and Heritage Management Field School is part of a long-term community collaborative project at Amache, a World War II-era Japanese American confinement camp in southeastern Colorado. This project provides a rare opportunity for students to work with survivors in synergistic investigations of the past and its meaning in the present at a National Historic Landmark. Working on-site and in the Amache museum, participants in the field school, gain hands-on experience in intensive site survey, historic artifact analysis, ground penetrating radar, landscape archaeology, collections management, public interpretation and outreach, and community-based research.
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTORS:
Dr. Bonnie Clark, University of Denver (bclark@du.edu)
Dr. April Kamp-Whittaker, California State University, Chico (akamp-whittaker@csuchico.edu)
MUSEUM COORDINATOR: Anne Amati, University of Denver (anne.amati@du.edu)
SENIOR FIELD CREW CHIEFS: Dr. Annie Danis, Cal Poly Pomona (aedanis@cpp.edu) and Salvador Valdez-Ono (svaldezo@umd.edu)
OVERVIEW
This field class will take place at Amache National Historic Site, a former World War II-era Japanese American confinement camp located in southeastern Colorado, and its associated museum. It is particularly appropriate for students who are interested in community-based research and are prepared to engage with sensitive issues around a difficult heritage. With remnant landscaping, largely intact building foundations, scattered surface artifacts, and both formal and informal trash dumps, the site retains significant archaeological integrity. That integrity and its important role in global history is reflected in its new status within the US National Park system.
Since 2008, Dr. Bonnie Clark has led a community-collaborative biennial field school at Amache in both archaeology and museum studies. The field school works closely with the former incarceree and Japanese American community and the Amache Preservation Society, a volunteer organization associated with the Granada High School, to preserve and document the site and associated museum collections. Students will work with volunteers and high school interns who have a personal or family tie to Amache, as well as members of the local community.
Each year work conducted by the field school helps answer central research questions about daily life in Amache, place-making by those forced to live there, and heritage management. To answer these research questions, students participate in archaeological survey, targeted excavations, and work in the Amache museum which maintains a collection of objects and primary materials associated with Amache. During the four-week 2024 field school, crews will spend half of their mornings surveying the site and
the other half conducting targeted excavations of gardens and landscape features constructed by incarcerees. Students in the field school will also have the opportunity to develop an individual project.
ACADEMIC CREDIT UNITS & TRANSCRIPTS
Credit Units: Attending students will be awarded 8 semester credit units (equivalent to 9 quarter credit units) through our academic partner, Connecticut College. Connecticut College is a highly ranked liberal arts institution with a deep commitment to undergraduate education. Students will receive a letter grade for attending this field school (see assessment, below). This field school provides a minimum of 360 hours of experiential education. Students are encouraged to discuss the transferability of credit units with faculty and registrars at their home institution prior to attending this field school.
Transcripts: An official copy of transcripts will be mailed to the permanent address listed by students on their online application. One more transcript may be sent to the student’s home institution at no cost. Additional transcripts may be ordered at any time through the National Student Clearinghouse.
PREREQUISITES
Students in this field school will be embedded in two communities; the survivor and descendants of Amache and the local town of Granada. Your participation is precipitated on their good will and your respect. Thus, we ask that all students prepare with readings about the history of Japanese American incarceration and the site of Amache and participate in a zoom discussion of those readings. However, to succeed in a field situation you should be able to work well with a team in outdoor and changing conditions.
Earn college credit at Crow Canyon during College Field School! Tuition for six credit hours: Undergraduate students may enroll in Anthropology 379 through Adams State University.
OVERVIEW
Under the direction of Dr. Susan C. Ryan, the Center’s Executive Vice President of the Research Institute, undergraduate students may enroll in six credit hours (Anthropology 379) through Adams State University in Colorado.
During this seven-week experiential learning program, you will learn the fundamental skills and techniques essential to beginning, and continuing, your career in archaeology or anthropology. From archaeological site identification to excavation, artifact processing to laboratory analysis, and everything between, you and your classmates will participate in real-world opportunities that will help to perfect your skills while working alongside professional archaeologists. In addition to the hands-on survey, excavation, and laboratory experiences, you will also participate in evening programs, field trips, service-learning projects, public events, and more that will enrich your education. This College Field School was built specifically for students to gain the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to help you find employment and excel in the field.
To participate in College Field School, you must submit an application before Friday, March 15, 2024.Scholarships are available. If you have any questions regarding the application process, scholarships, or the program, please contact us at fieldschool@crowcanyon.org.
Crow Canyon’s College Field School is certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
Accommodations Lodging is provided in shared modern cabins on Crow Canyon’s 170-acre campus, just outside the town of Cortez. Students must provide their own sleeping kits and personal gear and will be housed in cabins designed to be energy efficient. Cabins include shower and toilet facilities. Housing costs are included with this program.
Crow Canyon provides Wi-Fi Internet service in campus buildings.
Laundry facilities will be made available to students.
Meals This program provides all meals, seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On-campus meals are served cafeteria-style in the lodge. Dinner and lunches on campus include a salad bar and a vegetarian entree. Fresh fruit, lemonade, iced tea, and coffee are available on campus all day. If you are working at the Haynie site or on survey, snacks, water, and a picnic lunch (sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips, and cookies) are provided. Juice, spring water, and soda are available from the vending machine behind the lodge. Meal costs are included with this program.
Campus Crow Canyon’s 170-acre campus, located just outside the town of Cortez, features a large meadow, pinyon and juniper forests, and spectacular views of Mesa Verde and the La Plata Mountains. A short nature trail winds through the woods. Buildings on campus include the lodge, cabins, 10 Navajo-style hogans, two learning centers, and the Gates Archaeology Laboratory (the Gates Building), which houses classrooms, libraries, offices, and a material culture laboratory. A lounge area is also available in the Gates Building.
All indoor facilities are smoke-free. Wildfires are a real danger in our area; if you smoke, please do so only in the designated smoking area, at the picnic table behind the lodge. Smoking by minors (under age 18) is prohibited. In addition to hosting participants in Crow Canyon programs, our rural campus is also visited by a variety of wildlife, including deer, rabbits, marmots, birds, snakes, lizards, foxes, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion.
The field school fee covers in-field transportation, field equipment rental, housing, meals, instructor fees, evening lectures, and field trips to ancestral Pueblo sites in the Mesa Verde region. Transportation to and from Cortez and your personal gear are your responsibility. Weekends are yours to explore the cultural and natural attractions in the area.
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321
COLORADO
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER 2024 INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Crow Canyon offers paid internships to undergraduate and graduate students in archaeology, anthropology, education, and related fields.
The application deadline for all internships is March 3, 2024.
Internships Build your resume, expand your transferable skills, and develop professional connections that advance your career pathways. Crow Canyon typically offers internships in various fields of Research, Education, and American Indian Initiatives:
Field Archaeology: Build experience in survey, excavation, and mapping techniques along with artifact documentation. Lab Archaeology:Engage in the cataloging and analysis of archaeological collections, particularly pottery and stone artifacts. American Indian Initiatives:Collaborate with Native American partners and advisor to support cultural continuity initiatives and educational outreach. Dendrochronology: Gain analytical skills in the application of tree-ring dating techniques, sampling strategies, analytical methodologies, climate research, and educational outreach. Zooarchaeology: Develop specialized skills in faunal analysis that aid in you development as archaeologists and paleozoologists. Education: Help students build cultural competencies and learn about the rich cultural heritage of Southwest Colorado through traditional and distance learning programs.
The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center maintains high standards of research and scholarship. Students participating in the Center’s programs are closely supervised by staff members, ensuring a positive learning experience, as well as high-quality contributions for the profession. In addition, American Indians—many of them descendants of Ancestral Pueblo people—consult and collaborate on all facets of the Center’s research, and colleagues from many other disciplines lend their expertise to advance mission initiatives. In such an environment, interns have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in working with, and learning from, a wide variety of people.
Crow Canyon’s research focuses on the Ancestral Pueblo occupation of the Mesa Verde region. In 2017, Crow Canyon launched the Northern Chaco Outliers Project, an investigation of an Ancestral Pueblo village with two Pueblo II period (A.D. 950–1150) great houses.
Benefits
Interns are paid $14.42 per hour (five-day week, Monday through Friday)
Lodging is available at no cost
Meals included when the kitchen open, stipend provided when the kitchen is closed
A travel allowance (up to $350) is available to help defray travel expenses
Interns will be eligible for sick pay at one hour for every 30 hours worked
Note: Interns are not eligible for the Crow Canyon benefits package. Also, Crow Canyon does not provide vehicles for personal use.
Course Credit Crow Canyon does not offer course credit for internships, but will gladly certify work/study performed and provide evaluations if students wish to arrange for credit through another institution.
Campus Amenities
The following on-campus facilities are available to interns at no cost:
Lodging provided in rustic hogans on campus. A shared restroom with running water is nearby for convenience.
Washers and dryers are also available in the Lodge
Meals provided when the kitchen is staffed; stipend provided and cooking facilities available when the kitchen is not staffed
Crow Canyon provides Wi-Fi Internet service in campus buildings
5,000-volume research library and desk space
Access to Crow Canyon’s 170-acre campus, which includes a large meadow, pinyon- and juniper-covered hillsides, and short nature trail
Employment:Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration or employment without regard to race, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, or marital status. Must be a U.S. citizen or legally eligible to work in the U.S.
American Indian Initiatives Internship (Apply Here)
The American Indian Initiatives Internship is an entry level position designed to provide valuable experience working and learning from our American Indian Initiatives staff while providing on-the-job training. This internship will help support the American Indian Initiatives department to enhance the Center’s commitment to American Indian involvement in archaeology and education.
Education and/or Experience: Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in education, museum studies, archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, or a related field is required.
The Zooarchaeology Internship is designed to provide valuable experience to students in the fields of zooarchaeology and environmental archaeology by working with and learning from our research staff in the lab and field on zooarchaeology related projects and topics. Working with research staff at Crow Canyon, this internship will provide valuable on-the-job training related to faunal analysis. The zooarchaeology intern will develop a broad range of skills that will aid in their development as archaeologists and paleozoologists. The intern will advance their non-human osteological identification skills with fauna from the U.S. Southwest and learn new quantitative methods/interpretative frameworks related to zooarchaeological data. The intern will apply these analytical skills to enhance Crow Canyon’s research interpretations, educational outreach, and overall understanding of the culture history of the greater Mesa Verde region.
Education and/or Experience: Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in education, museum studies, archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, or a related field is required.
The Archaeology Field Internship is an entry level position designed to provide valuable hands-on experience working with and learning from Crow Canyon’s field staff.
Education and/or Experience: Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in education, museum studies, archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, or a related field is required.
The Archaeology Laboratory Internship is an entry level position designed to provide valuable hands-on experience working with and learning from our staff in Crow Canyon’s laboratory.
Education and/or Experience: Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in education, museum studies, archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, or a related field is required.
The Education Internship is designed to provide experience in developing and delivering education programs and products for all learners with an emphasis on public archaeology, American Indian engagement, and outreach. Interns will gain valuable experience working with, and learning from, Crow Canyon’s education, field, lab, and American Indian initiatives staff, and they will engage with members of the public (in person or remotely). The Crow Canyon Education department specializes in the fields of Southwestern archaeology, anthropology, and American Indian studies. Responsibilities include developing interpretive materials and displays for sensitive material culture, teaching and supervising participants in Crow Canyon programs, curricula development, and preparing educational materials.
Education and/or Experience:
Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in education, museum studies, archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, or a related field is required.
The Outreach Intern is responsible for conveying mission impact and relevance by tracking with a variety of program activities to collect, produce, review, and edit engaging and educational content for a variety of communication channels.
Education and/or Experience
Career path in Communication, Communication Technologies, or New Media, with a strong interest in storytelling, graphic design, photography, and videography. Knowledge of archaeology, anthropology, or American Indian history, with an emphasis on the Southwest United States preferred.
COLORADO
FORT LEWIS COLLEGE 2024 ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL AT BLM CANYONS OF THE ANCIENTS NATIONAL MONUMENT (SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO)
Project Dates: May 13 to June 21, 2024 Application deadline: March 1, 2024
Immerse yourself in past landscapes
Learn professional field methods while working on archaeological sites during this 6-week summer course. Specific project locations may change yearly, but research focuses on the Four Corners region. You will be trained in and gain experience with:
Archaeological survey and documentation methods
Manual and digital mapping techniques
Artifact recovery and processing and collections management
You will also take field trips to significant archaeological sites to broaden your knowledge of our region’s history and pre-history.
Field School projects
Archaeological Field School dates: May 13 to June 21, 2024
Continuation of the Paleoindian survey and land use study in Southwest Colorado.
Excavation at the Pueblo I / Pueblo II Bowthorpe site in Southwest Colorado
Survey and excavation at Petrified Forest National Park
Cultural Resource Management project at three Pueblo I sites in the Durango area
Archaeological testing and historic preservation at Los Ojitos, a 19th/20th Century Hispanic village in eastern New Mexico
Excavation at the Pueblo III Pigg site near Lowry Ruins in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.
Students will have additional opportunities to work with data and material from the field school in subsequent lab classes or through independent research projects.
*Prerequisite ANTH 201: Introduction to Archaeology (or equivalent at another institution)
COLORADO
PALEOWEST FOUNDATION CRM FIELD SCHOOL (SW COLORADO) Course dates: June 30 to July 13, 2024 Application deadline: April 1, 2024
CONNECTICUT
The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Summer Field School (Stonington, CT)
Information about a possible Summer 2024 archaeological field school is forthcoming.
For more information, contact project director Dr. Stephen Silliman, University of Massachusetts Boston <Stephen.Silliman@umb.edu>
Project Overview (from summer 2022 field season):
The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School offers lots of great archaeology and Indigenous-centered community collaboration. The Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, is offering a five-week, six-credit archaeological field course on the Eastern Pequot reservation, located in southeastern Connecticut. In close collaboration with the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation,the Summer 2022 field school represents the 12th field season of intensive study of tribal lands since 2003 to identify and document archaeological sites dating to the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries in an effort to study the persistence and survivance of Indigenous people in colonial New England. The Eastern Pequot community has occupied this historic reservation since 1683. Read more about results of years of work with this community.
Field school students will receive training in techniques such as subsurface surveying, excavation, artifact processing, material culture identification, and archival research. These will prepare students for subsequent archaeological work inacademic, cultural resource management, and public archaeology contexts. In addition, students will be engaged directly with issues of decolonizing and anti-racist practice, critical heritage, cultural representation, and community work in contemporary archaeology. To complement the field archaeology, the field school will also work on developing and augmenting heritage products that meet Indigenous community needs. Through this well-established educational and community-oriented program, students will have the unique opportunity to participate in collaborative and engaged archaeology and heritage work alongside Native American leaders, elders, adults, and youth in a joint effort to recover aspects of Pequot history in southern New England and to keep charting the future for amore inclusive, decolonized, and socially responsible anthropology.
The course fee for the undergraduate and graduate sections covers six credit hours, instruction, field activities, visits to museums and nearby projects, housing, food, and travel between the field house and reservation. The fee does NOT cover basic student supplies, required health insurance, or transportation to/from the field school.
This field school is affiliated with the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation.
Project Director: Dr. Stephen Silliman, University of Massachusetts Boston <Stephen.Silliman@umb.edu>
At the following link you will find a short film highlighting Eastern Pequot voices about their heritage, culture, and the longstanding indigenous archaeology project done in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. As a state-recognized tribe, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation has a reservation in North Stonington, Connecticut, that its community has occupied since 1683. For more information on this Indigenous community, visit http://easternpequottribalnation.org/, or find them on social media at https://www.facebook.com/EasternPequo…. For those who are not familiar with this area, the Eastern Pequot are cousins of the Mashantucket (Western) Pequot, and their respective reservation boundaries sit less than a mile apart. However, unlike the Mashantucket who own Foxwoods Casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, the Eastern Pequot do not currently have federal recognition (as noted in the film) or its benefits such as economic development, community buildings, or a museum.
Clickhere for a project field school video, produced and directed by Stephen W. Silliman, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, copyright 2021. Video and audio editing by Stephen W. Silliman and Brian Schools. With special gratitude to the Institute for New England Native American Studies, especially Dr. Cedric Woods, and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston for additional support and collaboration.
CONNECTICUT
MOHEGAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL 2024, CONNECTICUT Dates: June 24 to July 26, 2024
The Mohegan archaeological field school teaches archaeology using an innovative collaborative approach. Students learn archaeological method and theory while surveying and excavating colonial-era sites on the Mohegan Reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Mohegan field school operates as an equal partnership between the Mohegan Tribe and Tufts Anthropology. The project is designed to respect the sensitivities, interests, and needs of the Mohegan Tribe while conducting rigorous archaeological research. The field school brings together students and staff of diverse backgrounds to learn about colonial history, Mohegan history and heritage, the history of North American archaeology, and— not least important—the often-troubled relationship between archaeologists and Indigenous communities. While taking the field school, students stay on the Connecticut College campus. The course is conducted as an in-person intensive in Connecticut. The course hours are approximately 8:30am to 4:30pm Monday Friday. Transportation from dormitories to field sites and any course related field trips will be provided. Combination of classroom learning via lectures, speakers, readings, etc. and field learning, including daily fieldwork.
Students interested in enrolling should complete this application: https://forms.gle/ bdPdDuxV1jsQswv37 The program will begin reviewing applications on March 1 and will continue accepting applications until the program is full. Feel free to contact Dr. Craig Cipolla with any questions (Craig.Cipolla@tufts.edu).
Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, St. Augustine, FL Nation’s Oldest Port® Underwater Archaeology Field School
At the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, we provide professional and educational maritime archaeology training every summer through ourNation’s Oldest Port® Field School.
Field school is an irreplaceable component in the education of any student pursuing a career in archaeology. Each year, the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) oversees an intense, four-week accredited educational program allowing both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in active maritime archaeological research along the First Coast, here in St. Augustine and the surrounding region.
In addition to methodological training and academic lectures, students get valuable real-world experience in all aspects of archaeological fieldwork, scientific diving, seamanship, and laboratory analysis. LAMP has partnered with a variety of universities, including Flinders University, Florida State University, Syracuse University, and Plymouth State University to organize and implement this four-credit course.Please see below for information on the upcoming 2024 field school.
Applications for 2024 are CLOSED. Unfortunately, due to the delayed timeline in the construction of our new Field House Facility, we will not be holding a 2024 Field School.
2024 Summer Interns for Current Undergraduate and Graduate Students
If you are an undergraduate or graduate student and would like some internship experience, we will be accepting one or two either underwater or terrestrial LAMP Interns in 2024. Please note that there is no compensation for this position, and housing is not provided.
For questions, please email LAMP at the contact information below.
HAWAII INDIGENOUS ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL: BRIDGING PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Foothill College and Stanford University Hawai’i Program Program dates: August 1-21, 2024
Program website: https://sites.google.com/view/hawaiifieldschool/home
Aloha and E Komo Mai to the Hawaii Indigenous Archaeology Field School. Our anthropology studies begin during the summer quarter. If you want more information contact either Sam or Mike at Foothill College or Stanford University. A more complete website can be found here. Interested? Fill out the PrelimApplication here.
Discover with us the beauty of Hawaii as we start our community based research project.
Live with us and other project members in Hawaiian communities.
Work on all aspects of the research project.
Project Directors
Dr. Michael Wilcox (Stanford University) Dr. Samuel Connell (Foothill College)
Field School Application: You can download the application from theproject websiteand there should be a link provided in a drop down menu on this page.
Field School Description
Come to Hawaii and experience a field school like none other. You will live on the Big Island for three weeks. You will be exposed to a new way of thinking mixing an applied anthropological and an archaeological field school. Join us on the ground for the first of many years in Hawaii, beginning with the program at Kaloko Fishpond which is jointly administered by the National Park Service and native Hawaiian cultural groups. Check out the websitehere. And here is acool article from the NPSabout the park.
This is a project that practices indigenous archaeology and community based participatory research meaning that we shift the traditional model for research, asking native people who live in Hawaii what they want us and you (the students) to do. If it’s helping to map archaeology sites by surveying, then we do it, if it’s also cleaning and rebuilding a royal Hawaiian fishpond, then we do it; if it’s organizing an exhibit at the school, then we are working at the school; and if it means spending even more time cleaning and repairing the fishpond, then yes it’ll be the case!
We are professors Mike Wilcox and Sam Connell, and we are just as excited as our students to get this program off and running in Hawaii. The idea here is to do research in a pono or Hawaiian way, meaning we will live and breathe local thinking as we learn about the life and history of these amazing islands. The team of people from whom you will learn is going to be growing over the next months, but let us start by introducing our two main contributors, Ruth Luka Aloua and No‘eau Peralto, both of whom are expert cultural practitioners who have thought long and hard about the best way to teach about Hawaii and also study her history and people. We are so excited to be working with them and bringing you along for the ride.
What does this all mean for you the student? Well you get over 60 years of field experience working on field projects with over 500 students in Ecuador, Belize, Ireland, California and New Mexico. The move to Hawaii will be exciting. The aloha spirit is truly special and we can’t wait for you to become a part of it. Come to the islands, earn credits, and begin helping us study the culture and society of Hawaii over time.
Students will live in two places on the Big Island of Hawaii. First we will be staying in coffee plantation country near the town of Holualoa. Kona is 15 minutes away. The last we will be Honokaa another great town on the Hamakua coast. Check out this small guide from theHawaii magazine. We think it is important to base in a community and meet the people as we begin to understand the local life. We are taking as a model what we have been doing inIrelandandEcuador, so check the links for past examples.
ILLINOIS
CENTER FOR AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY (CAA) ADULT FIELD SCHOOL (KAMPSVILLE, ILLINOIS)
Date: Adult Field School July 14 to August 10, 2024
Our Adult Field School is your opportunity to be an archaeologist. Undergraduates, graduate students, and adults of all ages are welcome! Join our field crew and participate in real archaeological research alongside professional archaeologists. With our staff, you will learn how to do fieldwork, laboratory work, identify artifacts, and more as we investigate the German site.
The German Site is a Late Woodland / Jersey Bluff Phase habitation site located on a colluvial slope in the Crawford Creek valley. The site was occupied approximately 800-1200 CE. Remote sensing results indicate several possible structures and associated features. Since 2019, we have identified three house basins and several associated storage and refuse pits. A fourth possible house basin was identified in 2023. Field school students and CAA archaeologists have recovered domestic artifacts, including chert tools, pottery, animal bone, and botanical remains during the 2019-2023 field seasons. In 2024 we will continue to excavate house basins and associated features in order to better understand Late Woodland people of the Lower Illinois Valley.
Program
Enrollment is open to anyone 18 years or older. You may enroll for 1-4 weeks. Enrolled weeks need not be consecutive.
Week 1:July 14-20
Week 2:July 21-27
Week 3:July 28-August 3
Week 4:August 4-10
While in Kampsville, participants engage in field and laboratory work with CAA archaeologists. Students learn excavation techniques, including shoveling, troweling, mapping, measuring, soil description, and flotation sampling. Lab work includes artifact washing, identification, and flotation. These activities are supplemented by occasional evening lectures on by CAA archaeologists and guest archaeologists on various archaeological topics. The day usually begins at 7 am with breakfast and ends by 9 pm.
Please see the 2024 Adult Field School Schedule and Gear List for program details.
Tuition
Tuition includes room; all meals Monday through Friday; supplies, and instruction. Students may enroll for one or two weeks.
Upon receipt, we will send you a confirmation by email, a packet of additional information, and instructions for payment. Either full payment or a 30% deposit will secure your spot in the program.
If you have not received confirmation, we have not received your application!
Registration for the program closes one week prior to the start of each session.
Enrollment is limited to 24 students per week. Those applying after enrollment capacity is reached will be added to the waiting list in the order of receipt of a complete application.
Program Credit
This program does not carry academic credit; however, we will work with you if you petition your university/college for credit. We can supply supporting documentation and evaluation of your participation. Many of our previous students have earned credit for their participation.
Questions:If you have any questions, please contact the CAA ateducation@caa-archeology.orgor 618-653-4316 for more information.
ILLINOIS
CENTER FOR AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY (CAA) UNIVERSITY FIELD SCHOOLS (KAMPSVILLE, ILLINOIS)
The CAA’s University Field School is a six-week program for undergraduate and graduate students ready for an immersive, experience in Bioarchaeology or Field Archaeology in the Lower Illinois Valley.
We are offer two credit options for University Field School. Students may apply for credits through Illinois State University or they may apply directly to the CAA. Details on how to apply for each program are below. The application for ISU enrollment and credits will open in February 2024.
Bioarchaeology & Human Osteology
TheBioarchaeology and Human Osteologytrack enables students to work first-hand with skeletal remains in an intensive 6-week immersion course. An important aspect of this class involves learning about skeletal analysis in a problem-oriented context that is suitable for students interested in a variety of subjects: bioarchaeology, forensic anthropology, medical and dental science or skeletal biology. The course is offered at 3 different levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced), each tailored to the student’s prior experience with relevant subject matter. This class allows students an exciting opportunity to study osteology, as well as to learn about the archaeology of North America. Visits to regional archaeological sites and research centers supplement the program, as do a series of lectures from archaeologists working around the globe. Students will attend daily lectures given by Dr. Jane Buikstra covering topics such as skeletal anatomy; osteological techniques for estimating age and sex; paleopathology; and genetic relatedness, among others. In addition to lectures, students will have access to skeletal study collections that facilitate learning about skeletal anatomy, analytical methods and engaging in independent research. Well-trained and knowledgeable teaching assistants also enhance the classroom and laboratory experiences.
Students in the Bioarchaeology & Human Osteology track donotparticipate in fieldwork.
Field Archaeology & Geophysical Survey
TheField Archaeology and Geophysical Testingtrack offers a unique, intensive archaeological experience for undergraduate and graduate students of all skill levels. Stationed at the Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, students gain experience in field and laboratory methods, theory and research design while engaging in problem-oriented research at the German site (11C377), a Late Woodland (ca 800-1200 CE) Jersey Bluff habitation site. Students work closely with professional archaeologists from a variety of backgrounds and institutions to help them master techniques and strategies for successful archaeological field and lab work in a variety of contexts. Field Methods students gain hands-on experience in geophysical testing, total station use, excavation and laboratory methods, including mapping, soil description, artifact and debris processing, water flotation collection and processing and curation. Practical experiences are supplemented by reading assignments and lectures by field school staff and guest lecturers.
The German Site is a Late Woodland / Jersey Bluff Phase habitation site located on a colluvial slope in the Crawford Creek valley. The site was occupied approximately 800-1200 CE. Remote sensing results indicate several possible structures and associated features. Since 2019, we have identified three house basins and several associated storage and refuse pits. A fourth possible house basin was identified in 2023. Field school students and CAA archaeologists have recovered domestic artifacts, including chert tools, pottery, animal bone, and botanical remains during the 2019-2023 field seasons. In 2024 we will continue to excavate house basins and associated features in order to better understand Late Woodland people of the Lower Illinois Valley.
Tuition includes room, all meals Monday-Friday, breakfast and lunch Saturday, supplies, and instruction.
Illinois State University Credit Option:$4010 + Illinois State University tuition
Non-Credit Option:$4200
Accommodations
Students reside in Kamp Dorm, which is located above the CAA’s museum in the historic Kamp Store. Kamp Dorm includes beds, showers, restrooms, as well as a shared microwave and refrigerator. You must bring your own bedding. Our facilities are approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health, and meet the Illinois Youth Camp Act’s criteria.
How to Enroll
Enrollment is open to anyone 18 years or older. There are two enrollment options for the Advanced Field School:
College Credit Option through Illinois State University
Those who wish to enroll for university credit may earn credits through Illinois State University (ISU). This program is run as a joint CAA-ISU program. The schedule, requirements, and program are the same as the non-credit option, however this option does include additional costs for the ISU credits.
In order to earn ISU credits, youmustapply using ISU’s application process. Do not use the Non-Credit Option instructions if you want to apply for ISU credits.
Apply to ISU as a non-degree/visiting student.You will be able to pick the appropriate course and section here as well as pay ISU’s tuition.
Pay the Program Fee. Please do not pay the program fee until you have completed the first step.
Once you have enrolled and paid all fees (ISU tuition + CAA program fee), we will send additional travel, gear, and program documents.
Enrollment through ISU will open in February 2024. The appropriate links for applying and paying tuition will be made available at that time.
Non-Credit Option
This option is for those who wish to attend but do not need or wish to earn academic credit. This program does not carry academic credit; however, we will work with you if you are interested in petitioning your university/college for credit. We can supply supporting documentation and evaluation of your participation. Many of our previous students have earned credit for their participation. The ISU-CAA program is preferred option for course credits.
One letter of recommendation from a professor or instructor familiar with your academic work. Letters of recommendation should be sent from your recommender toeducation@caa-archeology.org
Minimum 2.5 GPA
Upon receipt, we will send you a confirmation by email, a packet of additional information, and instructions for payment. Either full payment or a 30% deposit will secure your spot in the program. Payment processing occurs upon acceptance into the program.
If you have not received confirmation, we have not received your application!
Questions:If you have any questions, please contact the CAA ateducation@caa-archeology.orgor 618-653-4316 for more information.
ILLINOIS
APPLIED ARCHAEOLOGY FOR CAREERS IN CRM (CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT) (Kampsville, Illinois)
Dates:
Session I: May 5 to June 1, 2024 Application deadline: April 7, 2023 Session II: Sept 22 to Oct 19, 2024
Students may enroll in one of the two sessions for 8 academic credits.
DIRECTORS Dr. Jason L. King, Executive Director, Center for American Archeology (jking@caa-archeology.org) Mr. Don Booth, Field School Director, Center for American Archeology (dbooth@caa-archeology.org)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This program is a four-week, intensive field school experience designed to provide students with job-ready skills to enter the workforce as archaeological field technicians at the Cultural Resource Management (CRM) industry. Students will learn key skills necessary for CRM jobs, including survey, surface collection, shovel testing, excavation, laboratory techniques, relevant laws, and reporting. Students will learn the entire process of CRM practices, from data collection to data reporting and mitigation. Practical field and laboratory activities are supplemented by relevant readings and formal lectures.
This program takes place in rural Illinois, where CRM work must take into consideration vegetation, farming cycles, seasons and stakeholder sensitivities. Knowledge acquired in this program can be used for CRM work across the U.S. but will be of primary relevance for CRM work in similar landscapes and environmental conditions. proper techniques to investigate similar landscapes.
This is a train-to-work program for students seeking immediate employment at the Cultural Resource Management (CRM) archaeology sector. Students with a BA or BS in archaeology, anthropology or related fields will get a priority enrollment for this field school.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The objective of this program is to prepare students to enter the archaeological workforce in field technician positions in public and private CRM crews. This objective is accomplished by providing students with (1) practical experience in field and laboratory methods necessary for detecting and documenting archaeological sites, (2) instruction in the legal and consultation requirements of cultural resource management, and (3) experience in reporting of archaeological fieldwork.
Students will engage in surface survey, shovel testing, and excavation at archaeological sites in the Lower Illinois River valley, documenting their fieldwork in preparation for interpretation and reporting. Students also participate in the cleaning, tabulation, and curation of archaeological material collected during their field experiences.
KANSAS
ETZANOA ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL, Arkansas City, Kansas
Located near the mouth of the Walnut River at Arkansas City, Etzanoa is a protohistoric Wichita town that contained about 20,000 residents in 1601. As part of the province of Quivira,Eyewitness accounts can be accessed hereandrecent published work can be accessed here. This year we will have two main activities. One is ground-truthing selected features detected by the NPS Remote Sensing Workshop, which will be held in the last week of May. The other is to continue excavating a cluster of features that reflect a work area associated with a cluster of houses. Old storage pits used for trash disposal have yielded numerous artifacts. This year, we will have access to a miniature, high-frequency G round Penetrating Radar unit for use within squares. We will use a top-of-the-line laser scanner to map all of the items found to create a 3-D model of the items actually found to compare to the GPR results. This site is an active research locale with promise to answer questions about ancestral Wichita lifeways and exchange systems right before and during early European colonization. Students will gain the basic skills necessary to excavate archaeological sites and for employment in cultural resource management fields.
Etzanoa yields pottery, finely crafted chipped and ground stone artifacts, bone tools, and faunal remains. Students will learn how to handle them, including specimens selected for microfossil and other residue analysis. We occasionally find Spanich artifacts as well, in enough quantity to suggest that they derive from the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
Etzanoa is the focus of a major public archaeology project that involves a local conservancy, the town, a local community college, the local school district, Wichita State University, and of course the Wichita Tribe. As a result, and students will participate in a public event at the end of the season. As a result of good local relationships, we have access to some portions of the site that are on private property, and we may have access to a swimming pool this summer. Students can have a single room in the college dorm, with private shower, for $10 a night.
Logistics
The Field School will run fromMonday, June 5th through Friday, June 30th, 2023. Students should plan to be in Arkansas City, Kansas, by at noon for orientation. Students will be housed in single-occupancy dormitories on the Cowley Community College campus. Transportation to/from the site will be provided and we can arrange for airport pick-up from Wichita for students travelling from out-of-state.
Costs
Students are required to register for field school under ANTH690 under Dr. Blakeslee for 4 credit hours.
Excavation equipment is provided. Rooms are provided over the weekend. Meals are provided from Monday breakfast to Friday lunch. Students have free weekends and many go to Wichita on Friday evenings.
*Do note that these are in-state estimates. Many neighboring states and states along the I-35 corridor are considered in-state and have reduced tuition, but check your exact rateshere. Field school costs are subject to change.
To Apply
Fill out an application here. Review of applications will be begin afterMonday, January 27th, after which all applicants will be emailed for further information. Registration will be filled by priority first to WSU students by seniority and then first-come first-serve to guest students. Accepted students will have until April 15 to register for the course, at which time we will open for students on the waitlist.
Non-WSU students will have to be accepted to either the College of Liberal Arts (undergraduate) or the Graduate School (graduate) prior to registration. We will walk you through the process of registration once you have been accepted into the field school. Only the first 20 students to confirm registration will be admitted. This application link works for both the Etzanoa and Boxed Springs Archaeological Field Schools.
MAINE
“ARCHAEOLOGY OF MAINE’S FIRST PEOPLE,” Salve Regina Summer Archaeology Program
Program dates: May 13th OR 20th-June 14, 2024 Apply by February 1st, 2024
Program Min: 4, Max 15. Faculty Leaders: Dr. Heather M. Rockwell and Dr. Nathaniel R. Kitchel
Courses Offered SOA/CHP 332 : Archaeological Field School (3 credits) • Fulfills elective in major/minor for Cultural and Historical Preservation and Sociology and Anthropology. Fulfills free elective credit (if available) for all other majors. All course fulfillments are subject to approval by an advisor.
Program Highlights
• Receive training in archaeological survey and site discovery techniques in the vast North Maine Woods
• Learn excavation techniques while working at archaeological sites from the Ice Age belonging to the first peoples of New England
• Work with experts in the fields of archaeology and cultural preservation while exploring the Munsungun Quarries project
Academic Focus The Cultural and Historic Preservation program is pleased to offer an archaeological field school this summer at the PPE’s Site. This site is part larger cultural landscape of the Munsungun Quarries project within the North Maine Woods. This area was occupied by Indigenous people for thousands of years including those from the earliest people in the region; Paleoindians. This project will employ archaeological methods of survey and reconnaissance to identify new sites in the complex as well as continue excavations on the Stevens site.
Course Expectations Faculty leaders may schedule pre-departure meetings as needed prior to program departure. During the program students should expect to be in program-related activities everyday from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm. Work schedules will be 7 days on with 3 day breaks.
Accommodations/Meals
All camping and housing accommodations will be organized by Salve Regina University and are included in the program fee. Students will be camping within the North Maine Woods for much of the field project (https://www.northmainewoods.org/information/ fees.html) . When not camping students will be housed at the University of Maine Presque Isle and in dorms on the Salve Regina University Campus. The program fee includes all camping and housing fees. Students must supply their own camping gear including tents, sleeping bags, cots, and outdoor clothing. The program fee includes all meals while in Maine. Students are responsible for their own snacks and their own meals while at Salve Regina University.
How to Apply
Complete the short-time online application and submit all required supplemental materials by the application deadline. Application opens October 15.Visit ViaTRM, our online program search and application tool to begin the application and view program updates.
Eligibility Requirements
• Consent of instructor • Minimum 2.7 cumulative GPA • Availability of academic credits to fulfill degree requirements • Good disciplinary, financial and academic standing at the time of program departure. • Participation in mandatory pre-departure orientation sessions
Program Fee with housing: Approximately $3000 –3750 (to be confirmed Nov) Included in this fee: 3 credits Salve Regina University tuition Ground transportation as needed by group itinerary Camping fees at North Maine Woods 3 meals daily, plus snacks! Housing and Accommodations at University of Maine Presque Isle and Salve Regina University in double occupancy rooms with a shared kitchen. *The fee for students who do not require accommodations can be adjusted. Not Included in this fee: Transportation to and from Rhode Island Meals while at Salve Regina University Personal Expenses (recreation, tips, laundry, snacks, other personal items/services) Personal transportation in free time
Payment Schedule $1200 Deposit due by Friday February 16. Your deposit holds your space in the program. Please be aware that there is a withdrawal and refund policy outlined in your Participation Agreement. Final Payment due by Friday May 3. The Business Office will generate an invoice for the remainder of the program fee in April.
Financial Aid Consult with your Financial Aid Counselor. Generally, only parent plus loans are applicable to short-term study abroad programs.
Scholarships Salve Regina study abroad scholarships are reserved for full-time semester and year-long programs. Research your non-Salve Regina scholarship options at: www.salve.edu/study-abroad/study-abroadscholarships. If you qualify for financial aid and are in need of financial assistance to attend field school please contact the instructor about the potential for scholarship support. Questions? email Dr. Rockwell (heather.rockwell@salve.edu)
MARYLAND
2024 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY AT ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND
Program Dates: May 13 to June 21, 2024 Application deadline: April 7, 2024
Explore America’s Past at Historic St. Mary’s City
Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland
Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC), in association with St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), announces its 2024 Field School in Historical Archaeology. The 2024 field season will be focused on St. Mary’s Fort, the site of Maryland’s founding. St. Mary’s Fort was a large, palisaded fort constructed by the first wave of European colonists who arrived in Maryland in the spring of 1634. St. Mary’s Fort represented the first major foothold of European settlement in Maryland. Its discovery and interpretation are critical to understanding the early period of indigenous-colonial relations, a period that is not well-documented historically or archaeologically. This project also offers the opportunity to reflect on the nature of historical colonialism in Maryland and its continuing effects in today’s world.
Excavations during the 2024 season will be focused on the western bastion and nearby palisade walls in an effort to learn more about the fort’s architecture.
About the Program
HSMC is a state-supported, outdoor museum located at the site of Maryland’s first capital (1634–1694). The HSMC field school one of the longest-running historical archaeology field schools in the United States. Participants engage in an immersive six-week program that teaches the foundational principles of historical archaeology through hands-on excavation, laboratory work, and artifact analysis. Students learn artifact identification by working with one of the best archaeological collections of indigenous, colonial, and post-colonial material in the country.
The Field School in Historical Archaeology is an ideal experience for undergraduate or graduate students concentrating in Anthropology, Archaeology, History, Museum Studies, or American Studies, or for any student with an interest in learning about the past through archaeology.
Requirements
No prior archaeological experience is required for acceptance into the field school. An introductory course in anthropology, archaeology, and/or colonial history will be helpful, but is not mandatory. Archaeological fieldwork is physically demanding and requires strong communication skills; the ability to engage in sustained, strenuous teamwork is essential.
Tuition and Fees
Although the HSMC Historical Archaeology Field School is accredited through St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM), a state honors college dedicated to the Liberal Arts, the field school program is open to students from any institution that accepts transferable credit. Undergraduate students may register for either Anthropology or History credits. Tuition for the four-credit program is as follows:
MD/DC Tuition
4 credits @ $350 per credit = $1,400
Non-MD Tuition
4 credits @ $500 per credit = $2000
An additional fee of $25 is assessed to cover the costs of materials and a commemorative T-shirt for each participating student. Graduate students should contact Director of Research and Collections Travis Parno (travis.parno@maryland.gov) to discuss accreditation options.
The Pathways to Archaeology Field School Scholarship (PTAFSS) is available for students from historically underrepresented groups in archaeology. Contacttravis.parno@maryland.govfor more information.
Room and Board
Housing in SMCM dormitories is available to students at a reduced rate on a first-come-first-served basis. Housing includes access to free wi-fi and laundry facilities. Students housed on campus may also enroll in one of several meal plan options available on SMCM’s campus. HSMC is within walking distance from SMCM’s campus. Transportation assistance is available for out-of-state students. Students seeking housing are encouraged to apply early. Contacttravis.parno@maryland.govfor information about reserving a room or enrolling in a meal plan.
How to Apply
To apply, please submit an application that includes the following components to the email address listed below:
1. A one-page personal statement that describes your interest in the course and your academic background, including your expected graduation date and any previous courses, experiences, or special skills relevant to your participation in the field school.
2. A resume or curriculum vitae that includes your contact information (both mailing addresses and phone numbers) for your university and permanent residences.
3. Contact information (including professional title, mailing address, and email address) of two academic references.
Application documents should be submitted electronically in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format totravis.parno@maryland.gov.
Overview:
The state-run Mississippi Lunatic Asylum (later known as the Insane Hospital) opened in 1855 in the capital city of Jackson and closed in 1935. The institution housed patients from all areas of the state and many came with physical maladies in addition to mental conditions. Approximately 1/3 of the 30,000 patients who were admitted over an 80-year period died at the Asylum and more than 4,000 were buried in the cemetery on site, now known as the Asylum Hill Cemetery, where wooden grave markers have long-since deteriorated.
The former Asylum lands are currently home to the ever-growing University of Mississippi Medical Center, opened in 1955. The Asylum Hill Cemetery is now being respectfully excavated to make way for expansion of vital healthcare services. This presents a research opportunity at a scale rarely seen in the U.S. Students will focus on bioarchaeological methods, including burial excavation, human osteology, and mortuary artifact identification. Students will also learn basic archaeological methods, such as mapping, soil sample collection, and creation of field sketches.
Previous coursework in human osteology is not required but will be beneficial to participants
Please read before applying
This program is focused on exhumation of human remains who perished at the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum and buried at its cemetery (ca. 1855-1935). This program takes place where family & community members are alive and have deep and intensive interest in the exhumation work.
This program is emotionally and physically demanding, requiring the utmost respect for the dead and the living. Students should be aware of the challenges and should attend only if they feel this type of experience is for them. This program DOES NOT offer onsite professional grief counseling.
This program requires Health & Criminal background screening. Admitted students MUST begin the process by mid-April as the submission and review of such background screenings are lengthy, multi-step processes. Students who have not begun the process by May 1, 2024 will forfeit their slots at the field school and will not receive a refund of tuition. All materials and steps for background screening MUST be submitted and completed by June 7, 2024.
Director: Dr. Jennifer Mack, Lead Bioarchaeologist, Asylum Hill Project; Assistant Professor, School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, jmack@umc.edu
NEW MEXICO
COTTONWOOD SPRING PUEBLO NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL (in Southern New Mexico)
The NMSU’s 2024 Field School will return to Cottonwood Spring Pueblo (LA 175) on the western flanks of the San Andres Mountains just north of Las Cruces, NM. This 14th-century village dwarfs most other El Paso phase sites (AD 1300-1450). Students live in town and commute to the site Monday through Thursday. We devote Fridays to guest lectures and cleaning, sorting, typing, and cataloguing artifacts in the lab on campus. We will also be taking an extended field trip to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park.
Learn more about previous field schools at Cottonwood Spring Pueblo in the video below! https://youtu.be/GHmXCQLorMU
Students will receive 6 weeks of training in archaeological field methods, including excavation, feature documentation, and artifact processing/analysis. Participants must be prepared for rigorous outdoor activity.
Course Options: The field school is an intensive 6-week field-based course, for which all students will earn 6 credit hours. Students can apply for admission to the field school through one of the following course options:
ANTH 388: Archaeological Field School.No prerequisites.
ANTH 488: Advanced Archaeological Field School.Prerequisite: previous field school training.
ANTH 522: Archaeological Field School.Prerequisite: graduate student status.
Cost: Students will be chargedtuition for 6 credits, and there will also be a$850 course feeto cover the cost of transportation and essential supplies. Tuition rates vary depending on the semester, resident or non-resident status, and graduate or undergraduate status, and summer tuition rates are typically published in April of each year. Once the summer rates are published, you will be able to find them here: https://uar.nmsu.edu/tuition_fees/index.html.
How to Apply: Please complete the application form attached below and e-mail it to Dr. Walker (wiwalker@nmsu.edu). Applications are due byMarch 17.
University of North Carolina Wilmington will offer a field school in the Wilmington area in Summer 2024.
Our goal is to investigate the archaeological and historical heritage of the Cape Fear region, by excavating the area around the Russelborough area of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site.
The UNCW Archaeological Field School in the Lower Cape Fear region will be offered in Summer Session I, 2024, which is May 20-June 18 2024.
Over the course of the session, students will learn archaeological surface surveying, excavation techniques, record-keeping, mapping, and basic lab techniques, including flotation. We will also go on field trips to some local archaeological sites of interest, depending on availability, including nearby archaeological field schools.
The class will be 6 credit hours and will be intensive. It will basically take place all day Tuesday-Friday, and half-days on Monday. Actual hours of excavation will be decided by vote of the crew.
Laboratory and Project Components
Depending on how much material we find, we will put aside at least one half-day a week for laboratory artifact processing and perhaps more. This will familiarize everyone with standard archaeological lab techniques—washing, inventorying, pottery analysis, etc. We will always have lab days or field trips on our Monday half-days, and will dig Tuesday-Friday, weather permitting.
Each student will also have either a group or individual project that will include an oral and written report, to ensure that everyone is keeping their mind on the larger issues of archaeology, as well as the dirt. More information will be available at the scheduled time.
Where Is the Site?
The site is a well-known state historic site about twenty minutes from downtown Wilmington and about forty minutes from UNCW, depending on traffic. Local students can live in their usual residences, and we will meet at the site (or a designated Wilmington meeting point, such as UNCW) every morning. We can arrange on campus lodging for out-of-town students, if necessary.
Why Choose This Site?
The Cape Fear region is archaeologically important in both the prehistoric and historic periods. Prehistoric occupations began in the Paleoindian period (13,000 BP) and extended up to European Contact. Following the Yamassee War (1715-1716) many indigenous groups were decimated or left the area, although the Waccamaw Siouxan people remain in the Cape Fear region.
The Lower Cape Fear is one of the earliest parts of North Carolina settled in the colonial period, with Brunswick Town formed in 1726.
The area of Russelborough served as the Governor’s mansion in North Carolina for Governors Dobbs and Tryon, and so was the seat of North Carolina government from 1758-1770. Governor Tryon abandoned the area after he was besieged by irate colonists during the Stamp Act crisis. Russelborough was bought by local wealthy merchant William Dry, and burned by the British during the American Revolution. The site of Russelborough is interesting for several different reasons. It was one of the earliest rice plantations in the region. Brunswick Town was built by enslaved African people, as were the house and outbuildings at Russelborough. Excavation in the area will hopefully help us learn more about the lives of enslaved people during the 1700s in the Lower Cape Fear.
Wilmington, upriver of Brunswick Town, became the largest city in North Carolina through the Civil War years and into 1898. Areas from the former Brunswick Town upstream to Wilmington were used as naval stores plantations, and later as rice plantations.
The Lower Cape Fear is the northernmost part of the Gullah-Geechee Heritage Corridor, an area where Black descendants of rice plantation slaves formed their own unique culture. The port of Wilmington was an important blockade runner port during the Confederacy, making the Wilmington area the focus of one of the last military campaigns in the Civil War, in December/January 1865.
Following the Civil War, Wilmington was a multiethnic, bustling port. The coup of 1898 suppressed the multiracial Fusionist coalition that had been elected to run the city and replaced it with a white supremacist city government. A majority of the Black population in Wilmington was forced out of town or left, permanently changing the ethnic makeup of the city.
What Work Will We Do?
Despite this complex history, relatively little archaeology has been performed in the area.
We will specifically be focusing on the outbuildings around the Russelborough house. Russelborough itself has been previously excavated, and there is quite a bit of historic information about it. There is practically nothing known about the enslaved people who lived and worked in and around the house. We hope to learn more about them and their way of life by excavating the outbuildings.
What Are the Costs of the Field School?
UNCW has not yet posted summer tuition costs. The field school will not charge fees for lodging or food, but each student will need to buy individual insurance from the university as part of registration, at a cost of about $18. A good estimate would be one 6-credit summer class, plus $18.
Are There Any Required Prerequisites?
It is preferred that everyone have at least ANT 207 Archaeology (Introduction to Archaeology) or an equivalent, but this is negotiable. Please contactDr. Eleanora Reberto discuss and/or negotiate this.
What About Housing?
This is a ‘commuter’ field school, in that if you already have housing in the Wilmington area, you will live there during the field school, and drive to site or archaeology lab each morning. You are responsible for your own food, including packing your own lunches.
If you do not have housing in the Wilmington area, you can stay in the UNCW dorms as a summer student, or look for a local sublet or rental. Dr. Reber is happy to provide you with resources to look for housing, but this will be your responsibility.
How Do I Apply for the Field School?
Cape Fear region and Wilmington area field schools will be offered in Summer 2024.
If you’re interested in taking the field school, or even considering it, please send an email toDr. Eleanora Reber, and she will give you more details. A Zoom or face-to-face meeting will also be arranged, whichever you prefer.
There is no formal application form. If you’d like to apply for the field school, please notifyDr. Eleanora Reber. You will hear from her about your acceptance into the field school. This should give you time to plan your summer schedule prior to the opening of summer preregistration. Following acceptance into the field school, a packet of information and other forms will be sent to you.
We may schedule one orientation meeting before the field season begins. This will depend on everyone’s schedules.
Enrollment is limited to 15 students!
For Non-UNCW Students
We are always interested in hosting non-UNCW students! For academic credit, you will need to register as aVisiting Summer Studentat UNCW and then register for the class. You can then transfer it in to your home institution in whatever way is standard there.
Please apply to the Field School via email (and receive an acceptance) prior to registering as a Visiting Student! And you may want to check with your home institution on what forms are necessary to transfer in a domestic transient study credit.
Cultural Resource Management, the legally required management and protection of our shared heritage, requires archaeologists to do more than just archaeology. CRM requires an understanding of legal frameworks, professional ethics, consultation, and project management. Conducting CRM in an underwater environment also requires specialized skills in marine remote sensing, landscape reconstruction, and, occasionally, SCUBA diving. This field school teaches the skills of underwater Cultural Resource Management through research on the submerged landscapes of Lake Erie. This program will not focus on shipwrecks (the more academic side of marine archaeology) but on understanding submerged landscape as this is the mainstay of Marine CRM work and where the greatest need for trained marine CRM professionals is. The skills taught in this course are similar to those employed in CRM to identify sites prior to offshore energy (wind, oil, and gas) development. This course is appropriate for students interested in both Cultural Resource Management and traditional academic archaeology in an underwater environment.
Until approximately 4,000 years ago, Lake Erie was lower than it is today, leaving large swaths of the modern lake bottom open for habitation. During earlier times, the lake basin contained two smaller lakes connected by a wetland and stream. This mixture of environments would have been attractive to humans, and the quick filling of the basin likely preserved sites in situ. By combining marine remote sensing, geoarchaeology, and Indigenous knowledge, we will identify areas on the lake floor that likely contain submerged habitation sites.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course students will have an understanding of the Cultural Resource Management process and underwater archaeology. Students will be able to describe the US laws that pertain to submerged cultural resources and explain how those laws are applied in a CRM context. Students will also have a working knowledge of the practical skills necessary to conduct archaeological research underwater.
To achieve these objectives, this course has three primary goals: (1) to provide students a practical working knowledge of archaeological field methods, including marine remote sensing, geoarchaeological coring, underwater science while SCUBA diving, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operation, and recording sites underwater, (2) to introduce students to the intellectual challenges presented by archaeological research, including research design, data analysis and interpretation, and need to bring together multiple lines of evidence to address heritage preservation; and (3) to train students in consultation and reporting to ensure that the products of their work serve future generations.
The course will be based in Erie, Pennsylvania, on the shores of Lake Erie. Portions of the course will take place on Lake Erie, as well as at local facilities, including the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. Accommodation will be in the Gannon University dormitories. Students are responsible for their own meals.
Student will participate in the following research activities:
Remote sensing: Students will collect, process, and interpret marine remote sensing data, including side-scan sonar and sub-bottom profiler data.
Coring: Students will collect cores of submerged sediments and learn to process and analyze these cores to identify potential living surfaces and sites.
Underwater Recordation: Students will practice recording sites in an underwater environment.
Ethnography: Students will work with local partners to record oral histories and traditional knowledge.
Reporting: Students will co-author the annual project report.
Note: A SCUBA certification course will be offered the week prior to the field school for students who do not possess a certification. Contact Dr. Ben Ford, Program Director, for more information.
DIRECTORS: Dr. Ben Ford (Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania ben.ford@iup.edu) Dr. Jessi Halligan (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Texas A&M University jessihalligan@gmail.com) Dr. Joe Stahlman (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Seneca Nation of Indians Joe.Stahlman@sni.org)
PENNSYLVANIA
18th and 19th Century River Town Archaeological Field School at the Newport Site, Pennsylvania
Dates: May 15 to June 23, 2023 [Awaiting updated information for Summer 2024]
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is offering two concurrent historical archaeology field schools at the site of Newport (36IN188), Pennsylvania. This field school is certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
Newport, located near Blairsville, Pennsylvania, was founded circa 1790 and served as an important river town until the early nineteenth century. The town included several businesses, a hotel, a post office, and a wharf. The site is now completely abandoned. This year’s archaeological investigations will include shovel test pits, excavation units, geophysics, metal detecting, photogrammetry, and artifact analysis to identify the site boundaries specific structures. Students will be exposed to both traditional and high-tech techniques with the goal of preparing them for cultural resource management and academic careers.
ANTH 320/520 Archaeological Field School (6 credits)
An introduction to archaeological survey, field excavation, and laboratory processing. Required for all Archaeology Track students or graduate students without significant field experience.
ANTH 740 Advanced Archaeological Field Methods (4 credits)
Advanced instruction in survey and excavation field methods and technology, with an emphasis on the application of research designs to field settings, and the logistics of supervising field projects.
For additional information, contact Professor Ben Ford atben.ford@iup.edu.
Previous Research at the Newport Village Site
Newport is important for several reasons. It was an early trade hub in western Pennsylvania connecting the Frankstown Road to the Conemaugh River. The Frankstown Road ran east to the Juniata River, providing a link to the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay, while the Conemaugh River eventually joins the Allegheny River flowing past Pittsburgh and into the Ohio River. Sitting at the juncture of the Frankstown Road and the Conemaugh River, Newport helped connect the eastern and western United States and facilitated the movement of people, materials, and goods to, from, and through what was then the frontier. As other transportation routes developed, including roads, canals, and railroads, Newport was left behind and eventually abandoned. Its short occupation at a pivotal time in western expansion, makes it an excellent site to investigate life, commerce, and industry on the American frontier.
The 2019 field school at Newport made significant discoveries about the village’s layout. The archaeologists identified two roads through the village, one paved with cobbles and the other banking down the slope to a now-submerged natural stone wharf. Through test pits and excavation units, the students also identified the footprint of the store and post office building near the center of the site. The two roads and the store/post office location allow us to link historic descriptions of the town to the modern landscape. The store also produced a significant number of artifacts, including ceramics, glass, and animal bones, that show the linkages between Newport, the surrounding areas, and trade networks that stretched to the eastern United States and Britain. The field school also contributed to our understanding of how Newport served as interface between overland and river traffic by identifying what appears to be the foundation for chutes used to load iron ore from wagons onto boats. Finally, the excavations uncovered evidence of long-term occupations at the site with pre-Contact stone tools and chipping debris revered from throughout the site.
In 2021 we investigated three buildings: the hotel, the store, and a possible house. All three produced a large number of artifacts that told us much about food, life, and leisure on the Pennsylvania frontier. We were also impressed by the substantial foundations of the buildings—the people of Newport clearly believed their town would last. We were also able to identify several additional structures through ground-penetrating radar (GPR).
In 2023 we will begin excavating the structures identified with the GPR and do additional GPR and shovel test surveys to define the extent of the town center. We will also continue to excavate the hotel to better understand its role in the community.
PENNSYLVANIA
PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM COMMISSION SUMMER KEYSTONE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
preservation, or museums. We created this program to be an integral part of our interns’ academic training, and students are encouraged to seek credit. Each Keystone Summer Intern will work directly with a Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (PHMC) staff mentor on a specific project or projects and will also learn about PHMC’s multiple functions though educational and networking opportunities. Interns will also have regular opportunities to reflect on their own experiences within the broader context of the challenges and possibilities of public history. Keystone interns will receive a formal evaluation at the conclusion of the internship and will be asked to provide feedback to PHMC on their experience.
All applicants must be 18 years of age or older, enrolled at a college or university in an undergraduate or graduate program, and must hold a minimum of a 2.5 GPA at the time of their internship. Additional requirements, such as a required field of study, may be applicable to some internships. This information will be listed on the posting. Selected interns must pass all required background checks. Applications are accepted from studentsthroughout the United States; however, PHMC is unable to provide housing or transportation stipends to our interns.
An unofficial transcript must be uploaded as part of the application process. Submissions will be reviewed and applicants will be notified if selected for a virtual interview. Questions regarding the Keystone Summer Internship Program may be directed to MegAnn Carey at mecarey@pa.gov.
Areas of Study
Internship opportunities are available in a wide variety of disciplines and professions included within PHMC’s programs, such as archival studies, archaeology, architecture, collections care and management, cultural resource management, curation, exhibition development, geographic information systems (GIS), graphic arts, historic preservation, historical research and programming, museum education, museum studies and zoology.
Internship Locations
Keystone Summer Internships are in-person internships available in a variety of locations, including PHMC’s headquarters in downtown Harrisburg and at PHMC sites and museums along the Pennsylvania Trails of History.
Dates and Internship Hours
The Keystone Summer Internship Program will take place during a 10-week program period during the summer of 2024. Final program dates and work schedules will be decided between interns and their mentors. Interns must work a minimum of 225 hours and are eligible to work up to 300 hours, within the program timeframe, at a rate of $16.67 per hour.
Selection Criteria
Primary criteria for selection are the overall quality of the application responses and interview; match between the applicant’s educational and career goals and the goals of the Keystone Internship Program; and the fit between the applicant’s skills, interests, and experience and the specific project or position in which they apply.
To Apply
An unofficial transcript must be uploaded as part of the application process. Submissions will be reviewed and applicants will be notified if selected for a virtual interview. Questions regarding theKeystone Summer Internship Programmay be directed to MegAnn Carey atmecarey@pa.gov.
Pinson Mounds in West Tennessee (Colorado State University Field School)
2024 Session Dates: to be announced
To learn more, including application and financial aid information, click here
Videos from recent CSU archaeological field schools can be found here and here
Our Archaeology Field School, which has operated since 1969, brings students each summer to sites in Colorado and beyond. The Summer 2024 session will take place in Tennessee and offer opportunities to learn and apply archaeological field methods.
Five-week field school focused on research at Pinson Mounds in western Tennessee
Learn non-invasive survey techniques (e.g., geophysics), as well as excavation and sampling methods
Gain valuable training for careers in archaeology and cultural resource management
Anthropology and Geography Field School Scholarship
The Department of Anthropology and Geography will provide modest financial support for Colorado State University undergraduate and graduate students to supportArchaeology, Ethnographic (not currently offered),Land Change Science (Geography), orPaleontologyField School endeavors. Funds shall be used to help cover necessary expenses associated with field school costs including tuition and supplies. Scholarships are made on a competitive basis.
To be eligible for the scholarship, you must:
be a full-timegraduateorundergraduatestudent enrolled in the Colorado State University College of Liberal Arts,
have an overall and in major 3.0 GPA,
be enrolled in one of the department’s field school courses (**see more details below)
complete a 500-word essay describing the chosen program of study, your interest in the specific program, how the completion of the program will further your career goals, and how you expect to be affected by participation in such work.
** To enroll in field school courses, students must apply to an individual field school and then be accepted into the program and course. More information on the field schools are available on our website, including contact information for field school directors.
Field school courses include:
Archaeology Field School: ANTH 260, ANTH 460/660 (summer course)
Ethnographic Field School for Risk and Disaster: ANTH 442 (Not Currently Offered)
Land Change Science Field School: GR 382A (summer course)
Paleontology Field School: ANTH 470 (summer course)
Date: Two six-week sessions are offered in 2023 [Awaiting updated information for Summer 2024]
Join an ongoing field research program of international volunteer crews working with the professional staff at the Lubbock Lake Landmark, Roland Springs Ranch, and Post research areas in northwest Texas. Each research area contains a field camp; food and snacks are provided at no cost. Volunteers are required to provide their round-trip travel costs.
The 2023 field season marks the 50th anniversary of the Landmark’s regional research program (1973-2023)
Research at our Post research area was reported in Archaeology Magazine.
A short video description of the research program can be found here
Two 6-week sessions are offered this year.
First Session: June 4th – July 16th
Second Session: July 9th – August 20th
The application deadline target dates are May 8 for the first session and June 19th for the second session.
Although not a field school, volunteers for the Lubbock Lake Landmark regional research program gain practical experience in museum field methodologies using the latest field recording technology, including GIS and 3D, proper field conservation of materials, and laboratory experience in processing material from the field.
– 6-week volunteer minimum commitment
– must be 18 years of age
– no experience necessary, just an interest in fieldwork.
Contact Dr. Eileen Johnson, Director of the Landmark, for additional inquiries.
UTAH
ZOOARCHAEOLOGY AND FIELD ECOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Program Dates: May 6-May 31, 2024 For full details, see program website https://anthro.utah.edu/fieldschools/zooarchaeology_fieldschool.php
Course Structure and Organization:
The course will begin (May 6-10) with five-day intensive introduction to zooarchaeology, vertebrate osteology, and natural history by zoom. Students will then meet in Salt Lake City (May 13) and we will proceed from there on a 6-day camping field trip across the state of Utah. We will explore many of the most important archaeological sites in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau (e.g., Danger Cave, Hogup cave, Lakeside Cave, Homestead Cave, Cowboy Cave, Sudden
Shelter, Bonneville Estates Rockshelter) and study the different habitats and vertebrate faunas of the regions. We will then stay for the remainder of the course (May 19-31) at the remote and scenic Range Creek Field Station in eastern Utah with continued field and lab studies and lectures on various topics in zooarchaeology. Students will complete a problem-oriented research project at the field station and present an oral presentation on that work at a conference on May 31. We depart on June 1.
Enrollment limited. Application (see below) is required. Students enroll in University of Utah, Anthropology 5712-section 2; (Field Methods: North America). 6 semester credit hours. Click here forcourse syllabus.
Enrollment, Application, and Experience:
Admission to the field school is limited to 8 students and applicants must complete theapplication form as soon as possible (email application to:Jack Broughton). No previous field experience or background in zooarchaeology is required and we welcome a wide range of academic backgrounds. Applicants must be able to meet the somewhat strenuous demands of hiking in the rugged but scenic setting of Range Creek Canyon and the surrounding region.
Course Instructors:
Jack M. Broughton (Ph.D. University of Washington, 1995) is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Utah where he teaches archaeology, osteology, and zooarchaeology. His research focuses on hunter-gatherer zooarchaeology and prehistory in western North America and the application of behavioral ecology to archaeological issues. Jack is passionate about zooarchaeology and natural history and has been involved in developing and teaching this course since its inception in 1988. He is also the author of Zooarchaeology and Field Ecology: A Photographic Atlas, a publication that was created specifically as a text for this unique course.
Isaac A. Hart (Ph.D. University of Utah, 2017) is a Post-Doctoral Zooarchaeological Research Fellow at the Department of Anthropology, University of Utah. His research focuses on the archaeology of western North America and Mongolia and paleoenvironmental reconstruction and prehistoric human subsistence based on the analysis of archaeological vertebrates, geological sediments, and fossil pollen. Isaac has been with the field school program for over a decade.
VERMONT
GREEN MOUNTAIN & FINGER LAKES NATIONAL FORESTS– INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Program Dates: Summer 2024 (16 weeks) Application deadline: February 15, 2024
The USDA Forest Service, Green Mountain & Finger Lakes National Forests is hiring a summer archaeological technician intern at $20/hour for 640 hours (16 weeks) with a flexible start date in May or June 2024. The position is based out of Mendon, Vermont and is being advertised through preservenet.org as a National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) internship in partnership with the National Park Service. The completion of 640 hours in an NCPE internship will earn the individual a 2-year Public Land Corps non-competitive hiring authority to apply for permanent federal positions, if eligibility requirements are met (preservenet.org/ncpe-internships/).
Housing will be waivered and provided for at the Mount Tabor Work Center seasonal housing facility in Mt Tabor, Vermont. The government facility offers a single occupancy room, with a shared bathroom, kitchen, laundry, and living area.
Contact:
Sarah Skinner, M.S.
Archaeologist, Forest Service, Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests
Interested in the 2024 Archaeological Field School at James Madison’s Montpelier? You have come to the right place!
The 2024 Field School will be held from May 27ththroughJune 28th, with two virtual sessions on May 22nd and 23rd.
If you are interested in learning more about the field school and attending the information meeting, please complete the following briefInterest Formto provide with a little information about yourself and will give you the link to register for the meeting and join our e-mail list. After you fill out the form, we will send you information on applying to the field school.
We will be holding an informational meeting about the 2024 Field School on January 24, 2024at 12:00 PM EST. (Register Below)
Five Week Training Course in Archaeological Methods and Techniques
The Montpelier Archaeology Department has hosted field school since 1987. Over the past thirty-seven years, the program has grown to include students from a variety of universities, spanning the US and abroad.
The field school is a five-week intensive course designed to give students training in field and laboratory techniques. Students will be introduced to excavation and survey methods, cutting edge archaeological recordation and digital data collection techniques (using ESRI’s Field Maps, digital mapping, and mobile photogrammetry), artifact processing and basic curation practices. Students will also be introduced to the principals of Public Archaeology, and will be expected to engage with visitors to the site, members of the descendant community, and online Students will also be expected to engage in discussions around contemporary museum practice with a focus on community based work and restorative justice.
The 2024 excavation season will focus on the Archaeology of Memorialization (as discussed in our last newsletter), where we will work to define the boundaries of theMontpelier Burial Ground of the Enslavedand build our understanding of how the ancestors of Montpelier’s descendant community memorialized their loved ones in this space. We are working closely with theMontpelier Descendants Committee(MDC) in all aspects of these surveys and excavations. The continued archaeological surveys and excavations at the Montpelier Burial Ground of the Enslaved will help The Montpelier Foundation and the MDC build a memorial to honor the legacy of their ancestors.
The archaeological work that students will be involved in is aimed at serving the larger goals of memorialization. The archaeology of memorialization aims to due the following:1. Understand the extent of the burial ground and location of burials in order to protect those burials and prevent any disturbance of human remains during the landscape restoration process.
2. Explore evidence for how the enslaved and their descendants commemorated and honored that space.
2. Restore the landscape of the burial ground, and honor those buried there.This field school and the excavations associated with memorialization is about understanding the landscape, and will NOT include the excavation of burials or human remains. Protection of human remains is central to this project and the interests of the MDC.
Cost and Accreditation
The Montpelier Archaeology Field School is accredited through James Madison University and SUNY Plattsburgh. However, we also offer a non-credit option. Undergraduate, graduate, and new professionals are welcome to apply to the field school!
The base cost for the field school in 2024 is $800. Students not taking it for credit, will owe an additional $200 fee.
Accepted students will need to pay an additional $100 deposit (or the full fee) in order to secure their spot. This fee will be refunded to scholarship recipients.
The total cost for non-credit students is $1,100.00 USD.
Scholarships
The Montpelier Foundation offers scholarships for African American students attending the Field School. For more details, please e-mail dig@montpelier.org and ask about scholarship opportunities for African American students. Scholarship application materials will be provided upon request.
Archaeology Paid Internships
Students who have participated in and completed the Archaeology Field School will also be provided an opportunity to apply for the ten month long internship program.
The Montpelier Internship is a ten month position that begins on July 1st and typically ends on April 31st.
In order to qualify for an internship, you MUST attend the Montpelier Archaeology Field School. These paid internships include full employee benefits and free housing on the property. Up to five, long-term interns (3 or 4 field interns and 1 or 2 lab interns) will be selected near the end of the Field School. Current and past Field School students are welcome to apply to the internship.
For those who have not previously attended our field school, you MUST apply, be accepted, attend, and successfully complete the Montpelier Field School in order to be considered for the long term internship. For those who have previously attended the Montpelier Field School and want to apply for year-long internships, please email us at dig@montpelier.org for details.
To apply for the archaeological field school, click here
Monticello’s Department of Archaeology and the University of Virginia offer a six-week archaeological field school at Monticello. The field school provides six credits through the University of Virginia’s College of Arts and Sciences. The Monticello-UVA Field School accepts applications from undergraduate students as well as postgraduates. A current or previous affiliation with UVA is not required to attend.
Space is limited to ten students. Please be sure to have all application materials submitted by deadline: April 8, 2024.
The Program
The Monticello-UVA Field School offers a hands-on introduction to basic excavation, recording, and laboratory techniques in archaeology. The course emphasizes a scientific, multidisciplinary approach to doing landscape archaeology. It also provides the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research into the ecological and social dynamics that unfolded on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Plantation in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Technical topics covered include survey and excavation strategies as well as the analytical possibilities for ceramics, faunal remains, plant phytoliths and pollen, deposits and the sediments they contain, soils, and spatial distributions of artifacts across sites and larger landscapes.
Guest lecturers are drawn from a variety of disciplines including archaeology, geology, ecology, paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology, and history based on documents and oral testimony. On-site instruction, lectures, and discussion sessions at Monticello will be complemented by field trips to related sites. Students will attend classes forty hours per week, with the bulk of that time spent working in the field and the lab. Reading assignments, lectures, and discussion sessions will cover both technical and historical issues.
Research Focus
Our fieldwork addresses changing patterns of land use and settlement on Thomas Jefferson’s, Monticello Plantation from c. 1750 to 1860, along with their ecological and social causes and consequences. Toward the end of the 18th century, spurred by shifts in the Atlantic economy, Thomas Jefferson and planters across the Chesapeake region replaced tobacco cultivation with a more diversified agricultural regime, based around wheat. Our research is revealing the enormous implications of this shift for what the landscape looked like and how enslaved African-Americans worked and lived on it. Significant questions remain about the ecological processes that were unleashed, how they were experienced by slaves and slave owners, and the importance of changing slave work routines in explaining social dynamics among enslaved and free people.
The focus of our field research in 2024 is Site 30, a domestic site that was home to enslaved field laborers in the 1770s and 1780s, when tobacco was the cash crop at Monticello. In the fall of 2022 we discovered a subfloor pit at the site that marks the location of a long-vanished log house. Evidence from the spatial distribution of artifacts across the site points to the existence of other houses. Our goals for the summer include determining if the subfloor pit we found belongs to a larger cluster of pits, under a single house. This pattern is typical of the houses in which enslaved people in the Chesapeake lived for most of the eighteenth century. We also aim to locate the subsurface traces of the other houses that once stood on the site.
Requirements
The course does not assume students have previous archaeological field experience. An introductory course in archaeology will be helpful but is not mandatory. Archaeological fieldwork is very demanding. Students should be in good physical condition and enjoy sustained, strenuous teamwork.
Tuition Subsidies and Stipends from Monticello
Tuition rates are set by the University of Virginia and vary by residency status (see this link for details:https://summer.virginia.edu/tuition-and-fees-2024). All students accepted into the field school will receive a tuition subsidy from Monticello worth half the UVA-mandated tuition. Taking into account this subsidy, tuition for 6 credits is $1,368 for undergraduates and $1,605 for graduate students who are Virginia residents. For non-residents, tuition is $5,055 for undergraduates and $3,352 for graduate students.
In addition to the tuition subsidy, each student will receive a $1,000 stipend to help with the remaining tuition and expenses.
Room and Board
Air-conditioned housing at the University of Virginia is available to Students at an estimated cost of $41 per night or roughly $287 per week for a single room.Meals are available at an additional cost through University dining services, or students can choose to prepare their own meals. Numerous summer sublets are also available in Charlottesville, but students will need to make their own arrangements.
To Apply
Send a one-page cover letter that outlines your interest in archaeology and a CV or resume that contains the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references. The application deadline is April 8, 2024. Please email your application tofieldschool@monticello.org.
For further information about archaeological research at Monticello, visit ourwebsite or visit us onFacebook.
Field School Director: Fraser D. Neiman
Field Research Manager: Crystal O’Connor
Research Archaeologist: Derek Wheeler
Curator of Archaeological Collections: Corey Sattes
VIRGINIA
THOMAS JEFFERSON’S POPLAR FOREST ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL (Lynchburg, VA)
Field School Dates: June 3- July 12, 2024 Application deadline: April 1, 2024
A UNIQUE LEARNING EXPERIENCE AT THOMAS JEFFERSON’S RETREAT
Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the University of Virginia are pleased to offer the 33rd annual Summer Field School in Historical Archaeology. The field school provides a foundation in current methods and theories of historical archaeology, and offers a solid introduction to the practical skills of site survey, excavation, recording, and laboratory procedures. Students will also actively participate in our ongoing interpretation of archaeology to the public. In the summer of 2024, field school participants will excavate sites associated with Poplar Forest’s enslaved residents and the plantation’s early infrastructure. Sites that will be investigated will include searching for the location of a stable, slave quarter, and other structures associated with Jefferson’s retreat home and plantation as well as later residents. This includes the opportunity to explore the archaeology of a standing brick quarter, which was built in the 1850s and continued to house African American residents in the years following emancipation. Students will work with the professional staff to better understand the lives of the individuals living and working at these sites by studying the material remains recovered from the summer’s excavations. These sites will reveal new data about the daily lives of people who labored on this plantation. This data can be compared with multiple sites that have already been excavated at Poplar Forest, allowing us to trace the plantation layout and the ways it changed at Poplar Forest over time. The study of this site will also provide new information for Poplar Forest’s interpretive efforts that can be included in signage and tours that help our visitors better understand the landscapes and lives of the many people, both free and enslaved, that lived on this plantation.
WHAT WOULD I DO AT THE POPLAR FOREST FIELD SCHOOL?
Students will spend 40 hours a week at Poplar Forest, with most of the time split between the excavation site and the archaeology laboratory. Strenuous daily activity will require physical endurance and good health. Participants will have the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art equipment and software, including a total station for recording field information, GPS receivers for collecting spatial data over large areas, a database system containing both the archaeological artifact and context records, and a complete inventory of over 3,000 historical documents relating to Poplar Forest.
FIELD SCHOOL SCHEDULE
The program includes weekly readings on topics in historical archaeology; lectures by staff and noted authorities covering such topics as landscape history, plantation life, and nineteenth-century material culture; the archaeology of the African Diaspora in America and beyond; environmental archaeology; professional opportunities in historical archaeology; and the role of public archaeology in our world today. As part of the program, students will also participate in a half-day workshop on architectural restoration and preservation philosophy. On-site work is supplemented by field trips to sites where historical archaeology is underway. Students will be asked to observe and evaluate strategies used by these sites to incorporate archaeology into their public interpretation.
Week 1Orientation to Poplar Forest, instruction, initial excavation, guest lecture, discussion of readings
Week 2Field and lab work at Poplar Forest, field trip, guest lecture, discussion of readings
Week 3Field and lab work at Poplar Forest, guest lecture, discussion of readings
Week 4Field and lab work at Poplar Forest, field trip, guest lecture, discussion of readings
Week 5Field and lab work at Poplar Forest, overnight field trip, discussion of readings
Week 6Conclusion of field work, presentations, summation of activities
WHAT IF I’VE NEVER STUDIED ARCHAEOLOGY OR BEEN ON A “DIG”? The Poplar Forest Field School is designed for the beginner. While some will bring previous experience, for most participants, this will be their first archaeological field school.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Graduate and undergraduate students in anthropology, archaeology, history, or historic preservation; museum volunteers and staff; public and private school teachers in social studies and related subjects; individuals interested in pursuing archaeology as a career; individuals interested in archaeology, history, and early American Southern culture; students of Jefferson, African-American and early American history. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and have finished high school.
UNIVERSITY CREDIT
This field school in historical archaeology carries six credits from the University of Virginia’s School of Arts and Sciences. Students who do not attend the University of Virginia should check with their degree-granting institution to verify transferability of credits.
TUITION & SCHOLARSHIP ASSISTANCE
All participants accepted into the field school will receive a scholarship from Poplar Forest. This is a tuition grant that covers half of the tuition charge for six credit hours. With this scholarship assistance, Virginia resident undergraduates will pay $1,368 and Virginia resident graduate students will pay $1,605. Out-of-state undergraduate students will pay $5,055 and out of state graduate students will pay $3,252. The university also charges a $54 off-grounds administrative fee to all students.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Air-conditioned accommodations are available at theUniversity of Lynchburg. Estimated cost is $39 per day. Students are responsible for their own meals and transportation to the site each day. Students are free to make other housing arrangements as well.
Eric Proebsting, Ph.D., Director of Archaeology and Landscapes Dr. Proebsting’s research interests include historical archaeology, agricultural communities, landscape archaeology, historical ecology, plantation studies, the archaeology of slavery, public outreach, and the archaeological applications of GIS and other techniques for collaborative research projects.
Steve Lenik, Ph.D., Research Archaeologist Dr. Lenik’s research interests include the archaeology of the African Diaspora, the archaeology of missions, the Atlantic World, plantation landscapes, and community engagement.
Karen McIlvoy, M.A., Archaeology Laboratory Supervisor Ms. McIlvoy’s research interests include the material culture of slavery and the African Diaspora, social dynamics within plantation communities, the archaeology of spirituality and folk beliefs, and the interactions between people and material culture.
Erin Schwartz, M.A., Assistant Archaeologist Ms. Schwartz’s research interests include historical archaeology, Southern Appalachia, industrialism and capitalism, gender and identity, architectural history, ceramics, (geo)spatial analysis, and public outreach.
QUESTIONS? Contact Eric Proebsting, Director of Archaeology and Landscapes ateric@poplarforest.org or (434) 534-8102
Be part of the Jamestown Rediscovery Project’s ongoing mission to excavate, interpret, preserve, conserve, and research findings from the site of England’s first successful colony in North America by participating in Jamestown Rediscovery’s annual Archaeological Field School from May 30 to July 7, 2023!
The Program
Jamestown’s Field School provides a unique opportunity for students to contribute to the research and interpretation of early 17th-century English America.The Field School, jointly offered by the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation and the University of Virginia, introduces participants to the methods and theories of American historical archaeology through hands-on fieldwork. Students will be helping to expand our understanding of the site of James Fort (1607-1624). Throughout the Field School, students will learn excavation and recording procedures and identify and interpret 17th-century European and First People’s artifacts. In addition, the Field School will include field trips and weekly seminars exploring recent contributions of historical archaeology to colonial history, new field recording and interpretation methods, and a survey of the recent literature in the discipline. Both novice and experienced students will learn practical archaeological skills and the course is also an excellent educational opportunity for teachers seeking recertification in the social studies content area.
Course Requirements
Field School Director: David M. Givens, MA.
Students will be required to attend classes 40 hours a week (Monday-Friday), with most of that time spent on-site working on the excavation. Strenuous daily activities will require physical endurance and excellent health. Students also will spend time processing and learning to identify artifacts from the early Anglo-American settlement period in the Jamestown Rediscovery laboratory. Students will be required to keep a journal of their field, lab, and seminar work.
Upon completing this course, participants will receive six graduate credits (Anthropology 5589) from the University of Virginia. Students who transfer credits must make arrangements directly with their college or university. Educators wishing to apply this course toward recertification must obtain prior approval from their school systems. See below for 2023 tuition rates and fees as well as information on housing.
Application and Selection Process
To apply, please submit an application form (download application form); a résumé; a statement of personal and professional reasons for wanting to participate in the Jamestown Archaeological Field School; any other evidence of a well-rounded personality, the ability to work with others, and physical fitness; and two recommendation letters (download recommendation form). Current or previous affiliation with the University of Virginia is not required to attend the Field School. Completed applications must be received by April 3, 2023 (if you cannot make this deadline, please contact the staff).
Applicants will be selected based upon a review of their résumé, application form, statement of personal and professional reasons for wanting to attend the school, and recommendations. Applicants will be notified no later than April 28, 2023 (In some cases, early acceptance may be granted if required by the applicant).
2023 Tuition Rates and Fees
In-State Tuition (Virginia Residents)
Undergraduate Students: $2,658 ($443 per credit hour)
Graduate Students: $3,054 ($509 per credit hour)
Out-of-State Tuition (Non-Virginia Residents)
Undergraduate Students: $4,875 ($812.50 per credit hour)**
Graduate Students: $3,096 ($516 per credit hour)**
The University requires an additional off-site fee for both in-state and out-of-state students.
** Tuition rates reflect a scholarship of 50% provided by the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation for out-of-state students accepted into the Field School. The University of Virginia’s current tuition is $1,625 per credit hour for out-of-state undergrad students and $1,032 per credit hour for out-of-state graduate students.
The University of Virginia’s tuition rates and fees list can be viewed here.
Room and Board
Jamestown Rediscovery is working with local partners and hotels to secure local housing for interested students. Please note on your application if you would like to rent local housing through Jamestown Rediscovery, so the proper number of rooms can be secured.
Indigenous Collaboration, First Foods, & Cultural Resource Management at Indian Creek (northeast Washington State): Washington State University Field School
Dates: May 22-June 16, 2023 [Awaiting updated information for Summer 2024]
The Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Washington State University, and Far Western Anthropological Group are collaborating to offer a field school in northeastern WA along the ancestral homelands of the Kalispel people (known today as Usk, Washington USA). This field school will have a strong focus on cultural resource management, tribal-led research, and Indigenous archaeology. As our research questions are driven by food security and sovereignty, there will be a strong archaeobotany and ethnobotany component. The field school runs from May 22-June 16. It’s a beautiful location on the edge of the northern Rocky Mountains and we will be camping, though we will have showers, facilities, kitchen access, cell service, and wifi!
Participate in research documenting Kalispel indigenous food systems at the Indian Creek site through the excavation of numerous earth ovens at an ancestral site occupied for at least 5000 years.
Earn career-building experience from a team of experts, including Professors, Professionals, and Instructors from academic, tribal, and cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology.
Develop skills in ethical collaboration with Indigenous communities in research and practice.
Learn the fundamentals of excavation, survey, and site recording, as well as artifact analysis, lab methods, and public education skills.
Explore the history and culture of interior Salish-speaking peoples and the Kalispel Tribe.
Gain insights into contemporary Tribes and programs addressing language revitalization, food sovereignty, health, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and restoration of local natural and cultural resources.
Become versed in CRM techniques essential to careers in professional archaeology and academic and tribal research.
Take field trips to sites and culturally and geographically significant areas, make new friends, and make memories to last a lifetime!
ABOUT THE WSU ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL
The 2023 Washington State University (WSU) archaeological field school is a collaborative project developed with the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. The field school will take place in scenic Pend Oreille County, northeastern Washington state, near the town of Newport, Washington. This summer, we are honored to be hosted by the Kalispel Tribe on their property at the Indian Creek Community Forest. As detailed in a recent feature by Sustainable Northwest, the Forest is a very special place that is a center of education and recreation, as well as a center point for the Tribe’s environmental management and ecological restoration efforts.
The 2023 field school is designed to prepare students for the evolving professional, academic, and compliance landscapes of archaeology. It provides a unique opportunity for students to participate in a research project investigating indigenous food systems while learning first-hand skills from a team of leaders in academic, Tribal, and cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology.
In addition to teaching students fundamental field and lab skills essential to diverse careers in archaeology, the field school will be a lot of fun! We will work hard in the field and lab, but also visit cultural sites, engage in lively discussions, participate in public outreach programs, and learn from Tribal experts about the Kalispel Tribe and their history.
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH AT INDIAN CREEK
The field school is located in rural Pend Oreille County-part of the homelands of the Salish-speaking Kalispel. This is an environmentally, culturally, and historically rich region, with much to explore and learn. In addition to learning about Tribal history and culture, students will help to document Kalispel land use and foodways at the Indian Creek site through the excavation of numerous earth oven features. Initial radiocarbon dating of cores at these features suggests the site was used over a span of 5000 years.
Artifacts collected in the field will be analyzed in the project lab near our campsite, and a major focus will be on recovering clues about culinary traditions and diet through ethnobotany, flotation, and other analyses, which will help students to better understand cultural sequences, analyze material culture in detail, and learn about artifact curation and preservation. Field trips along with visits from experts in the field of archaeology and other guests will help to enhance student appreciation and understanding of the region’s expansive natural and cultural history.
The Indian Creek project provides an exciting and rare opportunity to conduct cutting-edge scientific research and apply modern analytical techniques in a collaborative research context. Our emphasis is to develop a collaborative research model, that incorporates Tribal values and needs, while also training students (to work for and with Tribes, to better understand the context of their work).
The field school is bound by three prevailing themes: 1) emphasizing “decolonized” approaches to archaeological method and theory that promote ethical collaboration with descendant communities; 2) exploring questions about historical ecology, “first foods”, diet, health, food sovereignty, and family decision making and cooperation through an archaeological understanding of earth oven technologies and traditions, landscape use and Traditional Ecological Knowledge; and 3) training students in CRM policies and practice, which is not only necessary for a career in archaeology in countries like the US, but is directly applicable to other heritage and resource management professions, both nationally and internationally.
APPLICATIONS
If you are interested in joining the field school, please fill out an application (available here as a fillable PDF) and submit it to Cassady Fairlane at cassady.fairlane@wsu.edu. The priority deadline is March 1st, 2023, but applications will continue to be accepted until the field school is filled.
COST AND REGISTRATION
Field school students are required to enroll in 6 credits of Archaeological Field School through the Pullman campus: ANTH 399 (undergraduates) or ANTH 599 (graduates) for the Summer 2022 semester. The 2023 summer session tuition and fee can be found here. Course costs include tuition (undergraduate tuition is $563.35 per credit or $3380.10/ 6 credits; graduate tuition is $646.25 per credit or $3877.50). In addition, there is a $543 fee that will defray camping and food expenses.
To be considered for the field school, you must complete and submit the application form (see link and instructions above). We will send you registration and deposit information upon acceptance into the field school. Please remember that the priority deadline for submitting applications is March 1, 2023. Applications submitted after March 1st will be considered only if space is available. You will be asked to provide a $500 deposit (due April 15) to secure your spot in the field school.
INSTRUCTORS AND PROJECT TEAM
Students sign up for the field school under Professor Shannon Tushingham, but they will also learn from a team of professionals with diverse experience in academic, Tribal, and CRM archaeology!
Shannon Tushingham, PhD, RPA, (Project Principal Investigator/ Instructor), WSU Associate Professor, Director of the WSU Museum of Anthropology Kevin Lyons, MA, RPA, (Tribal Liason/ Instructor), Cultural Resources Management Program Manager, Kalispel Tribe of Indians Naomi Scher, MA, RPA, (Project Director, Geoarchaeology Lead), Geoarchaeologist, Far Western Anthropological Group Molly Carney, PhD, (Ethnobotany Director), Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas, WSU Adjunct Faculty Cassady Fairlane, BA, (Lab Director/ Instructor), Curator and Collections Manager, WSU Museum of Anthropology Mario Zimmermann, PhD, (Field Director/ Instructor), Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Puget Sound, WSU Adjunct Faculty William Hildebrandt, PhD, RPA, (CRM Advisor/Instructor), Founding Member, Far Western Anthropological Research Group
WASHINGTON
PACIFIC NORTHWEST PRESERVATION FIELD SCHOOL
Each year the Pacific Northwest Preservation Field School (PNWPFS) attracts a range of participants, from practicing cultural resource professionals to undergraduate and graduate students, to novices with little background in the field. They all share a love for heritage and a desire to learn.
The University of Oregon’s Historic Preservation Program developed the PNWPFS to provide you with the opportunity to experience preservation firsthand.
Incoming UO Historic Preservation graduate students are required to enroll for at least one session as part of their graduation requirements.
The field school is intended for anyone interested in:
Working in a hands-on environment
Learning about preservation by doing it
Seeing a spectacular part of the United States
The typical class varies in age, skill-background, and interest, but the common thread is always fun and learning.
Many of our participants have used the field school to launch into historic preservation, and many graduates of the University of Oregon’s program got their start at the Pacific Northwest Preservation Field School.
The 2024 Pacific Northwest Preservation Field School will be held at a Washington State Park.
The exact location will be announced soon. Parks under consideration include log and stone structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. Projects may include stone masonry repair and repointing, window assessment, repair, and reglazing, and log repair and replacement. Historic landscape survey and maintenance workshops, interpretation workshops, field trips, and evening presentations will fill out the three one-week sessions. Tentative dates are the last week of August and the first two weeks of September.
The Field School is an inclusive learning opportunity open to all, whether you have previous preservation experience or not, whatever your age or skill level. You do not need to be a student or affiliated with the University of Oregon.
If you would like to be notified when more information becomes available email us at pnwfs@uoregon.edu
Internships at the Smithsonian! The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. We are a community of learning and the opener of doors. Smithsonian Internships are workplace-based guided learning opportunities that provide participants with hands-on experience in a wide range of fields.
Application opens: January 4, 2024
Deadline to apply: March 15, 2024 at 11:59PM (ET)
Award notification: April 15, 2024
Number of Weeks: 10 weeks
Start Date: 6/10/24
End Date: 8/16/24
*This is a cohort internship so all interns should be able to start and end on these dates and be actively engaged in the internship at least 36 hours/week
Stipend Amount: $5000 ($500/week)
This is a need-based program supporting internships for undergraduates in research and collections projects related to art history
Application opens: January 4, 2024
Deadline to apply: March 15, 2024 at 11:59PM (ET)
Award notification: April 15, 2024
Number of Weeks: 8
Tenure Dates: Exact tenure dates for this summer internship will be worked out with the mentor. The internship can start as early as June and needs to conclude by 8/25.
Stipend Amount: $3,200 ($400/week)
This internship honors Benjamin Lawless and his legacy as an internationally recognized exhibition planner, designer, Emmy winning filmmaker and writer. The Benjamin Lawless Internship is an opportunity for a rising senior high school student to learn about audience engagement, exhibition design, and research stories associated with objects of all kinds and the people who used and created them.
Application opens: January 4, 2024
Deadline to apply: March 15, 2024 at 11:59PM (ET)
Award notification: April 15, 2024
Number of Weeks: 10
Start Date: 5/26/24
End Date: 8/3/24
*This is a cohort internship so all interns should be able to start and end on these dates and be actively engaged in the internship at least 36 hours/week
Stipend Amount: $5400 ($540/week) + housing provided
Focused on individuals from communities currently underrepresented in the museum conservation field, the Conservation Internship for Broadening Access (CIBA) offers opportunities for current or recent undergraduates to learn about museum conservation.
The Archives of American Art offers internships year-round to students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs who wish to learn and gain professional experience in various fields including archival science, information management, museum studies, art administration, art history, and cultural studies.
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) believes that a great 21st-century museum is more than a building. We must engage communities in surprising and innovative ways, transcending boundaries and barriers. We are a migratory museum that brings Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the United States.
Every year, the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage involves over a hundred interns in our various activities. We offer internships year-round in various fields, including folklore, cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, linguistics, museum studies, arts administration, graphic and web design, videography, marketing, social media, and library science. Internships can take place remotely or in Washington, D.C.
The Peter A. Krueger Summer Internship Program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain professional skills and learn about museum practices at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States that is exclusively devoted to historic and contemporary design. Interns will acquire in-depth knowledge and develop an enriched understanding of how the museum fulfills its mission to educate, inspire, and empower people through design.
The intern will assist with the creation of teacher resources for TII and local educators, including integrating authentic data and technology into their classrooms. The intern will help review and log applications for TII 2023 and assist with planning of the 2023 institute. The intern will assist with a plan for 2023-2024 professional development.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The Robert Frederick Smith Internship Program seeks to reverse the trend of underrepresentation of African Americans and other minorities in museum professions through well-paid internships at NMAAHC as well as at select cultural institutions across the country. Now accepting applications for Summer 2024 opportunities.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Internships at the National Museum of African American History and Culture offer undergraduate and graduate students, and recent graduates opportunities to work closely with professionals and scholars in the museum field. The museum provides a dynamic learning environment and access to supportive mentors that help interns reach their academic and professional goals. Interns receive a stipend while they gain practical museum skills and program development experience in a variety of positions! Summer 2024 opportunities include:
Are you interested in US history? Do you want to learn more about the inner workings of history museums–either as an introduction or a deeper dive into an aspect of the museum field? The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) offers internships to folks who are excited to engage in professional learning experiences!
The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, offers a full-time, 10 week, archival internship opportunity for one graduate student each summer. The internship stipend is $7,000. Housing, benefits, and transportation are not provided.
THE INTERNSHIP WILL:
Enable new professionals to understand, identify, and manage the historical records of American invention and innovation
National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery)
Application deadline: February 24, 2024
Cheng-Harrell Graduate Internship
Paid, Part-time (20 hrs/week)
Academic Year 2024-25: September 9 – December 20, 2024 (Fall semester) and January 20 – May 2, 2025 (Spring semester)
Natural History Research Experiences (NHRE) is a 10-week summer internship program hosted at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. NHRE interns work closely with scientific mentors to complete independent research projects in Earth Science, Biology, and Anthropology.
The internship is full time, 40 hours per week.
Previous research experience is not required, and we encourage applications from minorities and members of other groups underrepresented in the sciences.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History seeks a science writing intern interested in developing science communication skills in an active communications and public affair office. The intern will help create original content to be published on the Ocean Portal website (https://ocean.si.edu(link is external)), and participate in other communication activities, including social media campaigns.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History seeks a science writing intern interested in gaining experience in an active communications and public affairs office. This is an excellent opportunity to expand your professional portfolio and learn how to present science and natural history stories to the public in relevant and engaging ways.
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) offers internships during the Fall, Winter/Spring, and Summer terms at the museum in Washington, D.C.; at the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, MD; and at the museum (George Gustav Heye Center) in New York City. The NMAI internship program provides educational opportunities focusing on cultural transmission; professional development; meaningful departmental projects; and networking with museum professionals.
“¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States” is the first exhibit by the National Museum of the American Latino – which is still years away from opening, so this first exhibit was mounted in the National Museum of American History, (Photo by Morgan Fischer/Cronkite News)
The Latino Museum Studies Program (LMSP) Undergraduate Internship is a museum career pathway program designed to increase hands-on training opportunities for Latina, Latino, and Latinx-identifying undergraduate students interested in art museum careers. The program focuses in non-curatorial museum roles including the areas of conservation, museum education, interpretation, digital culture, collections management, and exhibition design, fabrication and production.
The Young Ambassadors Program (YAP) is a national college preparatory and leadership program for graduating high school seniors that fosters the next generation of community-conscious Latino leaders in the arts, sciences, and humanities via the Smithsonian Institution and its resources. Selected applicants will participate in a weeklong pre-professional and pre-collegiate seminar in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian focusing on Latino perspectives with peers from all over the nation.
Are you seeking a creative and exciting museum internship? The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery offers formal internships to qualified applicants. A Smithsonian internship is a prearranged, structured learning experience that takes place during the fall, spring, or summer semester. The experience should be relevant both to the intern’s academic and professional goals and to the professional disciplines represented at the Portrait Gallery.
The National Zoo offers a variety of internship opportunities from animal care, veterinary medicine, IT, communications, animal enrichment, animal behavior, conservation, GIS One Health, nutrition, genetics, and more. We have opportunities at the Zoo in Washington, DC and our Conservation Biology Center in Front Royal, Virginia as well as Hawaii.
The Office of Advancement is pleased to offer internship opportunities for candidates interested in fundraising and development-oriented careers. Through these internships the Office of Advancement seeks to: – Provide interns with meaningful professional learning experiences. – Ensure interns supportive opportunities for growth and inclusive access to the advancement field through mentorship.
Michelle Knovic Smith (1950–2021), as an educator, mentor, and leader, in her more than three decades at the Smithsonian, pioneered innovative and effective approaches to the Smithsonian’s mission of the “diffusion of knowledge.” First, as Publications Director for the Institution’s teacher magazines, Art to Zoo and Smithsonian in Your Classroom, Michelle developed publications and distribution strategies that reached every school in the country.
Legal interns in the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) work closely with attorneys whose work covers such diverse topics as tax, employment discrimination, ethics, imports/exports, federal appropriations, intellectual property, and environmental law. Interns will gain exposure to the Office’s diverse law practice through litigation and transactional work, client counseling, case law research, preparing legal memoranda, reviewing agreements, surveying state law, and researching legislative history.
A History of Women in the United States Congress is an 8-week summer internship program hosted at the Smithsonian Office of Government Relations in Washington DC. Funded by the American Women’s History Initiative Collaboration and Community Fund, this internship is open to non-senior undergraduates, who have a strong interest in women’s history, politics and who have at least a 3.0 GPA.
This internship is in the Smithsonian’s central Office of Public Affairs. It provides hands-on experience in area of public relations. Regular responsibilities include conducting research, creative and strategic planning for communications plans and media relations.
Office of Safety, Health & Environmental Management, Fire Protection Division
The primary purpose of the Fire Protection Division (FPD) internship is to provide a practical learning experience in the areas of life safety and fire protection engineering. Interested students should be enrolled in an engineering related major, from an accredited college or university, and willing to learn how to conduct facility assessments, perform design reviews, and provide construction oversight for fire protection and life safety systems.
Interns with the Office of Sponsored Projects are unpaid internships. Interns participate in projects that directly or indirectly help Smithsonian research, curatorial, and educational staffs prepare proposals and administer grants and contracts. Emphasis is placed on developing special short and long-term projects that will be beneficial and of mutual interest to both the office and the intern.
The Digitization Program Office (DPO) is a branch of the Smithsonian’s Office of the Chief Information Officer. DPO is tasked with increasing the quality, quantity and impact of Smithsonian digitized collections. With 155 million objects and specimens, 156 thousand cubic feet of archival materials, and 2 million library volumes (which are housed in 41 facilities, 19 museums and 9 research centers), the scale and diversity of Smithsonian collections presents a unique digitization challenge.
The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) provides the Smithsonian’s central computing and telecommunications services; provides leadership in information technology throughout the Institution in support of systems planning and development, communications, and computer-related training; and provides policy and guidance to ensure the integrity and security of Institutional automated data.
The Claudine K. Brown Internship in Education is funded through an endowed fund in memory of Claudine K. Brown(link is external), an educator and influential leader of the Smithsonian. Awardees of the Brown Internship are appointed based on a demonstrated interest in the field of education and museum leadership. Internships are available for college students, including under-served youth.
The Leadership for Change internship recruits young people who are motivated to support their communities and advance social justice. The eight-week, paid program provides interns with meaningful and enriching experiences and programming to strengthen their understanding of and commitment to social justice and leadership, in addition to hands-on learning experiences in their local communities. Interns will become museum advocates and explore new ways to bring museum content, resources, and expertise to communities near and far.
Smithsonian American Art Museum has two internship programs: 1.) The Advanced Level Program: a two-semester (fall/spring) museum operations program for graduate students, exceptional college seniors and individuals with a four-year college degree, with previous museum or art institution experience. All participants receive stipends.
As part of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative (AWHI), the Smithsonian will host a cohort of up to 15 Because of Her Story (BOHS) undergraduate or recently graduated interns June 12–August 4, 2023. Through a variety of experiential learning opportunities, including a hands-on internship at a designated Smithsonian unit, and a curriculum of structured cohort activities, BOHS interns will develop familiarity and experience with museums and research units and American women’s history.
Interns with Smithsonian Associates are offered unique opportunities to learn about all aspects of educational programming for both adults and children, while contributing extensively to one of the world’s great cultural institutions. Intern projects are designed to benefit both the Institution and complement the intern’s own interests, skills, and experience.
Interns with Smithsonian Associates are offered unique opportunities to learn about all aspects of educational programming for both adults and children, while contributing extensively to one of the world’s great cultural institutions. Intern projects are designed to benefit both the Institution and complement the intern’s own interests, skills, and experience.
Intern Duties: Promotional and programmatic support for the large scale public events, with a special focus on after-hours, Smithsonian-wide programs for young professionals.
Interns with Smithsonian Associates are offered unique opportunities to learn about all aspects of educational programming for both adults and children, while contributing extensively to one of the world’s great cultural institutions. Intern projects are designed to benefit both the Institution and complement the intern’s own interests, skills, and experience.
This internship offers the unique opportunity to immerse in all the Summer children’s’ program offered by Associates. Looking for a team of interns both on in person and virtual. Duties will vary based on location.
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Maryland offers undergraduate and beginning graduate students a unique opportunity to gain hand-on experience in the fields of environmental research and education. The program enables students to work on specific projects while getting experience in valuable lab techniques all under the direction of the Center’s professional staff. The program is tailored to provide the maximum educational benefit to each participant.
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Edgewater, Maryland offers undergraduate and beginning graduate students a unique opportunity to gain hand-on experience in the fields of environmental research and education. The program enables students to work on specific projects while getting experience in valuable lab techniques all under the direction of the Center’s professional staff. The program is tailored to provide the maximum educational benefit to each participant.
We are excited to invite applications from undergraduate students to participate in a National Science Foundation supported summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program focused on global change ecology. These internships are available as remote or in-person opportunities at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center located in Edgewater, MD (10 miles south of Annapolis).
The Archives of American Gardens internship provides opportunities to perform various archival collections management tasks including cataloging and digitization. This experience will help interns gain practical experience in preparing archival collections for research access. Assignments focus on cataloging garden files and images by describing their content according to recognized data standards, digital asset management, assisting with basic research and reference duties, and developing a range of outreach materials.
This internship provides the opportunity to learn various components related to developing education and outreach materials for curators, staff, and the general public. As both a public garden and open-air museum, Smithsonian Gardens’ educational programming encompasses art, history, science, and culture. Interns acquire hands-on experience, complete meaningful projects with lasting value to the Smithsonian, and get an inside view of the Smithsonian Institution.
Smithsonian Gardens (SG) provides an array of learning experiences through its internship program thanks to the wide diversity of services and programs it offers at the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex. Interns will learn skills in a broad range of horticultural endeavors from professional staff that can provide a strong practical background to emerging professionals wanting to enter the public gardening world.
The following intern programs are operating onsite, and hybrid format that are accepting applications for Summer 2023:
The internship is ideal for students majoring in Landscape Architecture who are looking forward to a career in a public or private design organization. The internship is an in-person opportunity to assist the Landscape Architects with various projects that develop out of current design needs or multi-year projects. Intern projects typically involve the development of designs, presentations, and/or planning reports. All assignments require effective project management skills.
Internships at Smithsonian Gardens are designed for students who seek a valuable learning experience in a public garden with a diverse workforce. Interns will work closely with horticultural professionals to acquire hands-on experience and complete meaningful projects with lasting value to SG.
For Summer 2023, the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives Education department is seeking an intern to help relaunch and expand our resource-lending kit, Traveling Trunks. These tactile multimedia kits are packed full of resources from across the Smithsonian Institution and deliver immersive educational experiences for a middle school audience. Through touch, tech, sight, and sound, Traveling Trunks creates a screen-free sensory rich environment.
The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives welcomes current or recent undergraduate and graduate students who wish to gain experience in archives, museum libraries, or related fields. Internships are typically eight weeks in length, often hosted during the summer. Part-time options, practicums and for-credit internships may be available. Opportunities vary and are based on available programs and projects.
This long-standing internship program offers a unique opportunity for aspiring librarians and archivists to work alongside Smithsonian Libraries and Archives staff. Interns in this program acquire crucial skills, knowledge, and experience to prepare them for their future careers. This program is geared towards graduate students in a Master of Information Science program or similar.
The Smithsonian Libraries and Archives provides students in library, archival, information science, and related disciplines a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with expert libraries and Archives staff to acquire the latest skills, knowledge, and hands-on experience needed for today’s information and cultural heritage workplace. Through this program, we aim to help diversify the library, archive, and museum fields by providing guided learning opportunities to students and other qualified candidates from varied economic, cultural, social, and educational backgrounds.
Project Description: Intern will work with Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Communications & Marketing Team to assist in the development of SSEC communications and marketing materials and assist in communications dissemination, strategy, and asset management. Interns will learn the inner workings of a daily communications team and how to apply developed marketing materials to enhance the SSEC brand. Learning objectives include:
Project Description: Intern will work with the Professional Services team of the Smithsonian Science Education Center to support the evaluation of two DEAI projects: STEM Diversity and Zero Barriers in STEM Education. Learning objectives include:
Project Description: Intern will work with Smithsonian Science Education Center curriculum developers to assist in the revision of Smithsonian Science for the Classroom modules. Interns will learn how to apply knowledge of science content, research, and pedagogy to assist in developing high-quality resources for teaching and learning. Learning objectives include:
• Assisting in the revision of Smithsonian Science for the Classroom modules. This task may include writing, editing, and proofreading as part of a team of writers, editors, education specialists, and scientists.
Project Description: Intern will work with educators, researchers, staff, SSEC partners, and experts in the field of STEM Education for Sustainable Development (STEM4SD) to support the Smithsonian Science for Global Goals project and the Network for Emergent Socio-Scientific Thinking (NESST). Learning objectives include:
Competitive program funded by the Smithsonian and generous donors open to all nationalities.
The purpose of the STRI General Internship Program is to provide a place for internship applicants who are generally interested in STRI’s science to pursue a research experience with one of our scientific mentors based on their interests. Interns are selected based on merit and potential for achievement.
Panama’s science and technology secretariat (SENACYT) provides internships to Panamanian students at local universities (undergraduates, recent graduates, and Master’s students) so they can work alongside STRI scientists.
This program is designed to enhance intellectual development and give students real world experience working alongside professionals here at STRI.
The University of Wyoming Archaeological Field School provides professional-level training in field research methods at three Wyoming locations. Learn to recognize and identifychipped stone tools and debris, ceramic sherds, historical artifacts, faunal remains, fire-cracked rock, stone circles and fire hearths; collect sediment, radiocarbon, and flotation samples; read stratigraphic profiles; excavate; record data; read maps; use a GPS; conduct surface survey; fill out site forms — all the basics of archaeological fieldwork. You will learn how to use field technology, such as total stations. This season’s first session will be at Willow Springs, a High Plains trading hub just south of Laramie, Wyoming. Efforts there will focus on survey and mapping. The second session continues 2014-23 fieldwork at the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, Wyoming where students will learn careful excavation methods, screening, and mapping with a total station. The third and final session will be at Carbon City, the location of Wyoming’s first coal mining town along the former route of Union Pacific Railroad (in Carbon County). The town was founded in 1868 and abandoned in the early 20th century. We will be continuing fieldwork started in 2021, which will involve mapping and excavation. The field school includes a range of experiences – and at beautiful Wyoming locations.
All students will live in a field camp and must provide their own basic camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, etc.; the field school provides all kitchen and excavation gear). All students will assist in regular camp chores (cooking, cleaning up, etc.). The work is physically demanding and takes place regardless of Wyoming’s fickle weather (which can include rain, snow and/or freezing temperatures even in summer). Students should be in good physical shape, ready to hike steep mountains under arid conditions at elevations over 5280 feet and prepared to eat and live in remote locations away from town, Internet access and cell phone connections.
We teach the field school in three 10-day sessions, separated by two, four-day intervals. Students are responsible for themselves during those four days. A 6-credit, 30-day field school is the minimal accepted standard to qualify for entry-level employment on research or Cultural Resource Management projects. Credit from the University of Wyoming field school should be transferable to any academic institution and fulfill the field school requirement of any CRM company.
We can accept about 15 students for the field school, and welcome applications from students at any educational level or from any background. We do, however, give preference to those students majoring in anthropology, who seek a career in archaeology, and who have taken at least one archaeology course. The field school is a good place to discover if a career in archaeology is the right place for you.
The Anthropology Department offers multiple archaeological field schools to students with different levels of archaeological expertise so please explore our other offerings as well.
Note: There will be an orientation on the morning of June 10 in the Frison Anthropology Building at the University of Wyoming. Non-UW students should plan to arrive in Laramie no later than June 9. Out of town students will have the option of staying the UW dorms for the first session.
Please fill out an Application Form and forward it to Dr. Alexandra Kelly: akelly13@uwyo.edu. Once decisions are made, we will forward the information needed for admission to UW and for registration for the field school.
Field School Session 1 (June 10- 19) – Survey and Testing at Willow Springs, WY
Willow Springs is a rich spring site and trading nexus south of Laramie with a long history of UW archaeology (William Mulloy, George Frison, Chuck Reher, and current state archaeologist Spencer Pelton have all worked here). The site has PaleoIndian, late prehistoric, and historic occupation (and was likely the location of a Overland Trail stage station).
Field School Session 2 (June 24- July 3) – Excavations at the La Prele Mammoth site
During the second session, students will have the rare opportunity to work on one of Wyoming’s oldest archaeological sites. The La Prele Mammoth site is nearly 13,000 years and is a place where humans killed a subadult Columbian mammoth and set up camp to butcher it. Here students will learn careful excavation methods, water screening, and mapping with a total station.
Field School Session 3 (July 8 – July 17) Mapping and Testing at Carbon City
Off the beaten track in the sagebrush steppe between Laramie and Rawlins is the former site of the town of Carbon, Wyoming. The town was founded in 1868 along the route of the transcontinental railroad where coal from its mines was used to fuel steam engines. We will be continuing mapping and excavation in what today is a battered ghost town in the high desert.
Dr. Kelly is a historical archaeologist who has engaged in archaeological research in East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) and the American West (New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming). She has worked extensively with object assemblages in East Africa, the U.K. and the U.S., with a focus on material culture studies, colonialism, exchange, and critical heritage studies.
Dr. Haas leads archaeological excavations and survey projects in the Andes Mountains of Peru and mountain regions of western North America. He primarily investigates human behavior in forager societies (aka, hunter-gatherers) of the past in order to better understand human behavior in the present.
Dr. Surovell has more than 25 years of experience in archaeology, excavating in western North America, Europe, and Asia. He is an expert in Paleoindian archaeology, geoarchaeology, and lithic technology.
Scholarship Support
The Wyoming Archaeological Society offers support to students attending field school through the David Reiss Scholarship Fund.
Tuition and Fees
As in previous years, we hope to offer In-State Resident Tuition rates to out-of-state students.
Undergraduate Field School Tuition (in-state rates): $154/credit hour (Graduate tuition: $299/credit hour); plus fees 15/credit hr program fees, $6/credit hour advising fee) = $1050*
The Roman town of Aguntum was rediscovered in the early 20th century. Through decades of research, a Roman domus (private family residence of palatial proportions), impressive thermal baths, city walls, and numerous residential buildings were identified and excavated. Since 2006, ongoing excavations have been focused on the heart of the town—the forum area. The latest findings and analysis of artifacts suggest a flourishing Mediterranean city nestled amidst the Alpine landscape.
A large number of fragmented rock crystals were recovered from the city center. These findings offer insights into an extensive trade network, showcasing Aguntum as the sole known Roman hub for this coveted, high value resource material that were highly desired in ancient times. The presence of these artifacts indicates Aguntum’s status as a pivotal transshipment center, where commerce and cultural exchange converged.
From the 3rd century CE onwards, significant transformations in the urban layout of the town took place, as the former administrative hub transitioned into a residential and commercial zone. Throughout the 4th century CE, archaeological evidence indicates the emergence of various workshops and modest dwellings, reflecting a shift in the town’s function. By the end of the 4th and early in the 5th centuries CE, evidence of residences and workshops decrease, hinting at a decline in activity and importance of Aguntum.
By the 6th century CE, Aguntum is in ruins. The area now serves as burial grounds, suggesting a substantial abandonment of the settlement. These funerary discoveries shed light on the dwindling population and the gradual abandonment of Aguntum during this era.
Our research is focused on the social and economic mechanisms that powered this small Alpine town during the years of its existence. What motivated its establishment? How did Aguntum thrived and prospered during the first three centuries CE? Why did Aguntum’s power, trade and commerce declined and what brought to its final demise?
During the 2024 season, students will have the opportunity to participate in excavations within the city center, where they will work on archaeological remains dated to the founding period of Aguntum. Students will also participate in lab work, cleaning, measuring, documenting, and interpreting finds recovered at the site. Lectures and practicums on the latest archaeological excavation methodologies are part of this program, as well as excursions to other important archaeological sites in the area.
Director:
DR. MARTIN AUERmartin.auer@uibk.ac.at
Senior Scientist & Aguntum Site Director, University of Innsbruck (Austria)
Interested in a career in law enforcement, antiquities investigations and the international stolen art and antiquities trade?
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a separate Cultural Property, Art, and Antiquities Programhttps://www.ice.gov/investigations/cultural-property-art-and-antiquities
“U.S. federal customs laws provide HSI special agents the authority, jurisdiction and responsibility to take the leading role in criminal investigations that involve the illicit importation and distribution of stolen or looted cultural property. Through the Cultural Property, Art and Antiquities program (CPAA), HSI distributes investigative leads to special agents who work alongside international, federal, state and local partners, in addition to private institutions, to pursue individuals and networks who smuggle cultural property, art and antiquities.
HSI’s cases have included, but are not limited to, investigating and returning stolen modern art, looted sarcophagi and dinosaur fossils, and smuggled coins and ancient clay tablets.
HSI agents are trained in a partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Heritage Center and the Smithsonian Institution on the identification, authentication and handling of these objects and artifacts, which supports their return to their rightful owners through cultural repatriation. Since 2009, this collaboration has resulted in the training of more than 500 law enforcement personnel including customs officers and prosecutors.
Once a cultural property investigation is complete, HSI coordinates the return of smuggled objects or artifacts to their rightful owners. Since 2007, HSI has repatriated more than 20,000 objects to more than 40 countries.”
You can see some really interesting “success stories” here https://www.ice.gov/features/cpaa which will give you a good idea of the range of their investigations.
ICE Unpaid Internships (Note: the following information is from this link https://www.ice.gov/factsheets/student-volunteer which is several years old, so the details are likely different now. See the USAJOBS website for constantly updated information on student internships in federal agencies)
“The Student Volunteer Programoffers unpaid, professional training opportunities to undergraduate and graduate college students. These opportunities provide work experience related to the students’ academic programs and provide them an opportunity to explore career options, as well as develop their personal and professional skills. These are uncompensated positions and do not have to be announced nor do they count towards existing vacancies.
Student Volunteer service will vary by agency/office but can enrich the students’ futures by:
Allowing career exploration early in their academic studies,
Exposing them to new and emerging occupations,
Giving academic credit for work they perform(this will be determined by the school), and
Providing an experience, which will enhance their ability to obtain paying jobs in the future.
This program requires a written agreement signed by all parties, ICE, the school and the student. Presently, our student volunteer opportunities have been in the Washington, D.C. commuting area, however, there may be opportunities available in our ICE field offices. Students interested in pursuing a volunteer opportunity with ICE should coordinate with their Career Services office and the ICE Program Manager. Students must also meet the security requirements for the volunteer assignment. The minimum requirement for ICE is a pre-appointment National Agency Check with Written Inquiries for those volunteers performing “non-sensitive” duties.
If your Career Service Center does not have contact information regarding the ICE Student Volunteer Program, please e-mailjames.e.cooley@dhs.gov. We invite you to visit theUSAJOBS websitefor more detailed information regarding Federal agencies that may have current student employment opportunities. ”
THE BALKANS
BALKAN HERITAGE FIELD SCHOOL:
Field School Programs in Archaeology and Historic Preservation
Date: Summer 2024 information about a wide variety of excavation and conservation projects can be found at https://www.bhfieldschool.org/
(Note: various excavation and conservation projects organized by the Balkan Heritage Field School are listed under their individual country locations below)
Balkan Heritage Field School (BHFS)is a program of the Balkan Heritage Foundation(BHF) intended for education in the field of archaeology and historic preservation and is targeted towards students and specialists, but also for anyone (18+) interested in cultural heritage study and preservation. BHF is а Bulgarian public, non-profit, non-governmental organization. It was established in 2008 by Ivan Vassilev, Nayden Prahov and Angela Pencheva with the mission of supporting the study, preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage of Southeastern Europe. In the period 2008 – 2019, BHF conducted and supported numerous projects related to archaeological research and excavations, conservation and recording of cultural monuments and artifacts, training and education in the field of cultural heritage, volunteer workcamps, exhibitions, conferences, public lectures, fundraising campaigns, and design of strategic plans for utilization of cultural heritage by municipalities.
BHFS first started in 2003 and resumed as the BHF program in 2008. It includes field school programs, taught in English, in four Balkan countries:Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegroandthe Republic of North Macedonia. All the field schools are affiliated with ongoing research and/or conservation projects: archaeological excavations, art historical expeditions, conservation of artifacts and monuments, thus contributing to the study and preservation of the cultural heritage of the Balkans. Since 2008, BHFS has implemented116 field school projects(with durations ranging from 1 to 8 weeks) attended byapprox. 2000 studentsfromover 60 countries* and involved a great number of academic and research institutions, museums, and heritage specialists from Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Belgium, Greece, France, Montenegro and Japan.
The BHFS overall goal has been the development and enhancement of accessible practice-based education in the fields of archaeology and heritage conservation with an emphasis on Balkan cultural heritage. It aims to:
supplement the academic education, volunteer training, and pre- and early career training through short-term practice-based field schools;
encourage the involvement of students, scholars and volunteers in studies, preservation and promotion of Balkan cultural heritage;
support research and conservation projects related to cultural heritage in SE Europe;
promote and present Balkan cultural heritage worldwide;
contribute to the sustainable development through utilization of cultural heritage for education and enhancement of cultural tourism in SE Europe; and
foster the sensibilisation of local communities towards cultural heritage.
Each BHFS project combines 3 basic educational modules: theoretical (lectures, presentations and field training), practical (participation in excavations, lab work, conservation workshops, field trips) and excursions to attractive archaeological and cultural sites & behind-the-scene visits.
Currently there are three types of field school programs offered by BHFS:
Archaeological field schoolstake place at different excavation sites (including underwater) related to all major cultures and civilizations that once existed in the Balkans, starting with the first Neolithic farmers in Europe and Europe’s first civilization in the Chalcolithic, followed by the Ancient Greek, Thracian, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Ottoman civilizations.
The emphasis in theworkshops on historic preservation/heritage conservationis on ancient Greek pottery, Roman pottery and glassware, mosaics and wall-paintings, historic metal, paper and textiles.
In addition, an expedition introduces students to Late and Post Medieval (Byzantine) ecclesiastical architecture and wall-paintings.
Since 2014, BHFS has offered a thematic combination of certain projects as BHFS project packsproviding more comprehensive educational opportunities, broader experience, extra excursions and tempting admission fee discounts.
Three universities award academic credits to students who participate in BHFS projects:New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria; Queen’s University, Canada and Connecticut College, through Institute for Field Research, USA. Participants who are not interested in academic credits are not expected to pay any tuition fee nor to take part in any activities related to academic curriculum (exams, academic reports etc.).
Our Mission
BHFS is not only a school but also a platform for solidarity in benefit of cultural heritage. Based on this, BHFS students, heritage specialists, partnering institutions and local communities interact and collaborate with each other benefiting as follows:
BHFS studentslearn from professionals while taking part in real ongoing cultural heritage projects, travel to many historical & archaeological sites in the Balkans, gain intercultural experience and new friends, establish contacts receive academic credits.
Heritage specialists (archaeologists, conservators, architects, art historians, etc.)and partner institutions (museums, research institutes, municipalities, NGOs, etc.) involved with BHFS receive additional funding & support for their work.
Local communities, where BHFS projects take place, obtain new income, seasonal jobs, new perspectives about the local heritage, and increased promotion of the local tourist potential worldwide.
Considering this, we are always happy to inform each participant in any of our projects that joining the BHFS s/he becomes not only a student, but also:
Volunteer in either a scientific research or a conservation-restoration project;
The Aguacate Regional Archaeology Project investigates a series of ancient Maya minor centers and their surrounding settlements. The sites are spread across a series of escarpments at the edge of the Yalbac Hills in western Belize. The region features an unusually high density of small, monumental sites, with a wide range of structures from elite residences, temples and ball courts to formal plazuela groups and individual house mounds. Current models of ancient Maya settlement distribution are insufficient to explain the density and extent of Maya populations revealed by recent advances in remote sensing. Particularly striking are examples of extensive house mounds and architectural remains located in regions at a distance from major centers. The suite of sites in the Aguacate region are located at an interstice connecting multiple zones of settlement, present a unique opportunity to understand how Maya polities were connected and how settlements were organized in what were previously considered to be fringe, peripheral areas.
The wide variety of site and feature types in the project area allows us to provide training across the whole range of fundamental archaeological field skills. Students will gain experience in both regional and site survey methods, test excavations, exposure of structures, and the identification, recovery and processing of a wide variety of artifact types. Over the course of the program, students will become familiar with several phases of executing an archaeological field project, from establishing the research question, through data recovery and the initial phases of analysis.
DIRECTORS:
Dr. John Morris, Director Emeritus of the Belize Antiquities Authority and Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania (johnmorris8895@gmail.com) Eric Fries, Archaeologist, National Salvage Implementation Team, Bureau of Land Management (ecfries@gmail.com)
RIO BRAVO ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL (Orange Walk District, Belize)
Initial application materials can be found here, and a project video here
The Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey (RBAS) is a summer Maya archaeology field school that trains students in archaeological field methods within the context of a state-of-the-art research project. The program is situated in an unexplored, tropical rainforest in northern Belize, Central America, and can be taken for 3 or 6 college credits through the University of Texas at Austin.*
Non-credit volunteers are also welcome!
Students who are interested in joining us for the 2023 season should review the information provided, including the 2019 Info Sheet (or forthcoming 2023 sheet), and contact us via email or by submitting an application.
*RBAS operates in Belize under a permit issued from the Institute of Archaeology to Dr. Fred Valdez, Director of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP). Academic credit from the Community College of Philadelphia is not available for the 2023 season.
SESSION INFORMATION
The Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey (RBAS) is a field school that trains students in archaeological methods, such as survey and excavation, within the context of a long-term, cutting-edge academic project focused on deciphering the character and significance of ancient Maya commoner households. RBAS is providing valuable insights into the day-to-day workings of Prehispanic Maya culture and has been attracting motivated students and volunteers for over a decade. With its current focus on ancient Maya commoner settlement, ceremonialism, water management and an emphasis on geo-archaeological research (soils and ancient botanical remains), the project’s excavations and mapping efforts are now reaching their most interesting and dynamic phase. Among other things, the 2024 season will be investigating an extremely unusual ritual ballcourt, built by and for Maya commoners, as well as completing an excavation of a small house stairway where a conch shell cache was found in 2013 and a cyst burial in 2016.
**All students enrolled receive the 200 page Field Manual of the Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey, an annually-updated reference on the field excavation and survey methods used by RBAS.**
Approximate Dates for 2024:
(Pre-Season: May 20- June 14, 2024)
Field school: June 14th to July 12th, 2024
Students who complete a full four-week season are considered Veterans (Junior Staff) and are welcome to stay for the post-season.
Students may wish to travel post-season to Guatemala (the site of Tikal) and/or the Belize Cayes– typically people spend two days at each. For 2024, post-season travel is not included in the schedule or estimated costs. Students wishing to participate in post-season travel need to notify us well beforehand. For liability issues, we cannot allow you to change plans while in-country.
Location: Programme for Belize Conservation and Management Area, Belize, Central America (see Location page)
Costs: The total price for 4-weeks of food and housing is $2300 per student (the amount collected by RBAS). This figure covers food and housing during the field school, transportation to/from the airport (3 hrs each way), field equipment, and daily transportation within the research area. This figure does not include: airfare, inoculations, travel medical insurance, academic credit (if desired), post-season travel, or other personal expenses (e.g., camp “bar” tabs, snacks in town, etc.). See the Approximate Fees section of the 2019 Information Sheet for an estimation of these expenses (n.b. the 2024 Info Sheet will be posted once completed in early 2024).
Students staying beyond four weeks receive slightly pro-rated costs (e.g., $3300 for six-weeks). Please contact the Project Director for more information.
Students at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) may inquire about financial aid using the form on the Contact Page. Students from other universities are encouraged to inquire about in-house funding opportunities at their respective institutions. Those who take the course for academic credit are sometimes able to apply federal financial aid to cover their costs as well.
Academic Credit: Taking the field school for academic credit is not required. Credit students and non-credit volunteers receive the same instruction and have the same general field experiences. However, for those students interested, the course is listed for up to 9 credits through the University of Texas at Austin (there is no credit option from the Community College of Philadelphia for 2024). Costs differ for both the amount of credits taken and in-state and out-of-state tuition, so please contact the Project Director if you are interested in participating in the field school for academic credit.
Accommodations: RBAS shares space at the R.E.W. Adams Research Facility in the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, administered by the University of Texas at Austin. The facility is situated within a protected rainforest, so facilities are relatively rustic. A large wooden dormitory houses most students, but covered tent stations are also used. Be aware that dormitory spaces are 4-person rooms with bunk-beds. Those not in the dormitory will be given a large tent and one tent-mate. Assignment decisions are made upon arrival at camp and are based on the needs of the field station weighted with the preferences of the student. There are several other projects at the camp, so participants are grouped by their project first, but given the limited space, we ask everyone to be flexible with their placement.
Who is Eligible to Apply? Anyone interested in the ancient Maya and archaeological field methods! Students and volunteers of varied ages from across the US have taken part in the field school. The minimum age for applicants is 18. No experience or prerequisite classes are required.
For more detailed information, please download the 2019 Information Sheet (2024 version forthcoming).
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Discovery and investigation of the forest-covered remains of an ancient Maya community, including a ritual ballcourt
• Mapping and excavating previously unseen, 1200-year-old Maya houses, terraces, reservoirs and other features.
• Carrying out archaeological reconnaissance in unexplored sections of a subtropical forest.
• Taking part in field investigations with students and volunteers from all over the United States.
• Earning optional 3-6 academic credits from UT-Austin or the Community College of Philadelphia.
• Living in a modern archaeological research camp with students and staff from several universities and research projects.
• Visiting restored and forest-covered temples, palaces, ballcourts and other ancient Maya structures at archaeological sites throughout northern Belize.
OVERVIEW
The RBAS and the Field School have focused their energies over several seasons on the investigation of the remains of commoners, the “average” members of Maya Culture, who constituted 95% or more of this ancient civilization. What has emerged from our investigations is a view of Maya commoners as living far more multifaceted lives than was previously believed. Sophisticated placement of structures on the landscape, ingenious manipulation of water across our investigative site, as well as evidence for complex ceremonialism, are giving us insight into the complicated nature of the lives of these “everyday” people. The evidence that is emerging from the site of Chawak But’o’ob (the current focus of investigations in our larger survey zone) are helping us see that the lifestyle of Maya commoners was very likely a complex and highly developed component of Classic Maya Civilization.
COMMONER ARCHAEOLOGY
The RBAS and the Field School have focused their energies over several seasons on the investigation of the remains of commoners, the “average” members of Maya Culture, who constituted 95% or more of this ancient civilization. What has emerged from our investigations is a view of Maya commoners as living far more multifaceted lives than was previously believed. Sophisticated placement of structures on the landscape, ingenious manipulation of water across our investigative site, as well as evidence for complex ceremonialism, are giving us insight into the complicated nature of the lives of these “everyday” people. The evidence that is emerging from the site of Chawak But’o’ob (the current focus of investigations in our larger survey zone) are helping us see that the lifestyle of Maya commoners was very likely a complex and highly developed component of Classic Maya Civilization.
COMMONER CEREMONIALISM
One of the most important aspects of our research is the investigation of the ceremonial component of commoner lives. The unexpectedly rich remains of ancient ritual at the site of Chawak But’o’ob include a stone household altar and possible ceremonial mask in one of the residential zones as well as a sweat house and ritual ballcourt, which were situated adjacent to caves, at least one of which was used for ceremonial purposes. Ballcourts, which were typically situated at the center of ancient Mesoamerican cities were the focal points for ritual, politics, and religious belief. Very few ballcourts have been found in commoner contexts. For this reason, the two ballcourt structures and associated buildings at Chawak But’o’ob are a highly unusual building complex. Remarkably, the ballcourt’s ritual sweat house, associated caves, and the ballcourt buildings themselves are set in a distinctive natural landscape and integrated with extensive land modifications and water control features. This placement, among other things, suggests the Maya of this ancient community maintained a sophisticated understanding of the environment and system of religious beliefs. Such sophistication runs counter to the traditional view of Maya commoners as following orders “from above” and not being active agents in their own lives. Our investigations in large part this season will be an effort to decipher the meaning the ballcourt and caves, as well as this water-crossed landscape had to the inhabitants of this ancient site.
The Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey (RBAS) is a summer Maya archaeology field school that trains students in archaeological field methods within the context of a state-of-the-art research project. The program is situated in an unexplored, tropical rainforest in northern Belize, Central America, and can be taken for 3 or 6 college credits through the University of Texas at Austin.*
Non-credit volunteers are also welcome!
Project Director:
Dr. Stanley Walling (swallingccp@gmail.com or swalling@ccp.edu), 1700 Spring Garden Street Philadelphia, PA 19130 Social Sciences Dept., Community College of Philadelphia Tel. 215-751-8848
PROJECT STAFF
Stanley L. Walling, PhD., RPA Project Director- Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey; Associate Director- Programme for Belize Regional Archaeology Project; Research Fellow- Mesoamerican Archaeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin; Associate Professor of Anthropology- Community College of Philadelphia.
Jonathan A. Hanna, PhD., RPA Director of Residential Terrace Investigations, Website Coordinator; Previous RBAS Field Seasons: 2003-2007, 2013, 2015-16
Christine Taylor Director of Ballcourt Investigations; Formerly senior staff on the Maax Na Archaeology Project; Previous RBAS Field Seasons: 2005-2007, 2010, 2012-2019
Chance Coughenour Director of Mapping; Marie Curie Research Fellow, Institute for Photogrammetry, University of Stuttgart, Germany; PhD. graduate student at University of Seville, Spain; Previous RBAS Field Seasons: 2007, 2010, 2012-2013
JN Stanley Junior Staff, Previous RBAS field seasons: 2006-2007, 2010, 2012-2013, 2016-19
James Brady– Cave Investigations, University of California at Los Angeles CL Kieffer– Cave Investigations, PhD. Graduate Student, University of New Mexico Nicholas Brokaw– Botanical Research, University of San Juan, Puerto Rico Sheila Ward– Botanical Research, University of San Juan, Puerto Rico Timothy Beach– Soils and Hydrology Investigations, UT-Austin Sheryl Luzzader-Beach– Soils and Hydrology Investigations, UT-Austin
Applications for 2024 will open in January 2024 and will close on March 3, 2024. Read more about the opportunity and Apply Here!
The Stanford Archaeology Center plans to offer the Bosnia and Herzegovina field school in Summer 2024, either in person or remotely. Based on potential Stanford travel restrictions, the Archaeology Center will be making a determination about whether our field schools will be conducted remotely or in person by early Spring quarter 2024.
The dates of this field school offering will be June – July 2024.
Undergraduate Field School
This field school is led by Archaeology Center faculty member Krish Seetah. The summer 2023 fieldwork season will be held within close reach of medieval economic superpowers – Dubrovnik & Venice – that controlled the Adriatic Sea. The fieldwork will be undertaken at two sites, Milavići cemetery and Hatelji multiperiod burial ground, both with bioarchaeological evidence of disease, located on a former transportation route for slaves from central Bosnia to the coast.
In person: In the field, you will learn fundamental archaeological field research skills, such as tool and equipment handling, principles of archaeological excavation, proper recording of the layers and finds (in paper, photographic and digital form) and artifact managements (cataloguing, storing and preparation for analyses). The full extent of the excavations will incorporate the concepts and principles of landscape archaeology, using numerous well-established protocols: landscape digital technologies (geophysics, a series of GIS analyses, UAV rendered maps, 3D models of the tombstones), training in epigraphy, geomorphology, in human and animal osteology and the varieties of sampling for further micro-archaeological analyses.
Remote: The non-contact contingency plan for this project will involve students supporting our work to digitize a large and unique repository of burial archives. Students would help to transcribe this historical dataset – containing evidence of cause of death, age, place of death etc., – into a searchable database. This would allow us to correlate ecological conditions and demography with transmission profiles over ~100 years, which could then also form the basis for standalone student projects.
In addition, students will support our team to produce 3-D models of the cemetery locations themselves, which are a rich cultural heritage. This will be based on existing digital imagery and drone aerial footage, which will then be used for virtual reality expositions (we have a VR expert as part of our team). Students may also work on a number of smaller sub-projects, including digitization of excavation documents, modeling of artifacts and human remains from within the graves themselves, and large-scale GIS mapping of our sites.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
Archaeological record-keeping
Disease modeling
Archaeological excavation
Cultural exchange
Requirements for participation:
Students accepted to our field schools are required to participate in pre-departure meetings with the faculty leader of their program in the quarter prior to departure. Each field school has different pre-departure requirements that will be communicated by the faculty leader.
Upon their return to Stanford, the Archaeology Center requires that all field school students participate in SURPS (Symposia for Undergraduate Research and Public Service). Students from each field school are expected to work together to complete an application, prepare a poster, and present at the SURPS event the Friday of reunion-homecoming weekend.
Each of our field schools is part of an ongoing research project led by a Stanford faculty member. While in the field, undergraduates are expected to contribute to the team effort of the archaeological project at the faculty member’s direction. Field work can take the form of a number of different activities, from clearing undergrowth in preparation for excavation to laboratory analysis of archaeological samples. Each day’s activities can look different, and may change depending on the evolving direction of the research. Students participating in a field school should be prepared to be flexible and responsive to the instructions of the faculty member or other senior project staff.
Application information:
This field school opportunity is open to all undergraduates except graduating seniors.
Undergraduates from all majors are encouraged to apply.
No prior knowledge of archaeology is required, although we prefer to support students who will pursue an archaeology-centered career. All necessary training will be provided while in the field.
Applicants will need an updated passport by the time of acceptance
Acceptance to the Bosnia and Herzegovina field school comes with funding for eligible expenses subject to the budget of the project. Housing, daily meals, and materials used on-site will be fully covered by the project. The Archaeology Center will issue a stipend to students to purchase flights based on the real costs of flights to and from their field site. Students will be informed of the stipend limit prior to booking. Per university policy, the Archaeology Center does not pay for personal travel outside the dates or locations of field schools.
If the Bosnia and Herzegovina archaeology field school is run remotely, accepted students will receive stipends from VPUE. Stipend amounts will be determined by VPUE and communicated to students when they are accepted to the field school.
Students who plan to participate in an archaeology field school cannot receive a major grant or a Chappell-Lougee scholarship within the same academic year as their field school.
The sites:Participants will study, receive training, and work on the documentation of four to six medieval Christian Orthodox chapels or small churches in western Bulgaria. Participants will also have the opportunity to visit several other churches and medieval sites nearby in western Bulgaria.
Project venue and accommodation:Participants and staff stay at Hotel Zheravnain Bankya, a small SPA town in the Sofia Metropolitan area. On field work days, we will travel to the church sites which are located approx. 50 – 75 km (31 – 46 miles) from Bankya. Travel arrangements will be organized by the Balkan Heritage Field School (BHFS).
About the project: The “Fresco-Hunting” Photo Research Expedition to Medieval Balkan Churches provides a unique opportunity for students and volunteers to take part in an expedition to document abandoned medieval churches/chapels and their frescos in western Bulgaria, and to visit many other Christian Orthodox churches, monasteries, museums and archaeological sites in Sofia and western Bulgaria. The expedition and the field school are coordinated by the Balkan Heritage Foundation (BHF).
Participants receive training in survey management, digital photography, surveys of architecture and iconographic program, technical drawing, use of dumpy level, developing archives of digital images etc., introduction to Byzantine art, architecture and religious iconography as well as photogrammetry, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and other photographic techniques for documentation of cultural heritage.
The field school is designed for students and young specialists in heritage, archaeology and conservation as well as artists, but we also welcome anyone interested in:
medieval civilization in Southeastern Europe (especially Byzantine and Christian Orthodox architecture, arts and iconography during the late medieval period: 13th to 17th centuries)
digital photography
documentation of ecclesiastic architecture and frescos
cultural heritage preservation
travel to significant heritage sites in western Bulgaria.
Director:Ivan Vasilev,president of the Balkan Heritage Foundation and archaeologist
Field school session available: 25 May – 8 June, 2024 Application deadline: 25 April, 2024 Minimum length of stay:Two weeks Minimum age:18 Number of field school places available:8 Project language:English
The Field School
In 2024, the project envisions supplementing the database created during the previous seasons by documenting the architecture and frescos (and their condition) of three to six medieval Christian Orthodox chapels or small churches in western Bulgarian borderlands and collecting new data on their history, artifacts and environment.
The Field Schoolis comprised of:
Fieldworkthat entails a preliminary survey of architecture, frescos and their iconographic program; creation of textual, graphic (drawn) and photographic records of ecclesiastical edifices and their frescos (in up to six churches)
Specialized lecturesin Southeastern European medieval history; Christian Orthodox architecture, arts and iconography; documentary photography; fresco conservation and restoration; methodology of project survey as well as an introduction to photogrammetry and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI)
Workshopsfor graphic (drawn) documentation, processing and archiving of digital images plus a free optional workshop on illustration of architectural features and frescos (using graphic software)
Excursions and guided toursofSofiaand Rila Monastery(UNESCO World Heritage Site), Bulgaria.
Experience Required:All candidates are expected to have some familiarity with the basic principles of photography and DSLR cameras. For those who don’t, BHFS can offer the opportunity to take part in an additional, tailored online course about digital photography basics bySofia Photography Schoolprior to the field school. The cost of this training is not included in the reimbursement payment of the field school.
Special considerations:The project is not recommended for individuals with special illnesses that might be exacerbated during the intensive outdoor activities.
Note: Citizens of the EU, EEA, USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand do not need an entry visa for Bulgaria. Citizens of countries not mentioned above should check in advance whether they will need entry visas for one or both countries. The cost of any visas shall be covered directly by the students.
Special Requirements:
A medical COVID-19 certificatemight berequested from each participant. The participants should have medical insurance including COVID-19 treatment and repatriation. The participants should inform the project staff about any health issues, allergies, and food preferences.
Participants are expected to bring a laptop having at least 10 GB free disk space, a mouse and a USB flash drive. Bringing a personal DSLR camera is not required, but is recommended — there is no better way of gaining new digital photography skills than exploring the capacities of your own camera.
The reimbursement payment does not cover insurance. It is necessary to arrange your own insurance before your trip to Bulgaria. All EU citizens can use Bulgarian medical services as long as they can provide evidence of their home-country health insurance with a card, certificate, etc.
Participants should bring clothes and toiletries suitable for diverse weather conditions varying from warm and sunny to rainy, windy and even cold.
Participants are also expected to prepare for the field school by reading the BHFS handbook that will be sent by e-mail before the beginning of the project.
All participants will be asked to release the copyright on all graphic materials they create and contribute to during the expedition (which may include maps, drawings, photographic images, etc.) to the Balkan Heritage Foundation for non-commercial use.
Bulgaria
ARCHAEOLOGY AND BIOARCHAEOLOGY OF APOLLONIA PONTICA
Project Dates: June 1-29, 2024 Application Deadlines: Until the places are filled, or 10 April, 2024
Overview:
Project type:This field school consists of two parts. The first part offers an intensive course in bioarchaeology focused on human osteology. The second part features archaeological excavation at a Classical and Late Hellenistic site. The variety of activities and the team’s professionalism and flexibility make this project suitable for beginners and advanced studentsin both Anthropology and Classical Archaeology. Individual program and task assignments are available to advanced students.
Site: Messarite – located 2 km southwest of Apollonia Pontica (today’s Sozopol on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast) – is part of the ancient city’s broader area where the remains of an ancient road, foundations of buildings and burial structures are located.
Period(s) of occupation:Classical Greek, Hellenistic (5th – 3rd century BCE)
Project venue: Hotel Polina Beachis located in the new part of Sozopol, a 15-minute walk from the town center and the larger beach “Harmanite”. It offers rooms with sea views, a restaurant and a pool. It is also a 15-minute walk from the venue to the excavation site. The first part of the field school will be conducted at the“Archaeological Reserve with Museum – Deutum”in Debelt (approx. 20 km from Burgas) where the facilities provide suitable conditions for lab work.
The project partners: Balkan Heritage Foundation (BHF), Bulgaria, Apollonia Pontica Excavation Team from National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Archaeological Museum of Sozopol, University of Idaho (US), New Bulgarian University
Dig director: Krastina Panayotova, PhD in Archaeology, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Classical Archaeology, National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Deputy digdirector and chief instructor: Teodora Bogdanova, Ph.D. in Archaeology; Adjunct Professor, CPCE,New Bulgarian University,Bulgaria
Field school coordinators:Angela Pencheva, PhD in Archaeology, Program Director of the Balkan Heritage Foundation, Lyuba Manoilova, PhD candidate in Anthropology at the Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Anthropology with Museum Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; project coordinator at the Balkan Heritage Foundation
Four-week session:01 – 29 June, 2024
Major field school topics/activities:Ancient Greek colonization, culture and religion; Archaeological field techniques and methods; finds and sample processing; training in human osteology (osteobiographies, identifying pathological conditions and signs of trauma), trips to significant heritage sites along the western Black Sea Coast.
Application Deadlines: Until the places are filled, or 10 April, 2024 Minimum length of stay:1 session (four weeks) Minimum age:18 Number of field school places available:Maximum 15 Project language: English Academic credits available:Students can receive up to 9 ECTS credits through New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria. Experience required:No
Special requirements: The project is not recommended for individuals with solar allergies or other special illnesses that might be exacerbated during intensive outdoor activities. The average summer temperatures in the area are 25-35° C (77- 95° F) or higher.
The Site and the Excavation Project
Ancient Apollonia Pontica (present-day Sozopol, Bulgaria) is one of the oldest towns on the western Black Sea Coast. The city, founded by Miletian colonists around 610 BCE, was named Apollonia Pontica in honor of the patron deity ofMiletus – Apollo. The Ancient authors identify the philosopher named Anaximander as the founder of the city. It became an autonomous and strong democratic polis, as well as an important trade center between Ancient Greece andThrace. Thanks to its strong navy and naturally protected harbors, Apollonia kept control of the major merchant road along the westernBlack Sea Coast, called Via Pontica, for several centuries. The city preserved its independence during the campaigns of Phillip II of Macedon (342-339 BCE) and Alexander the Great (335 BCE) but in 72 BCE it was conquered, pillaged and burned by the Roman legions of Marcus Lucullus. The city succeeded in restoring its former glory and was known in the Roman world as Apollonia Magna (Great Apollonia). Following the Christian mainstream tradition, its name was changed to Sozopol, meaning “town of salvation”, in the 4thcentury CE. Despite the invasions, it survived the period of the Great Migration (4th – 7th century CE) and entered the Middle Ages as a focal point of long-lasting Byzantine-Bulgarian conflicts.
The site “Messarite” is located southwest of Sozopol, approx. 2 km from the center of the Old Town. During archaeological field surveys in this area were registered 29 sites – remains of buildings, fortification walls for artificial terraces of the land and three tombs. The site is divided into three sectors on the western slope on the eastern side of a small valley where the small chapel “St. Marina” is located. Dr. Panayotova’s team excavated the remains of six buildings dated between the second half of the 5th century BCE and the beginning of the 3rd century BCE. Parts of an ancient road oriented north-south were also discovered. It is 6,50 m wide and so far over 40 m of its length were uncovered. On both sides, there are remains of buildings.
Towards the end of the 4th century BCE, the buildings in all three sectors were abandoned and destroyed. Shortly after graves with both inhumations and cremations started appearing in the abandoned ruins. In one area there are even family plots enclosed with stone walls (periboloi). Until now a total of 42 graves have been excavated all dated in the first half of the 3rd century BCE. The burial structures vary from pits, pithoi, ceramic and limestone sarcophagi, to tile-lined and cist graves while the cremations are in locally made urns. The funeral gifts are typical for the period – incense vessels (lekithoi and unguentaria), funeral wreaths, strigili, mirrors, scissors, coins and jewelry. In front of the family plots were discovered traces of funerary rites including 10 ritual firepits.
These are the first excavations of the broader territory of an ancient Greek colony in present-day Bulgaria. The results from the excavations along with the traces of mining and metallurgy in the adjacent area shed light on the economic development of Apollonia Pontica in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
The Field School
This field school provides a unique glimpse into the early stages of the Greek Colonization of the western Black Sea Coast and the development of a small Greek settlement into one of the richest and strongest Greek colonies in the Black Sea region, as well as an amazing opportunity to:
dig at an Ancient Greek site on the Black Sea Coast;
practice all basic excavation techniques in the field plus finds and samples processing;
TheFieldSchool Seasonin 2024 envisions excavations at Messarite in a new sector opened next to the previously conserved area, as well as osteological lab work at the Archaeological base with a museum in Deultum.
The field school offersone four-week sessionconsisting of two parts. The first two weeks offer an intensive practice-based course in bioarchaeology using skeletal material from the necropoli of Apollonia Pontica. The second two weeks include fieldwork, lectures and instructions in Classical field archaeology, workshops for finds processing and documentation, as well as study visits to significant archaeological and historical sites.
Project type:Field school & archaeological excavation. Suitable for both beginner and advanced students as well as those interested in archaeology and history of the eastern Mediterranean and Europe during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods.
The excavation started:1939;The field school started:2013
Site:Prehistoric tell next to the village of Yunatsite, Southern Bulgaria.
Periods in the project’s focus: Final Neolithic / Chalcolithic, Early Bronze Age, Iron Age, Antiquity and Middle Ages.
Project venue:the district town of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria.
Major field school topics/activities:Archaeology of Neolithic and Chalcolithic Europe; Excavations of the Final Neolithic/ Chalcolithic (4900 – 4100 BCE) strata of Tell Yunatsite; Prehistoric warfare and ceramics; Archaeological field techniques and methods for excavation and documentation, processing of finds and samples; Excursions to significant heritage sites in Bulgaria.
Dig director:AssociateProf. Kamen Boyadzhiev(PhD in Archaeology),National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Field school sessions available:
13 – 27 July, 2024
27 July – 10 August, 2024
13 July – 10 August, 2024
Minimum length of stay:Two weeks Application deadline:Until the places are filled or 1 June 2024 Minimum age:18 (16, if the participant is accompanied by an adult family member) Number of field school places available:Maximum 14 Project language:English Academic credits available: Up to 9 ECTS credits are available through the New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria.
Experience required: No previous experience is required for applicants for Session 1 and/or 3. However, applicants for Session 2 are expected to have at least two weeks of archaeological field experience prior to their participation in this session.
Special requirements:
A medical COVID-19 certificatemight berequested from each participant. The participants should have medical insurance including COVID-19 treatment and repatriation. The participants should inform the project staff about any health issues, allergies, and food preferences.
Participation in the project is not recommended for individuals with solar allergies or other special illnesses that might be exacerbated during the intensive outdoor activities. The average summer temperatures in the area are 25-35° C (77-95° F). Participants should bring clothes and toiletries suitable for hot and sunny weather but should also prepare for possible rainy, windy and chilly days.
Participants are also expected to prepare for the dig by reading at minimum the BHFS handbook that will be sent by e-mail before the beginning of the project.
Participants will use the tools and equipment available at the site and are not expected to bring any additional equipment.
During the 7th and 6th millennia BCE, the Balkan Peninsula was a gateway through which farming, animal husbandry and Neolithization spread from Anatolia and the Near East to Europe. This new population gradually settled down and got familiar with the surrounding region, suitable agricultural areas, raw sources and so on. In the 6th millennium BCE their economy, social organization, trade and cultural contacts evolved, to reach their peak in the 5th millennium BCE. In the beginning of the 5th millennium the earliest metallurgy in European and global prehistory (the processing of copper and soon after, gold) appeared in the Balkans. Thus, this period is known as Copper age, Chalcolithic, Eneolithic or Final Neolithic.
The continuative inhabitance of the same suitable places during these millennia led to the formation of a settlement phenomenon, characteristic of the Near Eastern and Balkan prehistory – the multilayered tell-sites.
Tell Yunatsite is located near the modern village of Yunatsite in Southern Bulgaria. It is among the biggest tells in Europe with a diameter of approximately 110 m/360 ft and height of 12 m/39 ft above the modern surface. Tell Yunatsite was first excavated in 1939 by the Bulgarian archaeologist Vasil Mikov. In 1976, regular excavations were restarted and have continued on an annual basis. Subsequently, research at Tell Yunatsite has grown into an important research program under the National Institute of Archaeology and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. At times, Greek and Soviet archaeologists have joined the research at the site and today this is an international research effort directed by Bulgarian scholars. The field school will be held for seventh year and is a joint cooperation between Balkan Heritage Foundation (BHF), the Regional Museum of History in Pazardzhik, the Tell Yunatsite Excavation Team from the National Institute of Archaeology and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Institute for Field Research.
To date, approximately one third of the tell has been excavated. This work yielded rich collections of archaeological materials, and the sterile soil has not yet been reached. There is a medieval cemetery at the top of the tell, followed by a Roman period level, two Iron Age levels, another dated to the Early Bronze Age, and finally a Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic level. It is unknown if the cultural history of the tell begins in the Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic period or whether older Neolithic occupation layers exist.
The archaeological field school takes place at the Tell Yunatsite lowest excavated layer, which corresponds to the time of Europe’s first prehistoric civilization in the 5th millennium BCE. The intense study of these very first complex societies in Europe began 40 years ago with the excavation of the Varna Copper Age necropolis. That excavation was the first to demonstrate the rise of social complexity in the region. It is during this time that metal processing became widespread and it is the earliest dates for such transformative technological innovation. Data suggest that it is the world’s earliest mass production of both copper and gold (the world’s oldest gold treasure was found in the Varna Copper age necropolis), the first urban settlements in Europe, distinct social and political stratification, and pictograms and characters interpreted by some scholars as the world’s oldest script (as on the Gradeshnitsa tablet, for instance). The area of this civilization stretches from Anatolia across the Balkans to the Carpathian basin and the steppes of Eastern Europe. It collapsed around the end of the 5th millennium BCE under the pressure of drastic social and demographic changes, which were presumably caused mainly by climate change but were exacerbated by foreign invasions.
Recent excavations at Tell Yunatsite indicate that the Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic period settlement covered an area far larger than the tell itself and consisted of uptown (acropolis?) and a downtown district. The uptown section was surrounded by a five meter wide clay wall and a broad and deep ditch. Buildings in this part were placed closed to each other, creating an almost unbroken urban fabric. The Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic settlement experienced a violent event at ca. 4,200-4,100 BCE. Evidence suggests deliberate destruction by outsiders. Many skeletons of children, elderly men, and women were found scattered on floors, suggesting a massive massacre. Those who survived returned and resettled at the Tell, but soon even they left. At that point, Tell Yunatsite and the area around it were abandoned for more than 1,000 years. During this time, a sterile layer accumulated over the last Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic layer.
Excavations in the last years shed new light on the stratigraphy and development of the Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic, and brought new interesting discoveries on architecture techniques, subsistence practices (including large amounts aof charred grains and even fruits), trade connections and different crafts. Among the most spectacular findsm are a golden bead and a couple of golden amulets, which are among the earliest golden artifacts in the world.
The Field School
The aim of the project is to provide participants with a theoretical background on the development of Neolithic cultures in Southeastern Europe with a focus on Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic, Europe’s first civilization, and with practical experience in excavating a complex prehistoric tell-site.
This field school provides a unique glimpse into the rise and fall of arguably the earliest European civilization. In 2024, field school students will take part in further excavation of the burned Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic layer buildings. Faculty and students will work togethe
r and explore why and how did one of the earliest proto urban centers in Europe emerge in the beginning of the 5th millennium BCE, and what are the reasons that caused its collapse 800 years later.There are three field school sessions (two consecutive two-week sessions and one four-week session) available. Each of them covers the following three modules:
Fieldworkincluding excavation of the Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic layers and structures, which includes practicing basic excavation techniques as well as screening, sifting and flotation; the development of archaeological field documentation by maintaining a field journal on a daily basis, filling context sheets and labels, drawing an elevation plan/ a ground plan/ a cross-section, 3D positioning of finds, taking coordinates with a dumpy level, as well as taking photographs at the site;
Lectures, workshopsand field training in prehistoric (with emphasize on Neolithic, Chacolithic, prehistoric warfare and ceramics), and field archaeology, finds processing and documentation and 3)
Excursionsto thePazardzhikRegional Museum of History; the ancient town ofPlovdivincluding the Archaeological Museum, Old Town Quarter and major Roman monuments; andStara Zagoraincluding the Regional Museum of History, Roman monuments and the Museum of Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic (5600 BCE) dwellings.
Session 1 is an excellen
t opportunity for beginners. Session 2 is ideal for participants with some (at least two weeks) field experience to develop more skills and competences regarding the field work as well as finds and samples processing. Each two-week session includes 10 working days, 1 day for orientation and introduction; 1 day for the excursion; and 1 day-off plus arrival & departure days. Session 3 is a well designed combination of Session 1 and Session 2 with 20 working days, 2 excursion days; 4 days-off (one of them with an optional excursion) plus arrival & departure day.
CANADA
2024 Canada Head-Smashed-In (in southwestern Alberta, Canada)
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is located in the Porcupine Hills of southwestern Alberta, Canada. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has an interpretive centre run by mostly Blackfoot staff that has hosted over two million visitors since 1987. The site is an elaborate complex spread across the landscape where, for at least the past 5,500 years, hunters used the natural landscape to drive herds of bison off cliff edges and then process the animals in the vicinity. It is one of the most important locations of Indigenous heritage.
Our work at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump aims to clarify chronological and contextual issues related to the earliest occupation phases at the site, evaluate the relationships between different parts of the site, and identify earlier uses than those currently well-documented. Through this work, students will learn about the site and develop key skills necessary in North American archaeology. These elements of the project will involve targeted testing and excavations in three areas of the site and supplemental testing, surveying, and mapping in three other areas. During the field school students will have an opportunity to excavate at the site and process the archaeological materials they unearth in the laboratory.
INSTRUCTORS
All field school directors are experts in their field and passionate about their work. To discuss the suitability of this program for your career goals – whether within or outside academia – you are invited to contact the directors directly. For a broader discussion which CFS program to choose, you are welcome to contact our staff directly – you can do that through our “Contact Us” page.
PROF. SHAWN BUBELbubest@uleth.ca
Professor of Archaeology at the Geography and Environment Department, University of Lethbridge
DR. KEVIN MCGEOUGH mcgekm@uleth.ca Professor of Archaeology at the Geography and Environment Department, University of Lethbridge
MR. BOB DAWEbob.dawe@gov.ab.ca
Assistant Curator of Archaeology, Royal Alberta Museum, Canada
UNIVERSITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK BIOARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL AT THE FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG, CAPE BRETON, NOVA SCOTIA
(NOTE: The UNB Bioarchaeology Field School will not be running in 2024, but IT will announce the 2025 field school details soon)
The only bioarchaeological field school of its kind in Canada
The Fortress of Louisbourg, a National Historic Site in Canada, boasts an impressive history that contributes to our understanding of life in Atlantic Canada during the 18th century.
Due to ongoing and imminent coastal erosion, this shared history is being lost at an alarming rate as archaeological material is being steadily destroyed.
Our research is designed to address ongoing erosional issues at the Fortress of Louisbourg by actively excavating and analyzing the individuals interred at Rochefort Point.
By rescuing these burials through a large scale, multi-year rescue excavation, there is a unique research opportunity to explore the lived experience of those who were part of the Louisbourg community while actively protecting their physical remains from certain destruction.
Partnership
A partnership was established in 2016 between UNB and Parks Canada to begin systematic excavation of Rochefort Point to protect the burials most at risk of coastal erosion. This partnership is significant in that both parties:
work together towards a common goal of protecting these burials
recognize this unique research opportunity to learn more about 18th-century life
place high value on the dissemination of knowledge
recognize the appeal of this work both locally and nationally
Preserve the past through a learning opportunity
As a reconstructed French colonial site, Parks Canada aims to bring the past to life at the Fortress of Louisbourg through its historical reenactments and focus on visitor experience through immersive programming.
This partnership supports these goals by preserving the past at the site through the rescue of these burials, but also creating exciting learning opportunities for the general public.
For UNB, the partnership enriches student experience and focuses on technical skill building, knowledge translation, ethics and research integrity.
As the only bioarchaeological field school of its kind in Canada, this program showcases UNB as an important contributor to the discipline and strives to become the primary training program for emerging bioarchaeological undergraduate and graduate students both nationally and internationally.
a hands-on field experience to complement undergraduate and graduate courses
critical bioarchaeological training in skeletal recovery, analysis and ethical handling practices
public engagement opportunities via social media and public outreach events
We will be accepting 15 students for the 2023 field school. Applications will be adjudicated based on GPA, statement of intent, and a short interview completed with the Project Director. Preference will be given to those who have completed a human osteology or skeletal biology university-level course at the time of application; however, these types of courses are not considered prerequisites.
References will only be contacted if more information is needed to make a decision. In order to participate in the UNB Bioarchaeology Field School students must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. All applicants will be notified via email regarding the status of their application by April 15, 2023.
Those not admitted to the program will be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.
COLOMBIA
PIRATES AND PURITANS: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY & ETHNOGRAPHY ON OLD PROVIDENCE & SANTA CATALINA ISLANDS, COLOMBIA, Summer 2024
FIELD SEASON: May 25– June 19, 2024
Full program details can be found here and the project syllabus can be found here
Download the 2024 program syllabus here
OVERVIEW
The islands of Old Providence and Santa Catalina -located 130 miles of the coast of Nicaragua and around 8.5 square miles in size- have been a center of global trade and commerce since the establishment of an English colony in 1629 and are still occupied by the Native Raizal descendants of the original colonists, African slaves, and members of a coterminous Maroon village to this day. Puritan venture capitalists financed the primary colonization of Old Providence and Santa Catalina –whose members arrived on the Seaflower, sister ship to the Mayflower– one year after the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in what was to become the United States.
From 1629-1630, colonists, under the direction of the Providence Island Company, constructed an administrative center (the Town of New Westminster) and several forts, along with establishing dispersed, plantation-household groups known as ‘families’ that were supervised by a ‘father’ and comprised of wealthy Company investors, apprentices hoping to establish their own plantations, and enslaved Africans; while concurrently establishing colonies in Massachusetts Bay and later, the Eastern Caribbean. The area surrounding the original town, along with dispersed plantation-household groups, and at least one Maroon settlement ultimately evolved into distinct neighborhoods, which are still extant today. Since 1629, the Raizal have been episodically under the administration of England, Spain, English & French privateers, and Colombia.
The Project aims to better understand the Islands’ historical timeline and elucidate localized strategies utilized by Native Raizal peoples, over time, to negotiate the intricate relationships between and among variable stakeholders embedded within the colonial- and modern-industrial complexes, including European colonists, venture-capitalists, and military; Indigenous groups; pre- and post-emancipated peoples of African descent; tenant farmers, agricultural workers, and indentured apprentices and servants; and more loosely affiliated, historically-connected groups such as Maroons, pirates, buccaneers, and privateers. An important aspect of this community-based research seeks to identify the real-world effects of rapidly fluctuating military and administrative power structures on the movement and organization of materials, ideas, and built-environments over time and how diverse –yet connected through colonial spheres of influence– culture histories inform the structures of everyday life and communities of practice for the groups and individuals who currently inhabit this location.
This community-led Project seeks to assist ongoing Native Raizal efforts to untangle the complex culture history of Old Providence and Santa Catalina by collecting oral histories, studying historical documents, and archaeologically exploring three foundational landscapes: 1) the original town of New Westminster [1629] located on the north side of Old Providence Island, 2) a colonial-period Maroon community -made up of self-emancipated individuals- located on the south/southeast side of Old Providence island, and 3) the natural and modified gully systems & terrestrial pathways covering the Islands, utilized since 1629 for intra-island transportation and residential and agricultural water management.
To this end, archaeological and survey tasks focus on gaining a better understanding the Islands’ settlement timeline and understanding behavioral continuity and/or discontinuity, over time; and ethnographic research aims to document Native Raizal stories, art, & culture, catalog familial connections, better understand the Islands’ built-infrastructure and natural landscapes from emic perspectives, and record the English Criol language unique to the Archipelago of San Andrés for posterity.
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTOR(S)
Dr. Tracie Mayfield (RPA #4754), Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California (traciemayfield@me.com)
CROATIA
THE LOBOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL and BIOARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, CROATIA
Date: June 16 to July 13, 2024 Priority deadline: February 1, 2024
Full program details can be found here and downloadable 2024 syllabus here
Overview
Lobor is a sacred archaeological site that has been active since prehistoric times. It played an important role in Late Antiquity when various barbarian groups (Germanic and others) crossed the borders into the Western Roman Empire. In the period between the 4th and 7th centuries, settlements were relocated to hilltops so that they could provide better protection for the inhabitants and make visual communication between such elevated spots easier. At that time, a large early Christian basilica was built in Lobor. It was probably erected on the site of a former temple dedicated to Diana. After the early Christian church was destroyed, first a pre-Romanesque church and then a Romanesque church were built. These churches marked another important period in Lobor’s history, the Carolingian period. The remains of the only wooden church known so far in northwestern Croatia have been discovered at the site. The wooden church is likely to have served as a temporary shrine between the respective periods of activity of the pre-Romanesque church and the Romanesque church. Since the very beginnings, the Lobor site has been associated with female cults, first the goddess Diana and later the Virgin Mary. It has remained so until today.
The churches are surrounded by a cemetery with burials dating back to prehistoric times and up to the 19th century. Every year, research into one part of the cemetery is conducted. Students learn the process of determining the area of a burial, cleaning the skeletons in the soil, drawing, photography, dealing within situfinds, removing and packing the bones, and laboratory analysis of skeletons. The Bioarchaeological School at Lobor began is 2016 as the Croatian Science Foundation project. The projects aims to reconstruct the profile of communities that lived in the area, from trauma analysis to DNA and facial reconstruction of individual skeletons.
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTORS
Dr. Krešimir Filipec,Professor and Director of at the Department of Medieval Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Croatia) (kfilipec@ffzg.hr)
Ms. Jana Škrgulja, Assistant Professor at the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Croatia) (jana.skrgulja@gmail.com, jskrgulj@ffzg.hr)
This field school is one of many operated in collaboration with the Institute for Field Research (IFR)
DENMARK
VASAGARD ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, Bornholm Island, Denmark
Dates: June 3 to June 28, 2024 Priority deadline: February 1, 2024
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTORS Dr. Finn Ole Nielsen, BARC-Bornholm Museum, Denmark (fon@bornholmsmuseer.dk) Dr. M. Nicolás Caretta, BARC-Bornholm Museum, Denmark (nc@bornholmsmuseum.dk) MSc. Michael Thorsen, BARC-Bornholm Museum, Denmark (mst@bornholmsmuseum.dk) MSc. Ditte Kofod, BARC-Bornholm Museum, Denmark (ditte.kofod@icloud.com)
OVERVIEW
Neolithic settlements are among the most frequent types of prehistoric sites. Yet few have been investigated in the Baltic region. Scholars have incomplete understanding of how Neolithic sites were built, how different parts functioned and what activities took place, or how circular structures (identified through timber post holes in a circular form) had developed. This project aims to investigate these issues at Vasagård, a settlement on the island of Bornholm (Denmark) that corresponds chronologically to the Neolithic period c. 3500-2700 BCE.
The Neolithic dwellings at Vasagård and cultural layers fall broadly into two periods: (1) Early Neolithic B/C to Late Funnel Beaker culture; and (2) Middle Neolithic A-V to Middle Neolithic B-I. The Vasagård Archaeological Project aims to seek more detailed answers to specific questions at the sites and from those, to extrapolate about cultural traditions at the Baltic and North European Neolithic Period. Our goal is not only to explore the richness of the archaeological materials found on Vasagård but also the type and history of interactions among different groups/farming communities in the Baltic, their technology, economy, religion, and social organization.
Vasagård is divided into two distinct sections: (a) Section West with a tomb system, where a dolmen and a passage grave are present and (b) Section East with a settlement system. It is important to note that the proximity of a causewayed enclosure, graves and settlement is unique to the period. During the 2007 excavations of the East and West Enclosures, it was determined that the grave system was replaced by a stockade. The East Enclosure enclosed an approximately 4-hectare area and West Enclosure, a somewhat larger with about 7 hectares area. On each side at least 6 palisades and 3 phases of construction can be detected. Inside and within the palisade fence there is a settlement with traces of burnt offerings – cereal, bones and flint tools. So far, no traces of the characteristic two-aisled longhouses were identified; however, traces of at least 9 circular timber circles were found, seven on the east and two in the West site, but there are certainly more.
During excavations in 2013-2018, nearly 300 broken and complete flat stones were recovered, engraved with patterns of radiating straight lines. Dubbed ‘sun stones’ or ‘solar stones’, archaeologists at the Bornholm Museum dated those to c. 2900 BCE. They suggested that these artifacts were part of rituals carried out by Neolithic sun-worshippers. Other engraved stones include symbolic maps of local landscapes, and these were possibly used in rituals by individuals who hoped to magically influence the sun and thus fertility of their farmlands. Our current working hypothesis is that Vasagård was established by a group of early farmers who constructed a fenced stronghold with one public building, possibly a temple. The ornamented wall of the temple can be compared with similar finds at the site of Schalkenburg in Sachsen-Anhalt (Germany), suggesting ritual use.
IFR students have been taking part in the excavation of two of the system graves and the causeways enclosure at Vasagård Vest. A special find from previous seasons was composed of an assemblage of seeds, “sunstones” and ceramics, that corresponds to the Funnel Beaker Culture in other parts of Denmark and overlaps in time with the Pitted Ware Culture and the Early Battle Axe Culture (Middle Neolithic A-V and Middle Neolithic B-I). During 2022 our interest focused on the completion of the excavation on Cultural Layer II (MN A III) and the new section opened at structure XIII.2; and the cultural layers (MN V) in the structure XXXV, where most of the sunstones have been found in Vasagård west. For the 2023 season, Vasagård field school students will participate in the excavation of the main sections of the Vasagård Vest enclosure. We want to understand the deposition process of the layers and the differences in content in contrast with other layers. It is also of interest to the project to understand the time span of the deposition process of each layer and recover all the archaeological material associated with this layer.
FRENCH POLYNESIA
Marquesas Islands Field School (French Polynesia)
Not offered in 2024, but will be offered again in Summer 2025. For updates, see https://www.afargo.org/
Affiliation: Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research
Project Director: Barry Rolett, University of Hawai‘i and Andover Foundation for Archaeological Research
Overview:
Verdant forests, rugged peaks, and turquoise seas. The Marquesas are one of the best known yet least visited archipelagoes in the South Pacific. The Polynesian discovery of these stunningly beautiful islands around 800 years ago represents one of humanity’s momentous achievements; and that was only the beginning. By the time Captain Cook reached these shores in 1775, Marquesan chiefdoms were distinguished by their monumental architecture and a religious system in which important ceremonies demanded human sacrifices. Marquesan art is world-renowned and it has inspired generations of Western artists, including Paul Gauguin.
Beginning with Cook’s expedition, museums throughout Europe and America have sought out Marquesan art and artifacts. Yet while Western museums hold great numbers of these treasures, until recently there was no museum for the Marquesan people themselves. That is what inspired our 2023 Marquesas project and the Te Ana Peua Museum.
Te Ana Peua, the first community-based archaeology museum in French Polynesia, is in the heart of Vaitahu, the main village on Tahuata, one of the most remote and traditional islands in the Marquesas. On the coast of nearby Hanamiai Valley lies one of the richest and most extensively studied archaeological sites in Polynesia. Here, hidden beneath the roots of coconut palms, is a captivating record of daily life in the Marquesas dating back to initial Polynesian discovery around 1200-1300 AD.
AFAR’s long-running project Marquesas is a collaborative effort in which an international team of students works closely with members of the local community, under the direction of University of Hawai‘i archaeologist Prof. Barry Rolett. Through our excavations at Hanamiai, Te Ana Peua now has one of the best collections of Marquesan artifacts in the world. During this year’s project, we will collaborate with our local team (the same team engaged in the excavations) to design and mount new exhibits for the museum. We will also take on some outdoors projects (e.g. site survey) to vary our schedule and to give students a chance to work on some of the well-preserved monumental architecture for which the Marquesas is famous.
Period(s) of Occupation: East Polynesian Archaic to European contact period (ca. AD 1250–1880).
Notes: Discover an ancient South Pacific culture. The Marquesas project is a four week archaeological field school experience on Tahuata, a remote Polynesian island with a rich history. Participants are fully immersed in a small community while working with Marquesans and living as the only foreigners on an island with no airport or hotels.
Project Size: 1-24 participants
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 4 weeks
Room and Board Arrangements: Our headquarters are in the picturesque village of Vaitahu, on Tahuata (Gauguin lived and painted nearby on Hiva Oa). There are no hotels (just a grass-shack style restaurant for yachties and a local store stocked with cold drinks, etc.). There is also essentially no service economy. Our hosts are the 400 wonderful inhabitants of this unforgettable world. We’ll live just a short walk to the beach, in a rented house with modern kitchen and toilet facilities (albeit cold water showers scarcely a problem in this tropical climate). As the only outsiders in the village, participants are immersed in the local lifestyle. Cost: $5000 project fee plus airfare to Marquesas.
EXCAVATIONS IN THE ATHENIAN AGORA VOLUNTEER PROGRAM SUMMER SEASON
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens conducts a program for volunteers wishing to participate in the archaeological excavations of the Athenian Agora during the summer. Approximately fifteen to twenty-five volunteers are chosen on the basis of academic qualifications and previous archaeological field experience. Both advanced undergraduate students and graduate students are eligible, although priority is given to graduate students preparing for careers in classical archaeology. Open to all nationalities.
The Volunteer Staff will participate in all aspects of the archaeological fieldwork under the supervision of a staff of field archaeologists and technical experts, all of whom have extensive field experience and advanced academic training in classical archaeology. Volunteers will be trained in the basic techniques of excavation: working with various tools; cleaning and investigating stratigraphy; delicate cleaning of artifacts in the ground; sifting of excavated earth and techniques of flotation; washing and basic conservation of pottery and other objects; clerical work involved in the keeping of excavation records, among other duties. Students will also receive training in various scientific methods and techniques. Tasks will be assigned in rotation, and volunteers are expected to participate in all of them. Room and a modest allowance for board are provided for the time volunteers are working at the excavations. Travel arrangements to and from Greece are the responsibility of each volunteer.
The Summer Season
The excavations are planned for eight weeks,June 10 to August 2, 2024.Fieldwork is in progress five days a week, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a 30-minute break at midmorning, and some post-excavation duties will run until 5 p.m. Volunteers are expected to be on the site during these hours and to work at the excavations for a minimum of six weeks.
Call for Excavation Supervisors for the 2024 season in the Athenian Agora
The Agora Excavations are looking for Supervisors for the excavations of the Athenian Agora.
The American School of Classical Studies has been excavating in the area of the Athenian Agora since 1931, bringing to light the history of the area over a period of 5000 years. Finds range from scattered pieces of pottery of the late Neolithic period (ca. 3000 BC) to the contents of 19th and early 20th century basements. The Agora of the 5th and 4th centuries BC has been the main focus of attention. Scholars have identified the often scanty material remains on the basis of ancient references to the Agora as the center of civic activity of ancient Athens. Public documents inscribed on stone, weight and measure standards, and jurors’ identification tickets and ballots reflect the administrative nature of the site, while traces of private dwellings in the area immediately bordering the open square, with their household pottery and other small finds, throw light on the everyday lives of Athenian citizens.
After the initial phase of excavation, the area was landscaped and the Hellenistic Stoa of Attalos was rebuilt to serve as museum and workspace. The reconstruction, under the authority of the Department of Restorations of the Greek Ministry of Education, was paid for by American donors. Excavations at the Athenian Agora by the American School are ongoing.
The Athenian Agora Excavations and Study Center are funded by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, with major support from numerous foundations, institutions, and individuals. The work of excavating began in the 1930’s with the substantial support of John D. Rockefeller, who also funded the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos (1953-1956) to serve as the site museum with storage facilities. In recent years the work has been supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Packard Humanities Institute. Other key supporters include the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Princeton University, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Randolph-Macon College, among others. Millions of dollars have been provided in support of the excavation, restoration, research, and publication of
one of the most productive archaeological proje
cts in the Mediterranean basin. In recent years the Packard Humanities Institute has also collaborated in a large project to digitize the vast collection of antiquities and archives stored in the Stoa of Attalos, a project supplemented by grants from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens conducts a program for volunteers wishing to participate in the archaeological excavations of the Athenian Agora during the summer. Approximately thirty-five volunteers are chosen on the basis of academic qualifications and previous archaeological field experience. Undergraduate applications are welcome, although priority is given to graduate students preparing for professional careers in classical archaeology and those willing to work the entire season.
American School of Classical Studies at Athens 321 Wall Street, Princeton, NJ 08540-1515 Email: programs@ascsa.org Website: https://www.ascsa.edu.gr
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONSERVATION INTERNSHIPS IN THE ATHENIAN AGORA
The Agora Excavations Conservation Laboratory of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is offering 2 Archaeological Conservation Internships for the summer 2024 excavation season.
Deadline: December 16, 2023
About the Internship
The Agora Excavations Conservation Laboratory of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is offering two Archaeological Conservation Internships for the 2024 summer excavation season. The Conservation Laboratory functions as an integral part of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens’ Agora Excavations. Its aim is to support the excavations by providing services that contribute to the study and understanding of the site.
Interns will have an opportunity to treat freshly excavated archaeological finds and to participate in an active on-site conservation laboratory. Under the supervision and guidance of the Agora Conservation staff, interns will carry out general conservation duties including: examination and analysis of artifacts; documentation; cleaning; reconstruction; restoration; and photography of artifacts from the current excavation and from storage. In this way, interns will be able to work with a variety of materials including ceramics, stone, glass, copper alloys, iron, lead, bone and occasionally ivory and wood. An introduction to the re-treatment, preventive and long-term care of archaeological collections will also be provided.
Applicants must currently be enrolled in a graduate or equivalent conservation program, or they must have recently completed their studies in conservation. Successful candidates are required to obtain their own medical insurance for the duration of their internship. Successful candidates are also responsible for their travel arrangements to and from Athens, Greece and for arranging their own accommodation. A modest expense allowance, consisting of approximately 120 euros per week, and a housing allowance of 125 euros per week (up to 1000 euros for 8 weeks and upon submission of receipts) will be provided for each intern during their internship. Those persons who are already resident in their own accommodations in Athens are welcome to apply for the program and will receive the same expense allowance, although no refund for their housing is possible.
Internships may vary in length from 6 to 8 weeks and are undertaken from early June to early August. Applicants should indicate in their application their approximate preferred dates within this time frame.
Application
Applicants will complete an online application by the deadline (December 16, 2023).
Internships may vary in length from 6 to 8 weeks and are undertaken from early June to early August. Applicants should indicate in their application their approximate preferred dates within this time frame on the online application.
Applications require two confidential letters of recommendation, which will be solicited through the application portal and must arrive by the deadline, 16 December 2023.
Applicants can expect to receive notification after 16 February 2024.
NOTE:This course starts on the island of Antiparos and ends on the island of Paros, Greece. Students should arrange to arrive in Athens the day before the start of the program, and to depart from Athens the day after the end of the program, in order to have time for their ferry connections between Athens and Antiparos/Paros.
OVERVIEW
This summer course offers students the unique opportunity to actively participate in the excavation of one of the most prominent sanctuaries of the Aegean, situated on the uninhabitedislet of Despotiko, west of Antiparos,in the center of the Cyclades. Systematically excavated since 2001, this sanctuary -dedicated to Apollo-, proved to be almost as rich as the well-known sanctuary on the sacred island of Delos in its architectural development and its dedications.
While unveiling the history and the different phases of ritual activity at this important Cycladic sanctuary, the participants will be introduced to archaeological fieldwork methods and theory. In particular, the excavation will focus on the exploration of a number of edifices not only within the sacred precinct, but also outside of it. An oval or apsidal building of the 8th century B.C., which represents the earliest construction of the site up to date, presents special interest. The interpretation of its character and function is crucial for reconstructing the earliest ritual practices at the site. The sanctuary attracted numerous votive dedications of various types. This gives students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with a variety of artifacts of different materials and types covering a wide chronological range extending from the Early Iron Age (9th-8th c. BC) to the Classical period.
Summer 2024 program can be found here as a pdf file Summer 2024 application can be found here
Project Director: Jacques Perreault, University of Montreal
Project Description:
The Greek-Canadian archaeological excavations at Argilos is a vast collaboration project between the Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Serres and the University of Montreal (under the auspices of the Canadian Institute in Greece). Directed by Zisis Bonias and Jacques Perreault, the mission numbers more then 40 students from various Canadian and European universities participating in the excavations every year, with assistance of qualified workers and scholars specialized in various areas of greek archaeology (architecture, pottery, numismatics, etc.).
The main objective of our research program is to better understand the establishment and organization of the greek colonies on the northwestern coast of the Aegean sea by systematic excavation of Argilos. Some very important aspects of greek colonization in the 7th century B.C. in this region have yet to be studied. The exceptional quality of the remains brought to light at Argilos up to now give us the opportunity to study fundamental aspects linked to the cultural relations between Greeks and Thracians and the development of colonial urbanism. How does a city, founded on a territory which was probably not hostile but surely very different from the homeland, take birth ? What is the rhythm of its development, what did condition it? What is the nature and how does the contacts and exchanges with the indigenous populations organize themselves ?
In order to answer these questions and others, the scholars working at Argilos have concentrated their efforts on three areas of the hill: along the sea coast, where excavations brought to light the earliest occupation levels of the town; on the southeast slope, where archaeologists excavated important public and domestic dwellings which give precious information about the architectural and urbanistic development of the city; and on the acropolis, where the buildings unearthed cover all the periods of the city’s existence, and notably those of the hellenistic period, built after the destruction caused by Philip II in 357 B.C. [READ MORE]
Academic Credit: 3 or 6 credits offered by Université de Montréal. Contact Prof Jacques Perreault for cost: Jacques.Y.Perreault@umontreal.ca.
Contact Information: Prof. Jacques Perreault, Centre d’études classiques, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7 Canada
Field school is next planned to run from 1 July to 30 July 2024. We ask students to arrive 29/30 June2024ready to start work and then we expect them to leave Astypalaia by 1 August, depending on travel options.
This project is a bioarchaeological study of the human remains from ancient cemeteries on the small Greek island ofAstypalaia. The earliest burials date from about 750 BC and the latest AD 100, so the cemeteries include burials from Late Geometric, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman contexts. Our work centres on thechildren’s cemeterywhich has more than 3400 burials. It is the largest ancient children’s cemetery in the world, which provides a unique opportunity for bioarchaeological research and training.
Each summer, the project runs aField Schoolfor undergraduates and graduates. Students are trained in techniques for recording the burials, recovering the tiny bones and teeth of children, conservation and storage, identification and measurement, catalogue and database. They work in small groups under supervision and after initial classes they gain experience by following through all the steps for a number of burials. Applications are open now.
The project and field school are directed byDr Simon Hillson, Professor of Bioarchaeology at University College London. Astypalaia’s cemeteries are being excavated by the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese (Εφορεία Αρχαιοτήτων Δωδεκανήσου) and their archaeologist in charge is Mrs Haroula Fantaoutsaki.
Most years since 2010, the project has run a fieldschool each summer in our laboratory on the island of Astypalaia. For further information follow links to other pages. For details, please contact the project Director,simon.hillson@ucl.ac.uk
Normally, the fieldschool starts with 1 week of classes for all students, followed by supervised laboratory work in small groups on burials and finally working individually on a series of burials. Every student carries through all stages of the excavation, conservation, cataloguing and recording process, closely supervised by highly experienced staff. If you wish to apply for a student place, followthis linkfor application forms. We accept students from a variety of subject backgrounds, both undergraduate and postgraduate, or people who graduated some time ago. As the project has been running since 2
000 our laboratory is very well equipped. Ourteachingis also well established with lectures, seminars and practical classes, together with detailed manuals developed specifically for the project, teaching replicas, a library and other supports for learning.
The Kylindra cemetery site offers a unique opportunity tolearnabout the excavation, conservation and study of young children’s remains in an archaeological context. The individual elements of these skeletons and dentitions differ a great deal from adult remains and are often seen as challenging, but our students become highly proficient at identifying even the tiniest elements, such as ear ossicles or the early-stage developing deciduous teeth. The soil matrix of the burials is hard and we have had to develop novel ways to excavate, recover and conserve the remains, which also challenge our students and give them confidence for work on other sites. They gain experience of a range of mapping, photographic and recording techniques which have wide application in both bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology.
Even before they arrive on Astypalaia, students are supported by email, a facebook group and a very detailed resources website with information not only about the p
roject and field school, but also about Greece, food, travel and life on the island. All the manuals and other teaching materials are available to students in advance.
Over 150 students have taken part in Astypalaia Field School since 2010 and many of them have successfully gone on to graduate studies and fieldwork in archaeology and anthropology. We believe it provides a good basis of skills and knowledge and a chance to build confidence in a supportive group.Student reviewsof the Field School are very positive.
Our laboratory is currently housed in an old school building. There are indoor areas for our tool cupboards, stores, macrophotography, computer-based activities and the project office. Work areas are mainly outdoors, under sunshades, because there is more space, better ventilation and our activities are dusty. The facility also has storage for the excavated pot burials before processing and for the skeletons once we have cleaned, conserved and recorded them.
Each student and staff member has their own work table and we supply all the equipment and materials that they will need for all stages of the work. This is where the boxed burials are opened and the skeleton is exposed in a small-scale tabletop excavation of the soil ball inside. The skeleton is mapped and photographed, often including 3D imaging. Then the remains are lifted, cleaned and conserved. They are identified, measured, catalogued, and stored in a system of plastic boxes. Records are kept with standard close-up photographs, a system of record sheets and a database. All this is coordinated and supported by the supervisors, who use the record sheets to keep track of students’ progress. After initial work in small groups, we hope that each student will complete work on about 5 burials working independently.
Astypalaia (map here) is one of about 150 islands in the Dodecanese region of Greece. It takes an hour to fly there from Athens and 10 hours on the ferry from Piraeus. From West to East it is 19 kilometres wide and its highest point is 482 metres above the sea. It has just over 1200 inhabitants, most of whom live in the small town of Hora. In summer it never rains and the sun shines brightly in a very blue sky but the wind keeps it from getting too hot most days. In winter there are big winds which blow the rain against you. The field school mostly takes place in July, just before Astypalaia’s short August tourist season, so for much of the time we are the only visitors. It has been our project’s home since 1999. Everybody knows us and, through our laboratory open days, knows a good deal about our project. There’s a lot of interest and people enjoy chatting to our students in the shops and cafes. The remoteness of Astypalaia means that it is well away from political and social events in Athens, it’s quiet and it’s safe.
Excavate in Greece conducts archaeological and bioarchaeological field schools in Greece for students of archaeology and related disciplines. Our field schools offer intensive, high quality, training in archaeological excavation and bioarchaeology, alongside professionals of the Greek Ministry of Culture, through an immersive cultural experience in Greece. Our aim is to educate and inspire younger generations to be inquisitive, methodical, accepting, and thoughtful, in order to contribute to the preservation and promotion of our shared cultural heritage and natural landscape, within a frame that respects kindness and honesty. We advocate collaborative excellence and create equal opportunity of involvement in research for all our participants. Our goal is to promote inclusivity, diversity, equity, and accessibility in archaeological training.
The new field school in Roman Archaeology and Bioarchaeology takes place at Nikopoli, the renowned site that is being excavated by the Greek Ministry of Culture in preparation for inclusion in the UNESCO list of cultural heritage.
We offer two weeks of excavation, followed by one week of Bioarchaeology in the lab at the Museum. Our project is unique in Greece in offering this combination. All participants receive an official certificate of 150h, signed by the Greek authorities. We also offer credit.
We welcome applications from students of all levels, enrolled or graduated from Archaeology or an allied discipline course.
Project Overview:Roman Archaeology and Bioarchaeology at Nikopoli
Nikopoli field school is unique in Greece, as it provides excavation and bioarchaeology training together at the same site. By attending, you will gain in-depth knowledge that will significantly strengthen your academic profile and acquire significant skills for your future career. We encourage participants to identify personal research interests in the site and pursue their study.
About Nikopoli
The archaeological site of Nikopoli is the largest ancient city in Greece. It is located on southwest Epirus, within an outstanding natural landscape between the Ambracian Gulf and the Ionian Sea, near the modern city of Preveza. It is being excavated under the auspices of the Ephorate of Antiquities at Preveza.
Nikopoli was built by Octavian after his victory against the fleet of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at Aktion in 31 BC. The name ‘Nikopoli’ in fact means ‘city of victory’ in Greek. Soon, it became a very large and rich city, featuring magnificent public works, like the stadium, the theatre, the odeon, the gymnasium, and the aqueduct. The city was founded on a strategic position that allowed control of the entire area of western Greece. Its citizens were given equal rights to Romans and several tax benefits, that contributed to the economic but also intellectual and artistic growth of the city. In later years, in the Early Christian era, the city suffered many attacks and raids, that dictated the construction of new walls, enclosing a city much smaller than the Roman. Despite the destructions, Byzantine Nikopoli flourished until probably the 9thc, when it was entirely abandoned.
Nikopoli field school
During our field school, you will participate in real archaeological excavation alongside professional archaeologists of the Greek Ministry of Culture, attend seminars on archaeology, language, ancient philosophy, archaeopolitics, and heritage studies, visit important sites and museums. You will also be introduced to bioarchaeology, handle real skeletal remains, and acquire skills in human osteology.
No prior excavation experience is required for your participation. You will receive personalized, professional training in all accredited scientific protocols, including:
Advanced excavation methods
Stratigraphy
Archaeological photography
Use of total station and levelling instruments
Site drawing (plains, profiles, and stratigraphic)
Handling finds, labeling, storing
Environmental and organic sampling
Site recording and finds recording
Lectures
We conduct our lectures in the form of seminars and workshops, so that participants have ample opportunity to pose questions and discuss with the lecturers and between them. We deliver high-quality, thought-provoking lectures by leading researchers and established academics in the field.
Bioarchaeology
Nikopoli field school includes an intensive, one-week Bioarchaeology course. During the course, you will handle real human remains from excavations in the city. You will receive lectures and practical training in:
Bone identification
Recording individual skeletons and commingled remains
Current issues in bioarchaeology and research skills
In 2023 we excavated at two different locations in Nikopoli:
Site 1: The House of Ekdikos Georgios
Set on a natural hill overlooking the city and the sea, this extensive (9000 sq.m.), luxurious residence (domus) is one of the most imposing and well-preserved buildings in Nikopoli. With a use span between the 1stand 7thc. AD, the majestic house of Ekdikos Georgios boasted several triclinia, cubicula, an atrium, the tablinum, baths, a large garden and a pool, and more rooms spread across two floors. Ekdikos Georgios was one of the residents, identified by a mosaic inscription. As the title suggests, he was a Roman official, designated to protect the people in cases of power abuse by the authorities. In 2023 we excavated at the eastern rooms of the house.
Site 2: Basilica D
As the name suggests, this is the fourth basilica discovered in Nikopoli, and it is found outside the Early Christian walls of the city, but very close to the Roman ones. Basilica D was three-aisled and timber-roofed, with a projecting tripartite transept, narthex with annexes, and atrium.
Mosaics were located on the narthex floor, featuring a pattern indicative of the artistic quality demonstrated by the Nikopoli workshops. A marble sarcophagus of exceptional quality, originating from Constantinople, was located in the Basilica.The privileged position of the burial next to the bema inside a luxurious sarcophagus suggests that the deceased was the martyr to whom the church was dedicated. In 2023 we excavated at the atrium.
Dates: June 22 to August 1, 2024 NOW TAKING APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER 2024
We are thrilled to announce that we have opened applications for our eighth field season on Castles in Communities. Join us fromJune 22 – August 1, 2024for our first ever six week season in Ballintober, Roscommon County, Ireland. For more details, please seethis page. Apply here
Project Directors: Niall Brady (ADCO), Andrew Bair (Harvard University), Rachel Brody (Boston College), and Daniel Cearley (Los Positas College).
Project Description:
The Castles in Communities Archaeological Field School and Research Project (CIC for short) is entering its eighth field season in Ballintober Village, County Roscommon, Ireland. Nestled in the island’s “hidden heartland,” CIC is designed to serve first-time diggers and more experienced volunteers and students. We pride ourselves in accepting learners of all ages and at different stages in life.
Our project examines Ballintober Castle and its associated deserted settlement, from past to present. The castle was built in the late 1200s by the Anglo-Norman baron Richard de Burgh, but within a century, it fell to the O’Conor kings of Connacht, who resided there for the next 500 years as one of their principal centers, close to their ancestral royal landscape of Cruachain/Rathcroghan. The castle is still owned by the O’Conors. One of our primary research goals is to inform our understanding of the past through broadening narratives about colonial encounters between Anglo-Normans and the indigenous Gaelic-Irish. Additionally, we prioritize collaboration with members of the Ballintober community to promote tourism and to facilitate a conservation management plan for the castle ruins that will one day be open again to the public.
Our project is not just an archaeological field school but an experience of cultural immersion. The 2024 field season will consist of an intensive six weeks of training, starting on June 22nd and running until August 1st. We take a multi-pronged approach to providing a solid training in the key stages of any research archaeological project; namely: archaeological survey (topographical and geophysical); archaeological excavation (site recording; digging and artefact recovery), and post-excavation laboratory analysis (artefact recording; palaeo-environmental and faunal remains processing). The busy weeks are also punctuated with lectures, presentations, community events and field trips to neighbouring sites and places of interest across Ireland’s northwestern landscapes, which are among the most alluring and attractive in all of Ireland.
For more detailed information about the project, please see below:
We have published an article inArchaeology Irelandmagazine –check it out!
For detailed information on the castle and its history, see Niall Brady’sCastle Studies Trustpublication.
Project Details:
All experience levels are welcome, including undergrads, grad students, and anyone who wants to do archaeology in Ireland. The project will run for six weeks and is an immersive experience, with the first three weeks providing the fundamentals of archaeological research and field methods, and the second half taking these principles further.
Below is a brief description of the training students will receive from our staff in the field:
Survey
Students will learn how to conduct traditional field walking surveys, using a compass and hand-held GPS units to document visible features and artifact distributions of surface finds.
Gain experience conducting geophysical surveys using magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar.
Auger buried archaeological features to date the broader medieval landscape surrounding Ballintober Castle.
Learn how to operate a drone for aerial surveys and time-lapse photos of the archaeological excavation.
Excavation
Students will excavate a complex multi-strata site and gain experience identifying and recording artifacts and archaeological features.
Lessons in documentation will include training students on how to describe soils and sediments (e.g. Munsell soil charts), work within a Harris Matrix to recognize archaeological features, and draw plan views and profiles.
Laboratory
Wash and bag artifacts for preservation and storage.
Photograph, draw, and enter artifacts into a site database.
Float soil samples for paleoethnobotanical material and sort heavy fractions.
Located centrally, the county of Roscommon is in the west of Ireland near Sligo and Galway. We encourage students on the weekends when we are not on field trips to take advantage of train and bus lines to explore. We also recommend that students take time before or after the project to discover Ireland, the UK, and continental Europe.
Project Size:38-45 participants
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers:Six weeks
Minimum Age:18
Experience Required:None
Room and Board Arrangements: Program students will reside in several locations for the six-week duration. Most students will want to stay in Ballintober village in rented homes, which are exceptional experiences each year, especially for our students who want a full immersion in rural Irish life. In addition, we rentself-catering cottagesat the manorial estate of Clonalis, located in the nearby town of Castlerea and just a 10-minute drive from the castle. Project fees include transportation to and from Clonalis each work day and transportation on all project field trips.
Students will be living and working with the people of Ballintober, and the food reflects this, as local Irish cooks prepare all weeknight project team meals. We provide groceries and fully stock houses for students to prepare breakfast and lunches. We are well prepared to welcome vegetarians, vegans and will strive to accommodate all diets.
Cost:$6200 for six weeks. The program fees do not include plane and related fares.
Academic Credit: Wedonot offer credit courses. This program is for you if you do not need credits but want the experience. Each participant will receive a certificate upon completion of the program. Many colleges and universities allow you to exchange field school experience for credits; please check with your departmental undergrad advisor or academic dean. Courses will mirror standard offerings but not be for credit. For instance, in past years, when running through Foothill College, we have offered the following courses for credit: ANTH 12 Applied Anthropology (4 units), ANTH 52 Archaeological Field Methods (4 units), ANTH 67C Cultures of the World: British Isles (4 units), ANTH 51: Archaeological Survey (2 units), and ANTH 17L: Archaeology Laboratory (2 units).
The Galway Archaeological Field School provides students with hands-on experience of the archaeology and architecture of medieval Ireland. We specialise in this field and seek to immerse our students in the wealth of medieval castles, churches and monasteries which lie scattered across the Irish landscape.
WE OFFER OUR STUDENTS:
• Exciting opportunities to study in a small, vibrant university city on the west coast of Ireland
• Top-class field-based teaching led by an expert in Irish medieval archaeology and architecture
• A choice of 2-week and 4-week courses which can be combined to create a longer experience
• Academic Credit from one of Ireland’s top universities
•Their own bedroom in a very comfortable apartment shared with other field-school students
About Galway Archaeological Field School
The Galway Archaeological Field School provides students with hands-on experience of the archaeology and architecture of medieval Ireland. We specialise in this field and seek to immerse our students in the wealth of medieval castles, churches and monasteries which lie scattered across the Irish landscape. We offer three courses: a two-week non-excavation course focussed on the study of medieval architecture and two four-week excavation courses, one serving as an introduction to archaeological excavation and one offering experienced students further tuition in the various recording techniques used in archaeological excavation.
The field school is based in Co Galway and draws on a wealth of archaeological remains which are found across the landscape of this historic region. The two-week architecture course involves regular travel to visit many of the famous castles, churches and monasteries of medieval Ireland, and field trips are also included in the excavation courses in order to broaden the students experience of Irish landscapes and monuments. The ethos of the field school is firmly founded on high quality, small-group tuition and we aim to give every student close attention so that they may fully understand the skills they learn and thereby enjoy their course to the fullest degree possible. Students who wish to extend their stay in Ireland could, for example, combine the two-week architecture course with the four-week excavation course (e.g. Sessions 1 + 2 or Sessions 3 + 4) to create an unforgettable six-week stay which would immerse them fully in Irish culture, history and heritage, while students focussed on excavation could combine Sessions 2 & 3 in order to take both the introductory and advanced excavation courses in one eight-week, intensive stay.
At weekends, students have free time to explore the local towns and villages or to visit nearby Galway city, a vibrant, youthful university town with an enchanting array of summer festivals which attract visitors from all over the world. These festivals include the Galway Sessions (traditional and folk music), the Galway Film Festival, the Galway Arts Festival and the legendary Galway Races, so students have endless opportunities to engage with Irish culture at a variety of levels. Galway is easily accessible via public transport from the international airports at Dublin and Shannon and so the Galway Archaeological Field School is ideally placed to welcome students who seek to gain hands-on experience of archaeological fieldwork, to learn about medieval Ireland and to experience modern Ireland to the fullest possible extent.
Courses at Galway Archaeological Field School
The Galway Archaeological Field School will offer three courses in 2024 and transferable Academic Credit is available to all students. We aim to provide high quality tuition to all our students and this will be achieved through small class sizes, professional tuition and close on-site supervision. We are primarily an educational institution and so we design our courses and select our survey and excavation sites with one important thing in mind – the provision of first-class training opportunities for our students.
Course 1: Castles, Cloisters And Churches: The Architecture Of Medieval Ireland Application Link Here
This two-week course will investigate the architecture and archaeology of the castles, churches and cloisters of medieval Ireland. Students will visit a wide variety of
historic buildings and will learn to analyse, describe and record these structures using a series of key survey techniques. Beginning in the early medieval period, the course will examine a number of pre-Norman ecclesiastical sites before going on to explore the wealth of Anglo-Norman and Gaelic castles and monasteries which are found across the Irish landscape. This field-based module will provide students with a solid understanding the evolution of Irish medieval architecture and will also give them key transferrable skills in building analysis and survey.
Students who participate successfully in this course will learn to describe the evolution of Irish medieval architecture in general terms, discuss individual buildings during on-site visits, identify key phases in medieval buildings through examination of their fabric, produce an accurate plan of a simple medieval building to scale through on-site survey and discuss possible survey methodologies for larger medieval buildings. Course fees include tuition and self-catering accommodation and we also provide free transportation to the sites under study.
Programme Details 2024
Session 1: 27 May – 7 June 2024 (2 weeks – 3 Semester Credits / 6 ECTS credits) Course Fee:€2,300 (10% discount applies if booked with another course)
This four-week course will introduce students to the practicalities of archaeological excavation and provide them with hands-on experience of the key techniques they need to master to become proficient excavators. It is generally aimed towards undergraduate students of archaeology and anthropology, who usually take the course for credit, but the course is open to all and can be taken by anyone with an interest in archaeological fieldwork.
Students on this course will learn to excavate using a variety of tools, but will also gain valuable experience of a range of on-site recording techniques which will generate a structured written record, a series of scaled drawings and an extensive photographic archive of the site under examination. They will be involved in the analysis of the stratigraphic evidence on the site and will also work with finds to ensure they are recorded correctly and stored safely. The course will have a particular emphasis on
medieval archaeology and so the excavation site and the sites visited on field trips, which will include a series of castles, churches and monasteries, will be selected with this focus in mind. For the 2024 season, the course will be based upon an excavation at a medieval castle in Co Galway and so the students on the course will be part of our research programme which seeks to explore the archaeological evidence for settlement at late medieval castle sites in Ireland.
Students who participate successfully in this course will learn to work on site in a safe manner, understand the nature of the site grid and use excavation tools with skill to produce clean surfaces. They will also be able to identify and record archaeological objects during the excavation process, identify obvious deposits and cut features and discuss their stratigraphic context, enter recording data onto context sheets for features they have excavated and assist in drawing site plans, sections, elevations and profiles to scale. Students may choose to do this course in either Session 2 or Session 3, and those who register for the course in Session 2 will have the option to sign up for the more advanced excavation course in Session 3. Students doing the Session 2 course could also combine it with the 2-week non-excavation course in Session 1, while Session 3 students could consider signing up for the same 2-week non-excavation course in Session 4 – students taking two courses get a 10% discount on both course fees. Course fees include tuition and self-catering accommodation and we also provide free local transportation.
Course 3: Recording Methods In Archaeological Survey And Excavation Application Link Here
This four-week course, designed for students with some experience of archaeological excavation, seeks to develop their on-site skills to a high level and provide them with an opportunity to become proficient excavators. Working alongside novice students under the close supervision of the site director, students undertaking this course will be given responsibilities commensurate with their experience and these will include the excavation of discrete archaeological features, the recording of such features using the three-part record system (i.e. written, drawn and photographic records), the recording of finds and environmental samples and the analysis of the stratigraphic evidence within their work area. This module will allow students with some excavation experience to develop significantly as archaeologists and, though focussed on Irish medieval archaeology, will teach them a range of transferrable skills which can be applied on professional research excavation and survey projects around the world.
This course is open to students who have completed Course 2, or those who can show that they already have sufficient excavation experience from other archaeological sites. Students on this course will be involved in practical excavation, but will also gain valuable experience of a range of on-site recording techniques and will, where possible, take leading roles in on-site tasks including photography, drawing to scale, stratigraphic interpretation and finds recording. They will also be expected to assist in tutoring novice students in basic excavation techniques and so will make considerable progress towards appointment as site supervisors in future years.
The course will have a particular emphasis on medieval archaeology and so the excavation site and the sites visited on field trips, which will include a series of castles, churches and monasteries, will be selected with this focus in mind. For the 2024 season, the course will be based upon an excavation at a medieval castle in Co Galway and so the students on the course will be part of our research programme which seeks to explore the archaeological evidence for settlement at late medieval castle sites in Ireland.
Students may choose to do this course in Session 3 and are free to combine it with Course 2 in Session 2 if they wish, as entry to the course is restricted to those with some excavation experience, whether gained though Course 2 at the Galway Archaeological Field School or on another archaeological site. Students taking two courses get a 10% discount on both course fees. Course fees include tuition and self-catering accommodation and we also provide free local transportation.
Programme Details 2024
Session 3:8 July – 2 August (4 weeks – 6 Semester Credits / 12 ECTS credits)
Course Fee:€4,600 (10% discount applies if booked with another course)
Programme Details 2024
Session 2: 10 June – 5 July (4 weeks – 6 Semester Credits / 12 ECTS credits) Session 3:8 July – 2 August (4 weeks – 6 Semester Credits / 12 ECTS credits) Course Fee:€4,600 (10% discount applies if booked with another course)
To learn more click here Contact: Dr. Rory Sherlock, Birchall, Oughterard, County Galway Email:info@gafs.ie
BLACKFRIARY ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL SUMMER 2024, IRELAND
Full details of the Summer 2024 course options and dates are now available here. Application Deadline is March 1, 2024
OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Blackfriary Archaeology Field School.
The Blackfriary Archaeology Field School is part of the award-winning Blackfriary Community Heritage and Archaeology Project (BCHAP) in the town of Trim, County Meath, Ireland. Focusing on the buried remains of the 13th century AD/CE Dominican friary and associated graveyard, the field school is suitable for students from a wide range of backgrounds including archaeology, history, anthropology, and forensics – and for students looking for a unique study abroad experience. As participants in a public archaeology project, students are actively engaged with our outreach activities on site. They are also housed with families in Trim, allowing them to integrate with the local community.
About the project
We are a dedicated teaching and research field school, committed to providing the best training in archaeological field methods within a public archaeology/community archaeology framework. We make sure that everyone understands our reasons for researching and digging this exceptional site and is trained in all aspects of the excavation. Blackfriary is a community owned site, so by taking part in the ongoing re-imagining of this formerly unloved space, project participants are helping protect and preserve this hugely important part of the heritage of Trim into the future. For those who come to us it’s a wonderful chance to be immersed in Irish life and culture while forging lifelong friendships.
Blackfriary Archaeology Field School
We have been digging, teaching and researching at the Black Friary since 2010. The site is a 6-acre field (2.2 hectares) owned by the local authority. The fact that it is not our site and is inpublicownership is very important to us. The Blackfriary community now stretches from Trim right around the world thanks to the hundreds of students and volunteers who have joined the dig and are helping to transform this site. Our excavations are carried out with the permission of the National Monuments Service, registered by the National Museum of Ireland.
From the very beginning of the teaching and research excavations a community project was set up – the Blackfriary Community Heritage and Archaeology Project, orBCHAP. This provides the ethical framework within which the excavations are conducted. To read more about this, see theCommunitypage. To read more about our research objectives see theResearchpage.
Excavations began in 2010 under the direction of Finola O’Carroll, Principal Investigator. In 2012 project Bioarchaeologist Dr. Rachel Scott began exploring the burial record at the site. We are excavating the remains of a Medieval Dominican Friary to analyse how the changing patterns of its patronage and use are interwoven with the known history of the town. The friary consisted of a large complex of buildings set around two internal courts or cloisters with a church forming the southern side. The cemetery lies south of the church and burials from both church and cemetery have been excavated to date. Excavations began within the church, in the area known as the crossing which marks the junction between the chancel (where the religious community sat) and the nave (where the laity worshipped).
To date we have expanded our dig to explore part of the south aisle of the church, the cloister, the domestic ranges, the cemetery and the boundary between the town and the friary precinct. Every year we decide which areas to focus on, informed both by our research objectives and by what has been learned from previous seasons. This process is always discussed with students, so they can understand how the research informs the ongoing excavations. As all participants receive training in post-excavation work, the logic and purpose of the detailed record keeping in the field becomes clear to them, and the significance of this stage of the work is highlighted.
Dr. Scott’s research into the human remains excavated from within the church and from the associated graveyard continue to inform us about the lives and state of health of the people of Trim in those centuries. We now know that the graveyard had a long history of use. From the foundation of the friary in the mid-13thcentury to the mid-16thcentury it was a cemetery for the people of Trim; in times of political and religious upheaval families continued to choose to bury their dead there after the closure of the friary by Henry VIII. After this, it continued in use as a burial place for unbaptised infants – a Cillín or children’s cemetery, possibly up until the early 20thcentury, which, until these excavations was not widely realised. This longevity of use is illustrating the importance people attached to their final resting place during times of religious persecution and changing identities.
“The Blackfriary Archaeology Field School is everything a Field School should be–an excellent educational experience for students, a contributor to archaeological knowledge, and a positive force in the community. Blackfriary is one of the most publicly engaged archaeological projects I’ve ever had the pleasure of being involved with, and their beneficial influence on the surrounding area clearly shows. All of the professionals, students, and community members involved with the field school put their heart and soul into the work, and that made my experience there as a student incredibly enjoyable and valuable for honing my professional skills. I’m so grateful to have had the experience.”Jessica Skinner Student 2016
This course will be available to students in both May and June 2024. Students will be introduced to excavation, post-excavation and survey methods. The course is divided between excavation within the friary/friary precinct, post-excavation, recording and survey. Each student will typically spend one week on each element. The excavation, post-excavation and survey sections will be directed and supervised by archaeologists, Finola O’Carroll, Mark McConnon and Laura Corrway.
The objective of this course is to train students in setting out a cutting and tying it to the site grid, the use of various tools, methods of excavation, feature recognition, recording using feature sheets, photography, planning and survey. All students take part in post-excavation processing, including the formation of the written record. The research strategy and previous results which inform the overall excavation plan will be discussed with students, so they can set their work in the overall context of the research framework. Field trips and lectures will introduce the student to the wider landscape and historical context of the Black Friary, and the town of Trim. This course is an accredited program from Dundalk Institute of Technology (https://courses.dkit.ie/index.cfm/page/course/courseId/1321).
At the end of the four-week course students will:
Understand the theory and practice of archaeological excavation, including the single context recording system, site grid, stratigraphy, and the Harris Matrix.
Have excavated an archaeological feature.
Understand how to fill in context sheets, do scaled drawings, take properly set up photographs, take levels, co-ordinates and document these.
Have received an introduction to the digitisation of site plans and drawings
Know how to excavate, retrieve, bag and record archaeological objects (artefacts and ecofacts).
Have carried out basic environmental sampling.
Understand the process of post-excavation analysis by participating in the work.
Have processed archaeological finds and know the correct procedures for cleaning and labelling artefacts.
Certificate in Archaeological Excavation and Recording with Osteology (5 Week) (Accredited Course)
Students will be introduced to excavation, post-excavation, bioarchaeology and survey methods. The course is divided between excavation within the friary/friary precinct, post-excavation, bio-archaeology and recording and survey. Each student will typically spend one week on each element. The excavation, post-excavation and survey sections will be directed and supervised by archaeologists Finola O’Carroll, Mark McConnon and Laura Corrway. The bioarchaeology course is directed by Dr. Rachel Scott.
The objective of this 5 week course is to train students in setting out a cutting and tying it to the site grid, the use of various tools, methods of excavation, feature recognition, recording using feature sheets, photography, planning and survey. It also comprises an introduction to bioarchaeology in the field, excavation and post-excavation treatment of human remains, theory and practice. All students take part in post-excavation processing, including the formation of the written record. The research strategy and previous results which inform the overall excavation plan will be discussed with students, so they can set their work in the overall context of the research framework. Field trips and lectures will introduce the student to the wider landscape and historical context of the Black Friary, and the town of Trim. This course is an accredited program from Dundalk Institute of Technology (https://courses.dkit.ie/index.cfm/page/course/courseId/8609).
At the end of the course students will:
Understand the theory and practice of archaeological excavation, including the single context recording system, site grid, stratigraphy, and the Harris Matrix.
Have excavated an archaeological feature.
Understand how to fill in context sheets, do scaled drawings, take properly set up photographs, take levels, co-ordinates and document these.
Have received an introduction to the digitisation of site plans and drawings
Know how to excavate, retrieve, bag and record archaeological objects (artefacts and ecofacts).
Know the principals and best practice for the excavation of human remains, have participated in the excavation and post-excavation processing of human bone and learned the necessary recording techniques
Have carried out basic environmental sampling.
Understand the process of post-excavation analysis by participating in the work.
Have processed archaeological finds and know the correct procedures for cleaning and labelling artefacts.
BF Summer 1 Intensive course in Fieldwork and Post-Excavation Methods (2 Week ) (Unaccredited Course)
This course will be available to students in both May and June 2024. Students will be introduced to excavation, post-excavation and survey methods. The course is divided between excavation within the friary/friary precinct and post-excavation methods. Each student will typically spend one week on each element. The excavation, post-excavation and survey sections will be directed and supervised by archaeologists, Finola O’Carroll, Mark McConnon and Laura Corrway.
The objective of this course is to train students in setting out a cutting and tying it to the site grid, the use of various tools, methods of excavation, feature recognition, recording using feature sheets, photography, planning and survey. All students take part in post-excavation processing, including the formation of the written record. The research strategy and previous results which inform the overall excavation plan will be discussed with students, so they can set their work in the overall context of the research framework. Field trips and lectures will introduce the student to the wider landscape and historical context of the Black Friary, and the town of Trim.
At the end of the four-week course students will:
Understand the theory and practice of archaeological excavation, including the single context recording system, site grid, stratigraphy, and the Harris Matrix.
Have excavated an archaeological feature.
Understand how to fill in context sheets, do scaled drawings, take properly set up photographs, take levels, co-ordinates and document these.
Have received an introduction to the digitisation of site plans and drawings
Know how to excavate, retrieve, bag and record archaeological objects (artefacts and ecofacts).
Have carried out basic environmental sampling.
Understand the process of post-excavation analysis by participating in the work.
Have processed archaeological finds and know the correct procedures for cleaning and labelling artefacts.
BLACKFRIARY ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTOR: Finola O’Carroll <finola.ocarroll@bafs.ie> Project Bioarchaeologist and Principal Investigator: Dr. Rachel E. Scott
We are now accepting bookings for our fully accredited 2024 Field Schools here in the heart of the Burren.
For further information please contact us: Tel. +353 65 7089999 or Email info@caherconnell.com
Tuition, Accommodation & Meals provided
Caherconnell – One of Ireland’s Premier Archaeology Field Schools
We have two, four and six week courses that facilitate all levels of experience.
In partnership with theUniversity of Galway, we provide unforgettable archaeological experiences within the unique Burren region. Field schools are led byDr. Michelle Comber, a leader in archaeological education. This is complemented by a cultural element, which sees students interact with the local people daily. The site is also home to three stone cahers (ring forts), a probable Late Bronze Age burial mound, an ancient field system, two Bronze Age boulder burials, ancient dwelling sites and a prehistoric house.
Why Choose Caherconnell Archaeology Field School?
Excavate Monday to Friday, and explore and learn at the weekend.
All inclusive–we organise accommodation, meals, daily transport, on-site lectures and daily tuition. You just have to enjoy the experience, come along and join the team!
Course Schedule 2024 for one of Ireland’s Top Irish Archaeology Field Schools
6 Week Combined Course: SS103/SS110/SS112 – (18 ECTS or 9US Credit Hours) 6 Weeks Monday 3rd June – Friday 12th July 2024
Monday 3rd June – Friday 14th June 2024 Monday 17th June – Friday 28th June 2024 Monday 1st July – Friday 12th July 2024
Information about the 2024 Scholarship programme for students is available HERE
Experience Archaeology in Ireland with a difference
Your time here will see you work with some of Ireland’s best archaeologists during the day and some of Ireland’s finest conversationalists at night!
The Caherconnell Archaeology field school experience is one which will not be soon forgotten and will allow students to experience the very best of Irish archaeology and culture all at once.
If you want to learn the skills of archaeological fieldwork in a fun yet professional manner – where academic credit is available –Caherconnell Archaeology Field School is the only place for you.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF IRELAND’S HIDDEN HEARTLANDS: Uncovering the Monastic Midlands, County Offaly, Ireland
Dates: June 26 to July 23, 2024 (PROGRAM 1) July 24 to August 20, 2024 (PROGRAM 2) Priority application deadline: February 1, 2024 Full program syllabus can be found here
This field school is an integral part of the major research project, the Monastic Midlands. It takes a holistic landscape scale approach to community based archaeological research, assessing several monasteries in the midlands region of Ireland.
Described as a ‘flowering garden of monasteries’, County Offaly, in the heart of the Irish Monastic Midlands, is best known archaeologically for the number and scale of the early medieval monasteries, which to this day continue to dominate the landscape. Between the fifth and seventh centuries AD evangelist monks arrived in what is now County Offaly, attracted by the region’s centrality and its proximity to four of the five medieval provincial boundaries.
The landscape they entered was formed through eons of geological processes and is now dominated by both the River Shannon (Ireland’s longest river), flowing northeast to southwest through the region, and a series of winding glacial ridges (known as eskers) which provided natural east to west routeways through the low-lying wetland landscape. These natural routeways became a focal point for major monasteries, such as Clonmacnoise, which later developed into one of the largest cities in early medieval Ireland. Of course, people had lived in the midlands for millennia before these missionaries arrived, so the archaeological landscape the missionaries entered is also of critical importance to understanding their placement. Equally, the early medieval monasteries were subjected to later Viking attacks and were frequently surpassed by, or added to, by Anglo-Norman foundations, who typically added new chapters to the monasteries’ histories in the later medieval period. Indeed, whilst many of the monasteries fell out of use, several continue as places of veneration and worship into the present day.
As such, this field school offers a holistic approach to investigating the Monastic Midlands of Ireland, studying the landscape, earthworks, buildings, folklore, spirituality, artefacts and the buried human remains of these spectacular sites. Considering the longstanding, and sometimes continuing, role several of these monasteries play in the landscape, the people and archaeological sites that came before and after the monasteries are an integral part of the story, with this project seeking insight and understanding of midlands life and society through time. We are seeking to understand the cultural heritage of the region by understanding how people lived, shaped their environment, built structures, and memorialized the dead. Each summer our understanding of this Monastic Midland landscape will be further augmented by more in-depth studies of an anchor site or sites.
The field school is based in the heritage town of Birr, a handsome and charming town, which was the location at which St Brendan founded his c. sixth century monastery. Our campus in Birr serves as a base for all our course teaching and lab-work, but also acts as a launching pad to investigate several regional monastic and later medieval sites.
RESEARCH CONTEXT
The Monastic Midlands Research Project is inspired by, and arises from, our long-standing relationships with Offaly County Council (the local government authority) and several local communities in the midlands. To date we have supported or directly undertaken archaeological and conservation projects with a range of groups including at Birr Castle, Clonoghill Castle, Roscomroe Medieval Church, St Brendan’s Monastery and Church, Kilcomin Medieval Church, Killeigh Friary, Maigh Leana Fort and, in greater depth, Seir Kieran and Lemanaghan monasteries (to name only a few sites and communities we work with!). Whilst the names of these sites will become more familiar to students attending our program, the recurring theme is to provide local community groups with both free professional archaeological advice and archaeological fieldwork, so that they may better understand the importance of their early medieval monuments and cultural heritage. This program is a crucial addition to our wider Monastic Midlands research, as students will actively contribute to a range of projects and allow us to expand our community-based research.
As the project is both landscape based, which is assessing an entire county and beyond, and also extends across a significant time period, it is appropriate to give an example of how our community-based research works with students at a single site. A perfect example is the monastic site of Seir Kieran (Saoighir Kieran or the ‘fountain of Kieran’), as we have a long established partnership here with the local community. Seir Kieran is a remarkable site, not only due to its prominence as an Early Christian monastery founded by St Kieran, but due to its longevity which continues possibly from pre-historic times through the early medieval and Anglo-Norman Period and onward to the present day. The site provides a unique opportunity to study, in a single location, an early monastic site, a twelfth century monastery, a multi-period burial site, an Anglo-Norman castle and a medieval borough/town! Based on documentary sources, it is thought that St Kieran’s monastery was originally founded in the fifth century AD/CE, making it one of the earlier monasteries in Ireland. The site was active throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods and remains an active place of worship to this day, which is very much ‘alive’ within the local community.
The Irish Heritage School (IHS), in partnership with the county Heritage Office and the local community, has undertaken significant research around Seir Kieran to date, including: ● Geophysical survey of all state lands surrounding the current graveyard, amounting to some 28 acres; this survey revealed the site is significantly more complex than hitherto understood.
● LiDAR Laser Scanning of the entirety of the known monastery (some 320m across) which can be adapted for monitoring and conservation purposes as well as for remote touring etc;
● Graveyard survey of the extant memorials in the site which identified memorials from the sixteenth century to modern day, as well as much earlier ninth century ‘cross-slabs;
● Historical research on the site which has already resulted in publications and specialist reports;
● Regular community engagement projects including site tours, lectures series, vlogging, blogging, children’s workshops etc.
Possibly the most important outcome of the above research is that it facilitated the community in achieving one of their key goals, successfully securing state funding to undertake a major program of conservation of the extant medieval walls of the site. The research outlined above will allow us to establish a strategy, in partnership with the local community, the local authorities and the National Monuments Service (the Irish state body responsible for heritage), for keyhole excavations at the site which will help us understand the layout, scope and phasing of enclosures identified in geophysical surveys.
Whilst Seir Kieran perhaps best exemplifies the nature of the long-standing community orientated research partnerships we have fostered with local communities in midlands, our ‘anchor site’ for 2024 is Clonoghil Castle on the outskirts of Birr Town.
As stated, in 2024 our anchor project will focus on the medieval site of Clonoghil Castle (which we will be excavating in tandem with surveys of several other regional monasteries and castles as outlined above). Clonoghil Castle is located on the outskirts of Birr Town (home to the Irish Heritage School) and is an extremely important site to the history of the town, as it represents one of only three known medieval monuments in Birr. Clonoghil is a potentially multi-period site containing a tower-house or hall-house, surrounded by an earthen ‘bawn’, which itself could be contemporary with the stone castle or represent an earlier ringfort – potentially being several centuries older than the castle itself. Whilst Clonoghil’s primary importance is undoubtedly medieval, the site continued to be an important monument in the post-medieval period, as most clearly evidenced in its use by renowned glass makers the Bigo Family from 1623 AD/CE. In summer 2024 we will excavate two archaeological cuttings. One of these will be placed across the southeastern side of the monument (where the ditch and bank are most obvious) and will further examine the date and form of the enclosing ‘bawn’ feature. The second will be excavated on the interior of the surviving ‘castle structure’, and will hopefully date Clonoghil Castle, clarifying if it is a tower-house or a significantly earlier hall-house. The excavations follow geophysical surveys and field surveys, completed by past students in 2023. Clonoghil represents a potentially unique opportunity in Birr to assess, in a single location, over a 1000-year long medieval history. This timespan includes some of the more significant historical events to occur in Birr, most obviously the coming of the Anglo-Normans and the construction of a new castle(s?) by 1207 AD/CE, as well as the return of the O’ Carrolls by the fourteenth century. Should the earthen closure be clarified as a ringfort it may also be contemporary with some on the major historical events associated to the monastic site of Birr, such as the Synod of 697 AD/CE when the Cain Adomnáin, some of the world’s earliest human rights legislation, which protected innocents in battle, was passed. Excavating a potentially early medieval site so close to the town could add extremely worthwhile secular context to these renowned historical events.
EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY AND MATERIALITY OF THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD OF IRELAND (Wexford, Ireland)
Date: July 14 to August 10, 2024 Application and payment deadline: May 15, 2024
Full program details can be found here, and a project video can be found here
Application link here
Why Choose Our Experimental Field School?
What makes this program unique is its collaboration with a leading archaeological research project –Digging the Lost Town of Carrig.
The experimental archaeology program is delivered adjacent an authenticringworkcastle (the Carrick ringwork), within the stunning confines of theIrish National Heritage Park(INHP), an open-air museum, in Wexford, southeast Ireland.
This ringwork is one of Ireland’s most important medieval monuments and crucial to the earliest stages of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, being the first Anglo-Norman fortification built in the country in 1169 AD.
Archaeological excavations at the site by the IAFS since 2018 show that significant evidence of the site’s medieval history is preserved below the ground – including remnants of a 12thcentury fort with wooden structures, 13thcentury stone castle and 14thcentury hall and chapel.
The archaeologists uncovered the history of both the site and buildings and the results are communicated to the experimental archaeology students, underpinning their projects with exceptional authenticity and added significance.
During their time in the park students will also be taught an appreciation on the importance of communicating heritage, and the role experimental archaeology can play in this.
Arising from the strengths of the partnership between the IAFS, UCD and the INHP a new initiative, entitledBuilding the Lost Town of Carrig, was conceived in 2019.
This project has developed gradually over the years, as the excavations at Carrick revealed the scale and nature of the medieval settlement. However, in time it is hoped that a series of replicas, or faux medieval settlement, will be built in the INHP directly based on the archaeological findings.
This program contributes significantly to this process, whereby structures built by the students will leave a lasting legacy as an educative resource for both the Carrick project and the INHP – allowing future visitors and students a chance to better comprehend the history of this most important site and medieval society in general.
A variety of different archaeological field schools are offered by IAFS:
Course Dates: June 9th – 22nd, 2024 – Enrolment Open!
What’s included?These one, two and four-week accredited programs include tuition, credit transcript, accommodation and meals, equipment and field trips. International travel and local transfers are not included.
Summer: May 30th – August 20th, 2024 – Applications Open! Application deadline April 19, 2024
Summer Heritage Management / Cultural Resource Management Internships
Your Archaeology Experience this Summer
Our internships are aimed almost exclusively at IAFS alumni* who want to expend on their archaeological skills, learnt from previous IAFS programs (*note: we can make exceptions for the right individual). Our internships are based from our headquarters in Birr, County Offaly, which we use as launchpad to undertake fieldwork at several leading midlands heritage sites. Our summer programs of 8, 9, 10 & 12 weeks take place between May 30th and August 22nd, 2024. Internship tasks focus on site excavation, survey, architectural recording, archaeological and historical research, community archaeology, photogrammetry and post-excavation.
Students stay with local families in homestay accommodation, guaranteeing an enriching cultural immersion and truly memorable experience.
Our IAFS internship is designed to provide valuable experience working and learning from our research and education staff in the field and laboratory/office, thus ensuring a positive learning experience and providing on-the-job training.
Interns will gain experience in some or all of the following areas:
In the Field
Answering questions about the project’s research that are posed by site visitors
Excavating and recording archaeological features
Maintaining provenience control for cultural materials
Completion of site records, registers and other paper records
Drawing measured plan and section drawings
Recording stratigraphic profiles
Using a total station and/or other survey instruments
Photographing archaeological monuments and features
Photogrammetry of monuments, artefacts and architectural fragments
Architectural recording
Graveyard recording
Contributing to the public outreach of the project
Helping with site logistics
In the Laboratory/Office
Answering questions from visitors to the project about laboratory protocols
Processing archaeological artifacts and samples
Maintaining provenience control for cultural materials and associated records
Cleaning and assessing a variety of artifacts, including pottery, metal, etc
Cataloguing archaeological collections on the site database to National Museum of Ireland standards
Processing survey data (from photogrammetry, total station surveys etc)
Processing field data (for example for graveyard recording)
Historical and archaeological research
Assist in hosting public archaeology and educational events
Contribute to laboratory logistics
Contribute to best practice curation of the site
Education and/or Experience
Advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in archaeology, anthropology, museum studies, or related fields is required. A minimum of four weeks archaeological field experience, such as a field school, is also required.
Details of 2024 courses available at Achill Archaeological Field School have been revealed, and applications are now open!
For 2024 we will be hosting atwo-week accredited courseon Archaeological Field Studies, offering 3 Semester Credits (6 ECTS credits) to undergraduate and graduate students. We also have afour-week courseoffering the same Archaeological Field Studies module along with a Data Analysis module, providing a combined total of 6 Semester Credits (12 ECTS credits). And oursix-week courseincludes the Archaeological Field Studies and Data Analysis modules plus ‘An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ireland’, offering a total of 9 Semester Credits (18 ECTS credits).
Along with tuition and field work associated with these modules, we offer optional day trips to significant sites of archaeological interest, and anevening lecture serieswith guest speakers offering a range of expertise and insight into various aspects of archaeology in Ireland.
For anyone interested in archaeology we have a one-weekIntroduction to Archaeologycourse running from the 5th – 9th August, while for experienced students looking to make a career in archaeological fieldwork we offer a very popularTrainee Supervisor coursethat runs the full eight weeks of our 2024 season.
For 2024 the focus of our fieldwork with be excavations of two drystone dwellings and a shell midden at Caraun Point on the northern coast of Achill. Previous investigations in 2018 and 2019 recovered a quantity of artefacts that included glass and pottery, along with animal bone and shellfish remains. Analysis of these objects give us an insight into the livelihood and diet of the people who lived here. One unexpected discovery was the presence of a probable Early-Medieval ringfort immediately to the west of our excavation. Habitation deposits associated with this site were evident beneath the post-medieval houses and some artefacts of 8th to 10th century date were recovered. The 2024 dig will seek to build on these discoveries and improve our understanding of this site, which is under threat from coastal erosion.
Hippos Excavations Project is one of the main long running and exciting Classical Archaeology digs in Israel. As from the year 2000, our international team unearths various building complexes that allow a reconstruction of the ancient cityscape and a better understanding of the public, military, private and funerary architecture. The ancient Graeco-Roman city of Hippos of the Decapolis is located on a hill above the Sea of Galilee, with one of the most breathtaking panoramas in Israel. We study and reconstruct the way of life of its inhabitants in the various periods, from its foundation in the Hellenistic period (mid-2 nd century BCE), through its Roman-period time of prosperity (64 BCE – mid-4 th century CE), to the Christian transformation in the Byzantine period (mid-4 th to mid-7 th century CE) and other changes that happened after the Islamic takeover (mid-7 th century CE to 749 CE earthquake). Perched on an isolated hill and devastated by an earthquake after which it was never rebuilt, Hippos is an ideal site for archaeologists to study an evolution of a city.
2024 Excavation Season is officially open for registration.
DR. ARLETA KOWALEWSKA (University of Haifa), Research Fellow, The Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel arleta.kow@gmail.com
DR. MICHAEL EISENBERG (University of Haifa), Professor of Classical Archaeology, University of Haifa, Israel mayzenb@gmail.com
TEL SHIMRON EXCAVATIONS (Nazareth Ridge, Israel)
Full information about the site, the research plans and the field school (and application) can be found at this link (with some details below): http://telshimronexcavations.com
Join us for the sixth field season at Tel Shimron, a site perched high above the Jezreel Valley on the Nazareth Ridge in Israel with a commanding view of Mount Carmel to the southwest. Occupied for millennia, Shimron saw the rise of ancient Israel, Jewish Galilee, Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Come with us to discover the past and learn how to reach across the cultural divide to the world of the ancients.
In 2024, join us as we dig a Canaanite acropolis, Iron Age administrative buildings, and a Hellenistic farmstead. Uncover daily life in the ancient world. It took hundreds of generations to create the site of Tel Shimron; help us to recover their stories.
The Call for the 2024 Monteverdi Archaeological Field School is now open!!
The field school excavations focus on the remains of theEtruscan sanctuary and Republican villageof Podere Cannicci, and on thedeserted Medieval villageof Castellaraccio di Monteverdi, along with the middle valley of the Ombrone river. These sites represent a unique occasion to investigate economies in transition and settlement patterns in the territory ofPaganico.
The Field School is aimed at students, early career scholars, and those passionate about archaeology, classics, art history, anthropology, and cultural heritage management.
THE NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IS LIMITED TO 10 TO ENSURE AN EXCEPTIONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
The excavations are carried out by members of the University at Buffalo – SUNY in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University, and the Associazione Archeologica Odysseus.
The Field School is a fundamental introduction to stratigraphic excavation methods and to studies of excavated artifacts. Subjects include excavation methods and their application, analysis of built structures and archaeological features, context analysis, finds handling and recording, and studies of ceramic, glass, metal, bone, and numismatic material.
The Field School is located near the modern town of Paganico (Grosseto, IT). It is set in the breath-taking middle valley of the Ombrone river close to Montalcino, Siena, and Grosseto.
Food is provided as part of the field school, and it is prepared by the staff of the estate of Monteverdi. We try our best to accommodate dietary requirements, and we can offer vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free meals. However, meals are based on Tuscan and Mediterranean cuisine, and all participants must be aware of this. Occasionally, dinner events may take place at the estate, including barbecues or pizza, or at restaurants. Events outside the program are not included in the fees.
Meals include:
A full Italian breakfast
Lunch with pasta, bread, salad/vegetables, and fruit
Dinner with meat or alternatives with bread, salad/vegetables, and fruit
The fee per participant is4,000€to be paid upon acceptance into the program by February 10, 2024.
Previous participants of the Field School are automatically granted a10% discount. The payment will be wired to Associazione Archeologica Odysseus, Italy.
The payment is not refundable
The total fee includes:
Room and board for four weeks in the cottages at Monteverdi (see rooms)
Transportation to and from the train station in Grosseto and the estate on the day of arrival and departure
Transportation to and from the excavation sites
Necessary excavation tools
The fee does not include:
Airfare/travel arrangements to and from Italy
Occasional events outside the estate, like restaurant dinners or aperitifs
Anything else not detailed in the section “The total fee includes“
The deadline to submit the application materials for the program isDecember 31, 2023. However, we will allow applications to reach us on a rolling basis untilJanuary 31, 2024
Review of applications will start onJanuary 1, 2024and will continue until all places are assigned.
Only accepted participants will be contacted fromJanuary 7, 2024
Please do not send unsolicited emails
APPLY FOR THE PROGRAM
To be considered for the program, please prepare :
1 – Cover letter of no more than 1 page, detailing previous experiences (if any), and your interest in joining the Field School (not necessary for returning students)
2 – Updated resume/CV
3 – Any dietary restrictions – we can accommodate vegan, vegetarian, lactose-free, and gluten-free meals
Email all the necessary documents to Prof. Alessandro Sebastianias424@buffalo.edu
Learn more about the Field School from previous students. Check the video below, or go to ourvideo-galleryto see some of our activities!
FIELD SCHOOL MONTAIONE ROMAN THERMAL COMPLEX, NEAR FLORENCE, ITALY
The Field School Montaione in Archaeology, Survey and Material Culture is focused on the archaeological investigation of a 1st – 5th century AD Roman Thermae copmplex and welcomes students in anthropology, archeology, classic history, historical topography and allied disciplines at undergraduate and graduate levels. The Field School has no formal prerequisites. Students interested in applying to the Field School must fill out and submit theapplication form.
FIELD SCHOOL PROGRAM AND DATES
The school is designed to provide all attendees with an advanced knowledge of applied stratigraphy method, topographic surveys and analysis, GIS and photogrammetry, material culture and the study of the relationships between the site and the not yet discovered village it belonged to.
Students will gain experiential skills in on-site recordkeeping, documentation, and laboratory practice, including data management and the interpretation of archaeological evidence. Students can expect to participate in weekly lectures and labs will several experts, as well as take visits to local museums and sites with Montaione staff.
The official language of the Summer School is English and no knowledge of Italian is required.
PROGRAM INCLUDES
Field excavation of Thermae complex
Weekly labs/lectures specializing in:
Survey
Topography
GIS (Including use of total stations)
Photogrammetry
Material Culture study and analysis
IRLABNP.org describes this project and others by the Institute for Research and Learning in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology
As IRLAB prepares for the possibility of holding in-person programs for the 2024 season and beyond we ask that interested participants keep in mind the following:
Participants are advised not to purchase intercontinental flights without having consulted the guidelines of their government and without being sure that the program will take place.
The successful operation of any in-person program will depend upon strict adherence to safety protocols based on the most up-to-date public health information.
Restrictions may come from any level, including international travel to local municipal regulations, meaning that the restrictions in your community may differ from those at the project location.
Due to this level of uncertainty, in-person programs may need to be cancelled with minimal prior notice.
While we sincerely hope to get back in the field with our incredible students at new and existing sites, IRLAB must prioritize health, safety, and adherence to regulations first and foremost. Should in-person programs be offered for the 2024 season, we will be updating interested students as often as possible.
We appreciate your continued patience and understanding!
GEMINI PRESERVATION STUDIES (San Gemini, Italy)
The following are of interest to students of archaeology:
All programs are 4-weeklong intensive courses that include both classroom theoretical instruction and hands on field work on original materials.
All field work is being done with the approval and supervision of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage (Ministero della Cultura and the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio Dell’umbria).
Massimo Cardillo
Director, San Gemini Preservation Studies
203 Seventh Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215 USA
Tel. US +1 718 768 3508, Tel. Italy +39 350 023 6878
Cell / WA +1 917 327 1240
APPLY NOW
SGPS is a program of the International Institute for Restoration and Preservation Studies, based in New York. An academic relationship has been established with West Virginia University that offers our students the opportunity to apply for and receive credits through the WVU Art History Department (deadline for enrolling is March 1st). We have established cooperation agreements with the Museo della Storie di Bergamo and the Parco del Colosseo to study and conserve artworks and archaeological objects held in their museums, as well as a collaboration with the Historic Archives of the Commune di San Gemini for SGPS participants to study and conserve archival documents.
Our courses are open to students from various disciplines, both undergraduate and graduate. All lessons are taught in English.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL IN ITALY (UPPER SABINA TIBERINA PROJECT)
Rutgers University Archaeological Field School in Italy, in operation since 2012, is a Rutgers Study Abroad summer program that teaches undergraduate and graduate students archaeological field skills and methods. Among these are: excavation techniques; site recording and management skills; the handling, processing and preserving of site materials, such as mosaics, painted wall plaster, pottery, human remains and other small finds. Student participants will acquire this training by doing these things on site in Italy under the supervision of academic and professional field specialists.
In addition to fieldwork, there will also be seminars and readings about archaeological methods, and historical and anthropological topics related to the project currently being pursued by the field school, the Upper Sabina Tiberina Project (detailed below). For this project the field school operates in the Tiber River Valley in the northwestern part of the province of Lazio, just about 40 miles upriver from Rome. Participants live and work near the small village of Vacone, excavating a Roman villa site with evidence of Republican, Imperial and post-antique occupation and activity.
Enrollment in the Rutgers Field School is not limited to Rutgers University students, and applicants from other institutions of higher learning are welcome to apply. Although applicants with backgrounds in history, Italian studies, archaeology, anthropology and/or classics are desired, no previous experience or prerequisites are necessary, nor is any particular major or background. Moreover, no knowledge of Italian language is required.
Undergraduate studentswill receive 6 course-credits from Rutgers Study Abroad that may be counted toward a variety of departments and majors, including Classical Studies, History, Anthropology, and Art History. For instance, the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers-New Brunswick will accept these as equivalent to 01:070:334 ‘Archaeological fieldwork’ and 01:070:335 ‘Analysis of Archaeological data’. Please consult Prof. Farney (gfarney@rutgers.edu) if you have any questions about how these credits might apply to your situation.
Rutgers SEBS undergraduate studentscan apply all 6 credits toward their Core Curriculum “Arts and Humanities” requirement.
Rutgers Newark undergraduate studentscan apply 3 of the credits towards the “History/Literature” core-curriculum requirement, and 3 of the credits toward the “Arts/Media” core-curriculum requirement. Please see Prof. Farney (gfarney@rutgers.edu) for other possible uses of the credits.
Graduate studentscan earn either 6 or 3 course credits, depending on the track they wish to take. They should consult their departments to see how they will treat the credits for any degree they are pursuing.For 6 credits, they can participate for all four weeks of the field school season.For the 3 credits option, graduate students can participate in two weeks of the field school season to be arranged with Prof. Farney.
Undergraduate or Graduate Internshipsare available for students who already have field experience and previously acquired field skills (excavation, anthropological, geophysical, etc.). Students who wish to pursue an internship should contact Prof. Farney directly (gfarney@rutgers.edu).
Post Field School. Many of our alumni have gone on to graduate programs in History, Classics, Archaeology, Conservation and Anthropology. Among these are programs at Cambridge University, University of Oxford, University of Edinburgh, Durham University, the University of Manchester, Boston University, the University of Toronto, Harvard University, the University of South Florida, Villanova University, University of Oregon, the College of William and Mary, and the Fulbright Fellowship Program.
Living Arrangements for the Field School
Program participants will live in an agriturismo (an agriturismo is a working farm with sleeping accommodations and a restaurant), called Le Colline (http://www.agriturismolecolline.com), located very close to the Vacone villa site (< 2 km). Le Colline has rooms of two to four people, each with a separate bathroom. The agriturismo has internet access and will provide us with a means to do laundry. All meals will be provided at the agriturismo for staff and students Sunday dinner through Friday lunch as part of the program costs. Students will have to pay for their own meals at other times (Friday dinner through Sunday lunch), from the agriturismo or elsewhere. Students will also be able to visit the town of Vacone regularly.
Students will travel to Romeor other nearby locales on the weekends. On Friday afternoon, staff arrange for students to be taken to a nearby train-station (Poggio Mirteto) for a direct train into Rome (ca. 45 minutes); likewise, students are picked up on Sunday late afternoon from Poggio Mirteto back to the agriturismo. The exception will be the very last weekend when students will stay at the agriturismo until Saturday morning (the costs of which will be included in the program fees).
The Upper Sabina Tiberina Project, in operation since 2011, is a collaboration between Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA) and the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World of Brown University (Rhode Island, USA), with the support of the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell’Etruria Meridionale and the Comune di Vacone, with former support from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Alberta. The project, with staff and students from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy, seeks to understand the long-term development of rural settlement and economy in the Sabine region of Italy, located today in the province of Rieti of the region of Lazio. This area is located about 40 miles north of Rome, just east of the Tiber River, in the hinterland of the ancient town of Forum Novum (modern day Vescovio). Much of the project has focused on the excavation of the mid-Republican to mid-imperial villa located in the town of Vacone (the excavation is operated through two field schools that train undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field skills and methods). We have also conducted survey and geophysical prospection at over 15 other sites in the region. This combination of excavation and extensive survey has allowed the project to document a significant Roman boom in settlement and economic activity in the area of the Upper Sabina Tiberina.
Rutgers University Rutgers University, Department of History, Conklin Hall, Newark, NJ, 07102-1814 Contact: Gary Farney gfarney@rutgers.edu
Download full syllabus here Application: click here
DIRECTOR: Andrew C. Johnston, Associate Professor of Classics and History, Department of Classics, Yale University, 344 College Street, P.O. Box 208266, New Haven CT 06520-8266
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The archaeological field program of the Gabii Project is a five-week program (6/13/24 to 7/19/24) conducted at the site of the important ancient Latin city of Gabii, 18 km due east of Rome in central Italy. The field program aims to introduce students to the techniques and methodologies of field archaeology through direct, hands-on, experiential learning, imparting both practical skills and contextual training and stressing the full range of techniques that make up the modern archaeologist’s toolkit: from excavation strategies, to data recording and digital modeling, artifact recovery, processing, and analysis, as well as scientific applications that include the collection of osteological and environmental data. In addition to the instruction on site, the program provides an opportunity for students to contextualize their work, and the site of Gabii itself, within larger archaeological and historical frameworks, through excavation tours given at regular intervals, off‐site lectures, visits to museums and archaeological sites in the city of Rome, and readings.
Download full syllabus here Application: click here
DIRECTOR:Dr. Llorenç Alapont Martin, Prof. of Physical and Forensic Anthropology, Univedsidad Europea Valencia (llor.alapont@gmail.com)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION During the 1990’s, the Italian Government wanted to expand the rail system and initiated archaeological study along the planned rail tracks. By 1998, excavators discovered that a very large Roman cemetery lay just under the planned rail expansion. The entire project was discarded, and the area was left half exposed, deteriorating by the elements. The abandoned excavation established a few facts: (1) That a large cemetery was present just opposite the Porta Sarno, the oldest city gate at Pompeii. (2) That dozens of monumental tombs were present, likely belonging to illustrious citizen of ancient Pompeii; (3) That tombstones indicate burial both before and after the earthquake of 62 CE; (4) That the cemetery, just opposite the main road leading to Pompeii – the Via dell´Abbondanza – has likely been used for a very long time and may contain evidence of both pre Roman and Roman burials, and (5) That the abandoned excavations demonstrated excellent preservation of material record both of structures and of human remains.
The initial excavators published no report. The site’s rapid deterioration and important significance for the understanding of ancient Pompeii motivated us to begin extensive excavation at the area in 2017. The Porta Sarno Necropolis project is now in its seventh season.
The study of Porta Sarno Necropolis project offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate Roman society and its unique views of life and the afterlife. The study of the necropolis monuments, tombs, roads, walls, material culture and biological remains provide for contextual and careful understanding of how the funerary space was managed by the ancient inhabitants of Pompeii. Given the extensive excavations elsewhere at Pompeii, we can study how the necropolis evolved in relation to urbanism, legislation, religion, and the history of the city.
The excavations at the Pompeii necropolis are a multidisciplinary project with the participation of a diverse group of experts. Both the human biological evidence and associated artifacts and features are Page | 2 studied to understand context, stratigraphy and cultural evolution. The program uses traditional excavation technique – trowels and shovels, sifting and sorting – as well at advanced analytical instruments, such as Total Stations, Portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF), and others.
Human burial at the Porta Sarno Necropolis includes both inhumations and cremated deposits. For 2023, we plan to excavate at Area A and D, within a large structure dated to the Roman period and likely to contain diverse types of funerary deposits. Given the density of material record found elsewhere at the site, we anticipate a rich archaeological record that will include both human remains and artifacts.
The Porta Sarno Necropolis is part of the ancient city of Pompeii but located outside the site’s contemporary security fences. That fortunate location allows us much flexibility with working hours and the ability to work without the constant distraction of tourists and visitors. Notwithstanding the above, we are still working in an ancient cemetery and respect to the dead is paramount to all of our activities.
The relationships to and study of human remains in Europe differs widely from those practiced in North America. This is the result of different archaeological histories, traditions, and cultural norms. Archaeology in North American is almost exclusively part of anthropology and under the Social Sciences, emerging from the historical & intellectual tradition for the study of the “other”. In Europe, archaeology is a standalone discipline, usually within the Humanities, studying the past of the “collective ancestors”. These differences will be discussed broadly during the program, exploring the origin and current manifestation of cultural preferences and its relationships to death in each region. While we plan to have lively discussions, our goal is to present students with the different traditions and their reasoning, not to suggest one is better than the other.
This program and its strong emphasis on the careful analytical study of cremated remains is relevant to students who wish to study Roman history, bioarchaeology and physical anthropology. The program will also serve well students who are interested in forensic studies of human remains and students interested in pursuing medical careers.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NURAGIC CULTURE ON THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA: LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY AT PROGETTO PRAN’E SIDDI, ITALY
DIRECTORS Dr. Emily Holt, Archaeological Science Project Officer, Bioarchaeology Unit, Cardiff University (UK) (emilyholt2013@gmail.com) Dr. Mauro Perra, Director, Civico Museo Archeologico “Su Mulinu” di Villanovafranca (Italy) (perramarro@gmail.com)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Pran’e Siddi, or the Siddi Plateau, is a high basaltic plateau located in the south-central part of the island of Sardinia (Italy), near the modern town of Siddi. The area around Siddi was inhabited by prehistoric villagers beginning in the Neolithic period (ca. 4000-3200 BCE). During the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1450 BCE), these previously egalitarian people began to develop a hierarchical social system with an elite who expressed their power and prestige through the building of monumental stone towers called nuraghi. The elites of the Nuragic community on the Siddi Plateau built sixteen nuraghi, which they lived in and added onto for three centuries. By 1450 BCE, however, the elite sites on the Siddi Plateau seem to have been abandoned, and the population moved away. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, only fully vaccinated students will be allowed to attend this program. In addition, the Italian government requires a tetanus vaccination for all individuals working on archaeological projects. Contact CFS Enrollment Department if you have any questions or concerns. 2 | P a g e Progetto Pran’e Siddi was formed to conduct a thorough investigation of Nuragic climate, environment, land use, and economic practices in the Siddi region. We are interested in finding out what kinds of pressures – social, environmental, and/or economic – made the Nuragic people abandon their towers on the plateau. We are answering these questions through a combination of archaeological excavation and survey. Excavation takes place at the site of Sa Conca ‘e sa Cresia, one of the largest nuraghi on the plateau. Survey focuses both on-site and off-site, addressing the other Nuragic structures on the plateau as well as the landscapes surrounding them. By participating in Progetto Pran’e Siddi, students will contribute to ongoing research while gaining professional skills in excavation methods, pedestrian survey, and artifact processing.
ROMAN FUNERARY & CREMATION ARCHAEOLOGY: THE NECROPOLIS OF VIA OSTIENSE, ROME (ITALY)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Necropolis of Via Ostiense was initially excavated in 1919. Archaeologists exposed 18 complete vaults (columbaria) with over 912 well preserved urns, containing cremated remains of Roman era individuals. The excavators decided not to excavate but leave the urns untouched and in situ, resulting in slow but progressive deterioration of the human remains and artifacts within them. Beginning in 2017, our team began an extensive and detailed study of these unique archaeological remains, micro-excavating each urn to better understand Roman burial practices, technology and cultural preferences. The 2024 will be our eighth season at the site and thus far, we were able to complete the study of 70 individual urns.
The urns at Via Ostiense represent a unique opportunity to study Roman funerary practices. This is the largest concentration of Roman cremated human remains in a single location and all within original context. This wealth of information allows for excellent comparative research, studying changes in cremation technology (temperature and type of fuel used), cultural preferences and choices (type of urns, objects found within them, number of individuals collected together in a single urn) and biological elements (examining pathologies, diseases and using aDNA to study population variability). Although human remains at Via Ostiense were cremated, many long bones, teeth, pelvis & vertebra segments – some 10cm long – are still well-preserved and presented in the urns. This allow us to study a whole range of bioarchaeological elements, including pathologies, diseases, gender and age.
The micro excavation of each urn is a careful and detailed process. Students typically excavate a single urn in the season as this is a long and meticulous study of all human and cultural elements deposited in each urn. Students should expect to use both traditional micro-excavation techniques and the use of a range of analytical instrumentation, including photogrammetry and portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF).
The relationships to and study of human remains in Europe differ widely from those practice in North America. This is the result of different archaeological histories, traditions, and cultural norms. Archaeology in North American is almost exclusively part of anthropology and under the Social Sciences, emerging from the historical & intellectual tradition for the study of the “other”. In Europe, archaeology is a standalone discipline, usually within the Humanities, studying the past of the “collective ancestors”. These differences will be discussed broadly during the program, exploring the origin and current manifestation of cultural preferences and its relationships to death in each region. While we plan to have lively discussions, our goal is to present students with the different traditions and their reasoning, not to suggest one is better than the other.
This program and its strong emphasis on the careful analytical study of cremated remains is relevant to students who wish to study Roman history, bioarchaeology and physical anthropology. The program will also serve well students who are interested in forensic studies of human remains and students interested in pursuing medical careers.
We will be excavating at an ancient burial ground. This means that respect to the dead will be front and center, and certain behavior will be observed while at the site and/or at work. The individuals we are studying may be long gone, but we still owe them a debt of reverence for the opportunity to study their remains so that we may better understand, appreciate, and celebrate their lives.
The Via Ostiense project is a collaboration between the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali of Rome and the Universidad Europea Valencia (Spain).
Program Director:Prof. Llorenc Alapont Martin, Professor of Physical and Forensic Anthropology, Universidad Europea Valencia Email: llor.alapont@gmail.com
INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ITALY & THE AEGEAN IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN: THE SITE OF ROCA VECCHIA (SOUTHERN ITALY)
DIRECTOR: Prof. Teodoro Scarano – Associate Professor of Prehistory and Protohistory (SSD L-ANT/01), Dipartimento di Beni Culturali-Università del Salento (teodoro.scarano@unisalento.it)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Bronze Age fortified settlement of Roca Vecchia is located on the Adriatic coast of South- Eastern Italy at the narrowest passage of the Otranto Channel. It was a strategic key-site for the crossing routes between the Aegean and the Central Mediterranean and its topography was closely related to the imposing landing place of Torre dell’Orso Bay. Maybe more important, the ancient site of Roca Vecchia includes the Grotta Poesia cave, an important cult center since prehistory. The Bronze Age site was settled from the mid-17th to the late 11th century BCE and was protected by a massive wall, repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt over time.
Finds from the Middle Bronze Age levels (17th -14th century BCE) clearly attest to the early involvement of Roca within the Aegean network. Finds include an unusual variety and peculiarity of products such as Lustrous-decorated, Burnished, Matt-painted and Minyan-type pottery imports in addition to ItaloMinoan finds. These artifacts indicate active trading along the southern Adriatic routes already at these early dates.
Around the mid-14th century BCE, Roca was attacked and destroyed by fire after a siege. At that time, the fortifications had a complex plan with at least five side gates and a monumental main entrance.
Among the extraordinary finds sealed under the collapse of the defensive stonework, it is worth mentioning a huge quantity of complete locally handmade stone-tempered vessels, the remains of a group of seven unarmed people who died by asphyxia while trying to hide in a corridor, and the remains of a young warrior armed with an Aegean bronze dagger. Despite the unquestionable local identity of the site, Late Bronze Age Roca yielded more Aegean-type ceramics than any other settlement in Italy (including a large variety of both imports and their imitations). Roca appears to have been characterized by cultural hybridization of the local Italian population with Minoan and Mycenaean elements.
Recent investigations carried out in Roca – in areas that include the so-called “Cult Center” and the monumental buildings of the so-called “Hut-temple” – suggest that extensive ritual practices were linked to collective ceremonial activities, incorporating rituals and symbols of both local and Aegean origin. Late and Final Bronze Age evidence from Roca also includes artifacts of local specialized craftsmanship of exotica such as ivory and amber, as well as metalworking activities in bronze and gold. The special role played by the core-site of Roca in the framework of the central Mediterranean area is also suggested by the richest collection of gold items ever found in the Italian Bronze Age, that include various gold sun discs and ornaments.
During the forthcoming seasons, we plan to continue investigating both Bronze Age fortifications and the settlement area, as well as funerary evidence dating to the second and first millennium BCE. For the 2024 season, we plan to investigate the area close to the inside of the Middle Bronze Age fortification walls near the Postern C access. Students will excavate and document the multilayered stratigraphy (running from 2nd to 1st millennium BCE) and exploring some evidence related to the 14th century BCE battle which destroyed the earliest fortress of Roca. In addition, students will be engaged with documentation and analysis of artifacts and human remains recovered during the 2023 field season from the burial area of Grotta Poesia.
Director: Prof. Teodoro Scarano, Associate Professor of Prehistory and Protohistory (SSD L-ANT/01), Dipartimento di Beni Culturali-Università del Salento Email: teodoro.scarano@unisalento.it
SICILIAN MARITIME HERITAGE: SUMMER ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD RESEARCH FOR PROJECT ‘U MARI (Sicily)
Field school dates: Not offered in 2024, but plans to resume in Summer 2025
Project ‘U Mari (“the sea” in local Sicilian dialect) explores the maritime heritage of southeast Sicily, examining millennia of maritime life and connections across the Mediterranean from a key vantage point between west and east, south and north. Participants will work on one or more of the broad project’s key initiatives: conservation and analysis of artifacts from shipwrecks in the area, archaeological investigations at the ancient fishing town of Vendicari, survey and excavation of a shipwreck in Vendicari’s port, 3D scanning and archival documentation of the material culture and traditions of 2500 years of tuna fishing, among others. These efforts serve not only to promote new research into historical livelihoods along the sea, but guide our consideration into how best to preserve and present a diverse maritime past through exhibits and other forms of public engagement.
Undergraduate Field School
The focus of Project ‘U Mari for field school students is:
• Archaeological survey and excavation on land • Underwater archaeological investigations • Study of archaeological finds • 3-D documentation of heritage • Public engagement and preservation of the past
In 2023, prospective Project ‘U Mari field school participants will have an option to specify in their application if they wish to be considered for a diving or a non-diving role.
Pre-departure training and coursework
Project ‘U Mari has a pre-field training requirement that takes place over the course of the spring. Accepted students are expected to undertake this training and preparation within the framework of the spring quarter course, ARCHLGY 140: Sicily and the Sea (note that the timing of this course may change).
On site
Field training for students is divided into several major components, of which each student may participate in several: training as archaeological divers and underwater work on site, methods of survey and excavation on land, finds and conservation work in the lab, and 3D and other methods of heritage documentation and museum work.
Field training for diving students will initially focus on the development of skills for archaeology underwater; this training will allow participation in the survey and excavation of shipwreck sites and artifact assemblages in tandem with the methodologies of conservation and recording of waterlogged objects. Field training for students wishing to work on land will focus on practical methodological skills for both survey and excavation, allowing them to participate in the new investigations of an ancient port settlement and the processing and analysis of finds.
Students will generally spend part of their training in the field, on land or underwater, and part on heritage documentation or museum development. Students will also play a major role in the work we do with objects back in the museum and lab: not only conservation, 3D documentation, and study of finds, but leveraging these materials to help implement new research, exhibit, and heritage management strategies. Students will also have opportunities to play a role in smaller-team fieldwork that focuses on more recent heritage associated with traditional fishing and contemporary refugee journeys.
All students should expect to work Monday-Saturday for the entire six-week field school, participating each day in fieldwork, artifact documentation, research, and conservation in the lab. To broaden and deepen student engagement with this material culture, the project organizes discussions, talks, and demonstrations by staff and visiting scholars. Students are encouraged to hone and develop their research interests through their work in Sicily, and students in the past have used the field school as the first step toward pursuing a research program and specialty in consultation with Stanford faculty, graduate students, and professional archaeologists from around the world.
A day in the life of archaeology in southeast Sicily
Emma Charity (‘25), a 2022 field school participant Project ‘U Mari, writes about her experience conducting archaeological work in southeast Sicily:
Our days in Sicily were long, but well-paced and extremely fulfilling. We woke up around 6:30 for breakfast at 7. After a brief team meeting, the dive team (myself included) would head to the dive shop. We set up our equipment and headed out to dive. The boat ride was my favorite part of the day: the salty Sicilian breeze in the morning, views of the gorgeous beach, and many laughs. Some days we would survey new areas and other days we would work on an excavation.
After the dive, it’s lunch and dive log time. We met about finds on the dive and wrote them in detail on our dive logs. Mateo’s restaurant makes amazing pastas and salads. It was always a pleasant surprise to see what the folks at his restaurant whipped up. Jasmine, dive assistant and amazing waitress, was always a warm smile to see at lunch. Shout out Jasmine! After lunch we had a two-hour siesta. This break helped me pace out my day and maintain my personal health and balance. Some days I would get gelato with other students, other times just take a nap.
In the afternoons, I would work on the excavation project of the boat that carried displaced people across the Mediterranean. This project was difficult some days but had so much purpose and really changed my relationship with human rights work. We documented items and added them to a catalogue for further research. After our afternoon projects, we showered and met up for a team dinner around 8. I had a great time in Sicily and made long lasting connections and friendships!
Requirements for participation
CPR/first aid certification from an approved agency (to be arranged on campus for students in ARCHLGY 140)
Medical exam, which can be completed at Vaden Health Center (for diving students, this will be a diving-specific exam, and you will receive a form to complete)
Applicants will need an updated passport by the time of acceptance
By applying you agree to your application being reviewed by the Project ‘U Mari Mentors
The Archaeology Center requires that all field students participate in SURPS (Symposia for Undergraduate Research and Public Service). Students from each field experience are expected to work together to complete an application, prepare a poster, and present at the SURPS event the Friday of reunion-homecoming weekend.
Each of our field experiences is part of an ongoing research project led by a Stanford faculty member. While working remotely, undergraduates are expected to contribute to the team effort of the archaeological project at the faculty member’s direction. Field work can take the form of a number of different activities. Each day’s activities can look different, and may change depending on the evolving direction of the research. Students participating in a field experience should be prepared to be flexible and responsive to the instructions of the faculty member or other senior project staff.
The Field School in Medieval Archaeology and Bioarchaeology at Badia Pozzeveri (Lucca, Italy) is an academic program aimed at training students in archaeological and bioarchaeological field and laboratory methods.
Excavations will take place at the church of “San Pietro a Pozzeveri” in the municipality of Altopascio. Badia Pozzeveri is located approximately 10 miles east of the city of Lucca, capital of the Tuscan province of the same name. San Pietro’s church was once part of a Camaldolese monastery, which was founded in the 11th century on the shores of Lake Bientina. The medieval lake, now entirely dried up, extended between Lucca and the Arno River. The monastery flourished during the 12-13th centuries thanks to its location along the Via Francigena, a major trade and pilgrimage route, which connected France and Northern Europe with Rome throughout the entire Middle Ages. The monastery’s decline started in the 14th century and eventually led to its dissolution in the 15th century. San Pietro’s church remained as the village’s center of worship and is still in use.
Aim
The field school at Badia Pozzeveri is an outstanding opportunity for students to gain practical experience in archaeological excavation and bioarchaeological investigation by working side-by-side with leading researchers in the field. The field school is designed to provide participants with knowledge of archaeological eld methods, including:
Survey and excavation
GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and informatics
Bioarchaeological field and research methods
Recovery, restoration, and analysis of human skeletal remains.
Material culture lab.
Practical, hands-on experience in the field will be complemented by laboratory activity in archaeology and bioarchaeology. Lectures by the directors and instructors on their research will also provide students with insights in the theory and practice of archaeology and physical anthropology.
Who can apply
The course is open to up to 15 undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students in archeology, anthropology or allied disciplines from any country and institution.
Application
Admission Requirements
The Summer School has no formal prerequisites; students will be fully trained for all the activities they experience.
Students interested in applying to the Summer School must fill out and submit the Enrolment Form online, via Alice portal.
Prior to their arrival to Italy, the students are required to complete all readings included in the attached reading list. The readings will include topics such as bioarchaeology, stratigraphy, geographic information systems. An understanding of such topics is essential to maximize on-site learning.
Students are required to participate actively in both fieldwork and laboratory activities, and to demonstrate a good understanding of the concepts and techniques employed in the field.
Participation and overall performance in the field will be monitored throughout the entire field school.
A Final Examination will be administered during the last week of the program to assess the student’s mastery of the theoretical and practical concepts and techniques learned throughout the entire field school.
Required documents
Identity Document (*PASSPORT in case you are a foreign student*)
Enrolment Form
Curriculum vitae
Statement of interest
Proof of tetanus vaccination
Medical certificate of physical fitness
All the documents must be in pdf format, in order to upload them on the portal when required.
ARCHEODIG PROJECT AT THE ROMAN SEASID SETTLEMENT OF POGGIO DEL MOLINO (near Populonia, Tuscany)
Date: Multiple sessions in May, August, and September 2024. See the project website for date and cost options: click here
Overview
The excavation of the Roman settlement of Poggio del Molino, the only example of a Roman villa in the territory of Populonia systematically investigated, is conducted under the scientific direction of the University of Florence (in agreement with Municipality of Piombino) and the professionals of the Archeodig Project, with the support of the non-profit organisationsPast in Progressand theEarthwatch Institute.
The archaeological site extends over the northern and eastern slopes of a promontory that acts as a watershed between the beach of Rimigliano in the north, the Gulf of Baratti to the south and the northern boundary of the town of Piombino (Livorno).
The Roman structures are located on a plateau, about 20 meters above sea level, that dominates the stretch of sea between San Vicenzo and the Isle of Elba in the west, and the Metalliferous Hills and the plains of Campiglia lagoon to the east.
During the 2nd century BCE; the northern end of the promontory was occupied by a fortified building, positioned to defend the territory of Populonia from pirate attacks. Thanks to contemporary sources we know that between the 2nd and 1st century’s BCE, piracy was prolific on the Mediterranean coasts and sea. The fortress’ strategic position allowed control of most of the Tyrrhenian Sea routes, the access to the channel that connects the sea to the lake of Rimigliano and the southern territory of Populonia.
The building, with a rectangular plan of about 55 x 56 meters, has been investigated in the southeast sector which is organised around a porch; where evidence of iron working has been uncovered. Along the perimeter wall, we have identified two defensive towers; erected adjacent the two entrances of the settlement, and a watchtower that also allowed communication with Populonia. In 67 BCE, following the issuance of theLex Gabinia, Gneo Pompeo took command of the war against the pirates of the Mediterranean Sea over which, in just four months, he reported a total victory.
In the first half of the 1st century BCE, without the threat of pirates, the building was re-purposed as a farm with an adjoining ‘cetaria’, or small home-based factory, producing ‘garum’ (fish sauce), equipped with pools for soaking the fish, which we can still see today.
Around the middle of the 2nd century CE, after a thorough renovation, the building took on the characteristics of a maritime villa which was later destroyed around the end of the 3rd century CE, probably by an earthquake. The villa was organised around an open area, set out as a garden and exploited the same two accesses used in the earlier phases. The western entrance gave access to the main living area (cubicula and dining rooms), decorated with mosaics and frescoes and to the bath complex via a corridor overlooking the sea. The slave quarters, of which are known the kitchen and other utility rooms, still under excavation, was accessed via the eastern entrance.
In the 4th century, after the destruction, the eastern sector of the complex is reoccupied and used for activities connected with iron working. In addition to a large amount of iron slag and hematite, a furnace connected with a forge have been documented.
Even in the 5th century, the site experienced a significant phase of inhabitation connected with the presence of a gathering place, probably linked to early Christian worship, and of a tomb set in a wall of the villa ruins.
Today, the top of the hill is occupied by the beautiful Villa del Barone, built in 1923 by Baron Luigi De Stefano and Assunta Vanni Desideri, the daughter of Eugenio. From a paper of the 16th century, the “Bandita di Porto Baratti”, and other archival documents we know that the Poggio owes its name to the mill which was a part of Torre Nuova (“Torre Nuova del Molino”), the building of coastal defense and a lookout built in the early sixteenth century by Cosimo I de’ Medici, on the slopes of the promontory.
Teams will work between the remaining walls of the Roman villa of Poggio del Molino (Hill of the Mill), overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The villa was established at the start of the 1st century A.D. when the main city of Populonia was mysteriously abandoned. The villa area has been exposed to continued habitation right up until the end of the 5th century and so is one of the few existing sources of information from this extended time period.
Activities include:
Removing soil around artifacts with trowels, brushes, and other tools.
Help record excavations where objects have been uncovered
Clean and catalog finds, analyse the source and age of building materials.
Reconstruction from pottery finds
Other site visits
Contacts: The Archaeological Field School at Poggio del Molino, via della Pieve. 6, Livorno, 57127 IT Tuscany, Italy
We look forward to offering our Summer Field School
Dates for the Summer 2024 program will be updated soon.
The application deadline is May 1st.
Earn 9 upper-division credits
Open to all majors
Do you want to learn about the methods used to understand ancient humans and the environments in which they lived, discover fossils and artifacts, and visit field sites where some of the most important prehistoric discoveries were made?
TBI’s Origins Summer Field School addresses the place that humans occupy in the natural world and how we came to occupy that position. This program focuses on hands-on experience in field survey and excavation methods, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, taphonomy and more, and includes field trips to important paleontological and archaeological sites, diverse ecological settings, and remarkable geological features throughout the Turkana Basin. Participants will work directly with leading scientists and do fieldwork at active hominin fossil localities and archaeological excavations.
Students take three course modules that provide 9 credits of upper-division or graduate-level coursework in ecology, paleoanthropology, and archaeology. All coursework is taught in English by leaders in each field.
The course modules offered are:
Environments, Ecosystems and Evolution (ANP 310/ANT 510)
An introduction to the ways scientists use the fossil and archaeological records to learn about past changes in Earth’s climates and environments, and how humanity’s ancestors responded to those changes physiologically and technologically. Interdisciplinary lectures will show evidence from the Turkana Basin’s paleoenvironmental, fossil and archaeological records of the dynamic interactions between the climate, environment, local food webs, and ancient human populations. This background will prepare students for training in paleoanthropological and archaeological field methods.
Paleoanthropological Field Methods (ANP 308/ANT 508)
This course is an opportunity to participate in all aspects of a paleoanthropological research project, focusing on practical aspects of vertebrate paleontology, geology, zooarchaeology and taphonomy. Students are trained in field reconnaissance, fossil survey, plotting, preservation, and collection, analysis and interpretation. Hands-on examination of fossils from Plio-Pleistocene or Holocene sites around Lake Turkana will teach students how human ancestors and other animals adapted to the environments around them. Experts from TBI, Stony Brook, and other institutions provide instruction in lectures, labs, and via fieldwork within the context of on-going projects.
This course focuses on archaeological survey, excavation, artifact recovery and analysis. Students are trained in excavation, recording, artifact retrieval, surveying, field sorting techniques, and interpretation. Hands-on examination of prehistoric artifacts from Plio-Pleistocene or Holocene sites around Lake Turkana will teach students how human ancestors adapt culturally and technologically to the environments around them. Experts from TBI, Stony Brook, and other institutions provide instruction in lectures, labs, and within the context of on-going field projects.
Students may also enroll in Independent Study (ANP/ANT 487 or ANT 610) for additional credits to perform research projects.
The objectives of the El Campanario Archaeological Project in 2024 will consist of the analysis of human remains and artifacts from the cemetery, the excavation of the adobe platform. Participants will learn excavation methods, mapping, profile drawing, recognizing cultural layers of occupation, identifying human remains, and recovering and identifying various archaeological materials such as pottery, stone tools, textiles, animal bones, seeds, and sea shells. During the laboratory work portion, participants will learn artifact classification, botanical analysis, pottery analysis, textile analysis, and lithic analysis.
El Campanario Archaeological Project will offer two separate fieldwork sections:
Bioarchaeology Section (5 Weeks): This section will consist of the excavation of the cemetery and laboratory work. This section will focus on osteology analysis, population demography, funerary rituals, and paleopathology.
Archaeology Section (5 Weeks): This section will consist of fieldwork and material analysis. In this section, participants will spend half of the fieldwork in the excavation of the adobe platform and the other half on the cemetery. This section will also include the analysis of human remains during the laboratory portion.
Program Cost: 2,700 US dollars
What the cost includes: pickup at Lima airport, accommodation in Lima and Huarmey, transportation from Lima to Huarmey and from Huarmey to the site, 3 meals a day for 6 days a week (5 weeks) in Huarmey, field trip to Caral (Supe Valley), Las Aldas and Sechin. What the cost does not include: Airfare, meals while in Lima, weekend meals in Huarmey, academic credits and travel insurance, and other personal expenses.
Living accommodations will be in the city of Huarmey, which is about a 15 minute drive to the El Campanario archaeological site. Be advised that living accommodations will be basic in that the locale will have running water and electricity; internet connectivity may not be guaranteed but there are ample internet cafes located throughout the city of Huarmey.
Join PIARA in the spectacular Andean highlands of Peru! We offer an exciting field school course where students gain experience in a variety of fundamental field and laboratory skills. In this course, students will excavate, map, and analyze artifacts from prehistoric architecture dating between 2500 BC and AD 1500 in addition to gaining experience with a range of specialized methods, from skeletal analysis to 3D photogrammetry. During the field school, participants will live and work with the rural, bilingual Quechua/Spanish-speaking community of Hualcayán (highland Ancash, Peru), which facilitates an important component of the field school: learning to ethically and respectfully conduct research on the remains of other people’s heritage through community collaboration. Finally, students will travel to important archaeological sites and museums in three cities and visit stunning natural features like high altitude lagoons. The field school is open to both students and non-students, but all participants will receive six credit hours from the Universidad Nacional Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo.
Since 2011, approximately 200 students have completed the PIARA archaeological field school at Hualcayán in Ancash, Peru. These students came from all over the world including the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Venezuela, Australia, and China. This work has resulted in several undergraduate and masters theses and professional conference posters. In addition, approximately 40 Peruvian undergraduate students from UNASAM university in Huaraz and San Marcos University in Lima have completed practicum training at Hualcayán, culminating in eight final year thesis projects.
Hualcayán is located in the stunning Cordillera Blanca mountain range of the Peruvian Andes, situated below the famous Alpamayo glacier in the Huascarán National Park: a UNESCO World Heritage Site protected for its rare beauty and unique ecosystem. We invite you to come experience this amazing landscape, its people, and its ancient past.
What You Will Learn
Archaeological Research Practices. The course is an intensive learning experience that provides detailed training in a variety of important methods used in archaeological investigation.
Through both targeted training and daily practice, students will learn how to properly lay out excavation units, draw plan maps and profiles of stratigraphic and architectural features, and digitally record and visualize data using iPads in the field. Students will also attend workshops or perform labwork in GIS and 3D Photogrammetry, artifact processing, analysis, and illustration, total station mapping, and human skeletal analysis.
Students will also attend weekly lectures and discuss readings about Andean prehistory. Hualcayán is an exceptional archaeology site for learning archaeology and the Andean past because it was occupied for nearly 4000 years in prehistory. This means that students will encounter the buildings, stratigraphic layers, and artifacts for seven cultural periods and their sequential civilizations or traditions, namely Kotosh (3000–900 BC), Chavín (900–500 BC), Huarás (300 BC–AD 100), Recuay (AD 100–700), Wari (AD 700–1000), and Akillpo (AD 1000–1500, spanning both before and after being integrated into the Inka empire.
Community Collaborations. Working with the local and descendant community of Hualcayán and incorporating their needs and interests is a priority of the PIARA research project, which also makes it an important part of the student experience. Students will live in this rural Andean community and not be isolated from local people in their daily endeavors: young adults and adults from Hualcayán as well as Peruvian students from the Universidad Nacional de Ancash – Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo (Huaraz, Ancash, Peru) will work alongside us, which provides a robust intercultural learning experience. In this pursuit, students learn how to ethically and respectfully conduct research on the remains of other people’s heritage by collaborating with them as well as through targeted discussions with project and community members alike.
Beyond daily tasks, students will also contribute to heritage, education, or wellness-focused projects in the Hualcayán community. At minimum, all students will spend the equivalent of one full day (six to eight hours) working on these projects. The details of this work will depend on the community’s expressed needs and may include doing educational activities in the school, implementing projects in the community museum, cleaning up trash, painting buildings, assisting in a harvest, cataloging donated library books, or working with PIARA to prepare or host heritage-focused events.
All students will receive six credit hours from the hours from the Universidad Nacional Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo for successfully completing the course.
We invite you to explore the exciting Andean past, learn advanced archaeological methods, and experience traditional Andean culture at Hualcayán with us this summer!
How to Apply Details coming soon!
For more photos of PIARA’s past field schools and community life in Hualcayán,visit us on Facebook!
The time of this field school is well organized so that participants engage in different aspects of the project: survey, excavation, and lab. The goal is providing the basis of archaeological work and give an overview about what means to become an archaeologist. We lecture a lot during the first few days and cover a lot of ground even for those who have no previous experience in excavation (especially working with human remains). This makes our field school a bit different perhaps; students do get a rich theoretical background before the excavations start as well as during the excavations so that theory and practice blends into a whole thus making sure the participants get connected with the work and the area and have a wholesome understanding of the research.
It is important to keep in mind and, hopefully, to look forward to, that that the project takes place in a very rural area. You may travel to Peru and never really get the taste of life in deep provincial areas which truly are a world to themselves. Huari is such a town. It is surrounded by mountains, it is deep in the mountains. Life is simple, and time passes by very differently here. There still a lot of authenticities and lots of sightseeing. People are friendly, and they love visitors, and we on our end expect the participants to respect what is new and VERY foreign to them.
The field conditions are different than those you experience in your home or university. Archaeology in the Andes is a hard, cold, physically exhausting, dirty, and demanding activity. When deciding to work in this part of the world it is important to understand that learning to deal with very different circumstances at hand is a crucial part of participation in the project and to make the best of a given situation with the tools available. This is not a summer vacation although we promise you will have a great time. And on our end, we expect all members of our project to be patient, upbeat, flexible and prepared.
We hope you are up for the challenge to learn and discover and look forward to meeting you this coming summer.
BACKGROUND to the Huari-Ancash Bio-Archaeological Research Project
The study of burial patterns constitutes an important component of the examination of the ancient political organization and social identity. I believe that the study of tombs and their relationship to the landscape permits a di
scussion of how ancient peoples perceived the dead, as well as inform archaeologists about ritual practices. Burials can shed insight on those rituals and their relationship with the political and social organization by associating the type of tombs to large-scale modifications in public and ceremonial architecture.
Our research examines how changes in mortuary patterns were associated with transformations in politicaland social organization between AD 200 and 1600. There are 4 main categories of tombs: 1) funeral caves, 2) subterranean tombs, 3) cist tombs, and 4) chullpas (above ground burial structures). By applying a diachronic approach, we study: 1) how variation in tombs is reflected in public and ceremonial architecture, 2) if changes in tombs occur contemporaneously with changes in public and ceremonial architecture, 3) if there is continuity in the use of some type of tombs, and 4) rituals associated with the dead. Particular emphasis will be placed on the examination of chullpas holding over 50 individuals. Chullpas were places where ayllu-based social organization materialized. Ayllus were social groups based on kin with a common ancestor that worshiped a huaca or a sacred mountain. They were important because ayllus controlled rights over land, water, and labor management. Combining data of mortuary and settlement patterns, we will explore the links between changes in mortuary practice and changing sociopolitical circumstances in the region.
COMPONENTS OF THE FIELD SCHOOL:
The Field School is focused on three aspects of research, and we follow different techniques in the field and lab, they are organized in such a way that students get familiarized with archaeological techniques.
Week 01.After you arrive, we will lecture on archaeology techniques, the historical background of the region, and the result of the previous season. Then, we survey 04 nearby archaeological sites (so you get acclimatized to the altitude). There, students will learn how to set up a grid, oriented large transect for survey, and GPS – Google Earth synchronization. It is followed by techniques for recording and describing archaeological sites. Since all the sites have different layouts, students identify differences in architectural terms. Recording information includes photogrammetry, using a drone and camera. Besides, surface recollection, and its proper labeling. We simulate situations commonly present in CRM (Cultural Resource Management). CRM is the primary source of work opportunities; we want students to be ready for these jobs.
Week 02. This week is dedicated to excavation, full in camp (Monday to Saturday, 8 to 4 PM). We excavate a complex of tombs. During the excavation students get familiar with archaeological context description, identification of stratigraphy, recording, and classification of findings. This part includes drawing/mapping of funeral structures/caves, techniques of bone recovery, and identification of the taphonomy process in human remains. A physical anthropologist is present during the excavations, and lectures about human remains are done in situ as we find the remains. It is the best way to learn, since findings on terrain are different than those in the textbooks.
Week 03. It is dedicated to lab; analysis of human remains and lectures in forensic anthropology with real samples performed. The bone analysis’s goal is to obtain biological data from the remains recovered by students themselves during the current season or from previous excavations. Additionally, workshops in ceramic analysis, 3D scans of entire objects, photography, and labeling of material are performed. During three weeks students will explore from the beginning and end the archaeological research, providing experience and skills for job (CRM) and academy (graduated studies).
LIFE IN THE FIELD:
The hike to the base camp starts at Ampas (3423 m of altitude); we follow a steep path of 0.43 miles until we arrive; the base camp is located at 3664 m of altitude. This looks easy. However, the altitude makes it hard. We use donkeys to carry the backpacks up to the base camp. However, most likely, you will need to carry it down when returning to Huari. Breakfast is from 7 to 8 PM. Lunch from 12 to 2 PM and dinner 5-6 PM. The excavation is located 0.2 miles from the camp base at 3610 m of altitude.
POLAND
FIELD SCHOOL IN MORTUARY ARCHAEOLOGY POLAND 2024
Dates: Session I: June 24 to July 17, 2024 Session II: July 18 to August 10, 2024
In the summer of 2024 we offer an intensive learning experience in human osteology and mortuary archaeology at the medieval inhumation burial grounds in Giecz and Gać. All students get involved in the fieldwork, receiving hands-on experience in the excavation of human burials and related archaeological features from their discovery to final removal. The Field School includes a strong laboratory component which provides an opportunity to practice identification of complete and fragmentary human skeletal remains.Read more
Participants will receive training in:
Adult and Juvenile Osteology
Human Burial Excavation
Bioarchaeology in Practice
Early Medieval Funerary Practices in Poland
Archaeological Field Research Techniques
Archaeological Material Processing and Curation
The Mortuary Archaeology Field School provides a unique opportunity for archaeology and bioarchaeology students, as well as future practitioners of forensic sciences and anyone interested in mortuary archeology, to learn recovery and documentation techniques on both archaeological and human remains. The language of the project is English. Academic credits are available.
In the summer of 2024, we offer seven weeks of bioarcheological exploration and practice at two medieval sites in Poland. The program is divided into two sessions:
June 24 – July 17, 2024
July 18 – August 10, 2024
The application deadline is rolling until ALL SPACES ARE FILLED. The number of places is limited.In order to get the Information Packet and the Application Formplease visithere.
Slavia is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging and supporting archaeological research in Poland. Through the Slavia Project we offer opportunities for volunteers and students to participate in current archaeological excavations, learn archaeological techniques, and explore details of Polish history that are yet unknown. Poland’s rich history provides a treasury of information about people, cultures, and events of the past.
Based at the Museum of the First Piasts at Lake Lednica, Poland, the Slavia Foundation carries on archaeological projects in cooperation with Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. We provide an opportunity for international students to gain experience in many aspects of prehistoric and medieval mortuary archaeology. A no less important goal of this project is to introduce our guests to Polish culture and history by interacting with locals and through educational tours and lectures.
The First Piasts Museum at Lednica is one of the largest open-air museums in Poland. It administers and protects Lednica and Giecz, two jewels of early Polish history (10–11 c. AD). A variety of research is conducted here in cooperation with the leading academic center of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań making the Museum a remarkable educational institution.
Slavia Project
The Slavia Summer Field School in Archaeology began in 1998 in the Lednica region as a joint project of scholars from Adam Mickiewicz University, First Piasts Museum and Slavia Foundation. From the start the project was directed to international students seeking archaeological adventure in Poland. It initially offered experience in the Lednica region which included excavation of a medieval, wooden bridge abutment on Ostrów Lednicki island as well as a medieval cemetery in Dziekanowice.
In the year 2000 the project moved to Giecz starting salvage excavations at the medieval cemetery adjacent to the remains of a local, medieval stronghold. The primary focus on exploration of medieval burials and the variety of related issues in physical anthropology resulted in the new definition of the School’s specialization. The main area of instruction offered to the students have become human osteology and mortuary archaeology and the school was re-named as the International Slavia Field School In Mortuary Archaeology (also known as the „Slavia Project”). Also the team has become international joined by scholars from Ohio State University, USA.
From 2008 the Slavia Project has become responsible for rescue excavations at the endangered archaeological site of Drawsko. The archaeological works are carried out under the name of the International Slavia Field School In Mortuary Archaeology following all its procedures. This project is a joint effort of researchers from the Museum of Czarnków, Slavia Foundation, Adam Mickiewicz University, State University of New York at Oneonta and numerous international students taking part in the School activities.
Slavia Field School in Mortuary Archaeology, Giecz, Poland
For 10 years (1999-2008) Giecz Archaeological Complex has been a training ground for many international anthropology students who tirelessly mastered their practical skills in osteology and archaeology helping out at the Slavia excavations of the 12th century inhumation cemetery, commonly known as Giecz, site 4. Since then, many of these people have successfully pursued their careers in forensic sciences, bioarchaeology, or archaeology. Some of them have become university professors.
Now, the Slavia Field School in Mortuary Archaeology is pleased to invite new generations of anthropology students for a new joint effort at site 10 in Giecz. This site, which was discovered three years ago, is another inhumation cemetery and dates back to the beginning of the 11th century AD. Two pilot excavation seasons revealed 35 burials following the Christian rite, with bodies oriented east- west. The human remains feature very good preservation and include skeletons of both sexes and all age categories including newborns. Most burials have a variety of grave goods typical for western Slavs, and some are outstandingly well furnished. Among every day utensils such as iron knives, hardware fittings, and clay vessels, some graves have jewelry and decorations such as earrings, metal and glass rings, glass and carnelian bead necklaces. Some of the dead are even equipped with wooden buckets! Clearly this cemetery represents a spectrum of the local community’s social stratification. It cannot be ruled out that the richest graves belong to members of the Piast royal elite.
The Slavia Project, Mortuary Archaeology Field School in Giecz welcomes all students wishing to gain practical experience in excavating human remains and other aspects of mortuary archaeology. We are looking forward to your input in the search for yet undiscovered secrets of this site and will be happy to work with you. As the cemetery is located on an agricultural field and is subject to destructive deep plowing, your work will not only give you hands-on experience, but also the satisfaction of conserving and protecting an exceptional historical site. At the moment, the only way to preserve this unique treasure of Polish heritage is to meticulously investigate and document it. We hope you will help us to get this job done.
Applications are now open for the sixth season of fieldwork at Castelo de Cuncos, An Iron Age/Roman Republican walled settlement located in the Central Alentejo
Castelo de Monte Novo (known locally as Castelo de Cuncos) is a large Iron Age/Roman Republican era settlement located in the Central Alentejo Portugal. So far, our work has revealed a substantial fortified settlement which appears to have been abruptly abandoned in the Late Roman Republican Period (1st Century BCE). Burned outer walls and the discovery of Roman weaponry during excavation suggests evidence of conflict. For the 2024 summer season we will continue excavation and hope to gain a better understanding of the site from its Iron Age origins until its likely violent end during the Roman Republican period.
Students will receive instructions in various archaeological methods such as excavation and surveying techniques, the processing and handling of artefacts, and the recording and illustrating of exposed areas. Prior experience in archaeology is not required. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students and volunteers are welcome.
Tuition for the 4-week session (including room, board, and transportation within Portugal) is $1800 USD.
(May 05 – June 01)
Tuition for the 2-week session (including room, board, and transportation within Portugal) is $1200 USD.
(May 19 – June 01)
[Some flexibility is possible within these dates, please contact us to see what is possible]
Field School Activities Excavation Techniques Students will gain experience in all aspects of the archaeological process. The most obvious of which is the actual excavation of material from the ground. Students will learn proper excavation techniques using tools such as pick axes, shovels, hand axes, and trowels. Students will directly participate in digging and learn how to identify various materials such as pottery, bone, and metal fragments.
Handling and Processing Artefacts Following the work in the field, students will take part in the cleaning and sorting of the finds from the day. Interested students may also work directly with our conservator to learn conservation techniques relating to pottery and metal objects. Depending on the volume of material to be conserved, some students will also have the opportunity to divide their time between the conservation lab and the field.
Archaeological Drawing and Recording Apart from the actual digging itself, students will also learn how to properly record the excavation through archaeological drawings. Students will learn how to record stratigraphic layers and archaeological features and take elevation readings during the excavation.
Survey Due to the size of the settlement, students will have the opportunity to participate in a surface survey of the area and its surrounding landscape. During the 2019 season, a metal detection survey was conducted around the settlement’s walls. Due to promising results, we plan on continuing this survey in addition to the excavation work.
Archaeological Field Trips On the weekends, we typically visit local archaeological sites and museum throughout the Alentejo. These trips can range from visiting Roman Villas or Medieval Castles to nearby historical cities such as Evora, Beja, and Merida. These trips can be a great way to learn about some of the local history of the area, or to just lounge about and be a tourist. On some afternoons, we will also visit local sites in Redondo itself and the surrounding area.
Program Overview The Simon Fraser University Department of Archaeology is pleased to offer a lab-based field school focusing on the curation and lab analysis of human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts. Students will be traveling to three locations in Portugal for training and hands-on lab experience in the preparation, analysis and interpretation of forensic and archaeological human remains. At these locations students will have the opportunity to visit forensic and educational organizations as well as historically and culturally significant sites. The first week will be spent in the town of Gandra, nearby Porto, where students will receive basic osteological and forensic training and will visit the morgue and other forensically relevant locations. The second and third weeks will be spent at the Municipal Museum of Santarem and the University of the Algarve respectively, where they will attend labs to learn and practice various bioarchaeology lab techniques, lab processing and conservation of archaeological human remains.
Important notes:
Information Session: Friday, January 19, 2024 at 11:30am in Saywell Hall 9152
Application Deadline: January 28th, 2024 at 11:59pm PT
LIFE BY THE IMPERIAL ROADS: IDENTITY AND WEALTH ON THE ROMAN FRONTIER. ROMAN VILLA AND SETTLEMENT EXCAVATION, SUMMER 2024 (Rapoltu Mare, Hunedoara County, Transylvania, ROMANIA)
Dates: June 9 to August 3, 2024 (Session 1: June 9 to July 6, 2024; Session 2: July 7 to August 3, 2024)
The Roman conquest of Dacia, the last Imperial expansion in Europe, began in 87AD with the relatively disastrous campaigns led by Domitian and ended with Trajan’s Dacian Wars of 101/2 and 106AD. The plethora of wealth and resources the Roman Empire harnessed in Dacia (especially in Transylvania) contributed significantly to the “solvability” of the imperial economy until the Aurelian Retreat of 270AD, the funding of the construction of Trajan’s Forum in Rome being a very concrete illustration of the potential of the new province.
The mechanisms of Roman occupation of Dacia are very complex and not well understood. The Dacian aristocracy and upper classes were in continuous contact with the Roman world well prior to the final fall of the Dacian Kingdoms. These interactions took many forms, ranging from raids and limited warfare, to intensive and extensive trade, to use of Roman techniques, technologies and craftsmen.
With the defeat and “suicide” of the last Dacian King, Decebalus, in 106AD, the structures of the local social system collapsed in parts or in whole. The new Roman presence generated a dynamic and continuous process of creolization in the new province, redefining the concepts and practices of identity, wealth and class representation along Roman traditions, in theory.
However, the realities in the field are quite more subtle. First of all, the local population was still present, controlling if not the resources proper, the various technical aspects of harvesting them. Second, the new Roman population was a very diverse aggregate of ethnic groups from across the Empire, the heavy Syrian presence in Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana and the many auxiliary garrisons along the various Transylvanian limes illustrating emphatically this aspect. Third, the Dacian Province presented de facto a frontier environment, constantly under pressure from foreign incursions from Germanic tribes from the north and west and the free Dacians and the Sarmatians/Scythian riders from the east.
This liminal environment generated very dynamic vectors of creolization and associated practices of identity construction. The Roman “civilizing” social constructs, based on an urbanized way of life implementing processes of alienation through technical and technological dependencies, was constantly threatened by external and internal pressures. The very rapid process of urbanization of the Dacian Provinces forced a lot of dynamic negotiation and practical creolization in the definition, construction and display of social identity and status.
This particular excavation will attempt to address these aspects of identity perception, presentation and representation. Our site is situated half way between Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana and Apulum, the two most important cities of the Dacian Provinces, very close to the largest gold deposits in Europe in the Apuseni Mountains, and on the main Imperial road in Dacia. Our ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey from 2015 and 2016 has revealed a rural villa of “palatial” size, unique in the Dacian Provinces, covering ca. 0.7ha of built space. Our test excavations have unearthed a rich environment, with 2 story buildings, painted walls, potential colonnades, several buildings outside the villa complex itself and a plethora of artifacts.
We have started in 2014 the systematic excavation of the gate complex as well as surveying the region around the villa itself, and in 2016 the intensive excavation of the villa’s main building, with spectacular results. In 2020, COVID-19 slowed us down significantly, but we still managed to answer some interesting questions as we uncovered the hypocaust location in the central building of the villa, the access road to the main gate, as well as what appears to be the cemetery of the earliest village of Rapoltu Mare. In 2021, after a gap year due to Covid-19, we got back in the field and had an amazing excavation year! We have discovered a wooden floor in situ in one of the earliest buildings of the villa, which we partially explored in 2022. In 2022, we uncovered a brand new building and what looks like a bone workshop. In 2023, we will continue excavating and uncovering the wooden floor, looking for the identity of the first occupants of our villa, as well as continue all vectors of research and expand our exploration of the villa’s internal arrangements.
Combined with a series of lectures covering Daco-Roman history and archaeology, material culture analysis, photogrammetry and associated hands-on laboratory and field training, this extraordinary environment and its associated monuments, with extraordinary surrounding natural landscapes and beautiful Transylvanian churches and castles, guarantees all students and volunteers with an incredible archaeological and cultural experience.
To achieve a more encompassing archaeological field experience, we encourage all our participants to consider ourMedieval Cemetery Funerary Excavationas well, for a total of 8 weeks in the field.
Scientific Directors: Dr. Andre Gonciar (archaeology@archaeotek.org) Dr. Marius Barbu (Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization, Hunedoara, RO) Field Directors: Dr. William Henry (ArchaeoTek) and John P. Chamness (ArchaeoTek) Trench Director: Dr. Jamie Bone (ArchaeoTek)
The 14th-17th century Piaţa Cetăţii cemetery was excavated between 2012 and 2014, resulting in the exhumation of approximately 800-1200 human burials. This was a salvage excavation, necessitated by an EU-funded redesign of the town’s historical center. As a participant in Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology’s 2023 Transylvanian Laboratory Project, you will play an essential role in the preliminary analysis of the Piaţa Cetăţii skeletal collection, and will learn invaluable skills in osteological preparation and analysis directly from the project’s primary investigators.
The Goal of Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology’s 2024 Transylvanian Laboratory Project
Clean the human remains and prepare them for study
Formulate biological profiles for the 800-1200 individual burials at Piaţa Cetăţii
Increase legibility in Complex 66, a mass grave with indications of perimortem trauma
The first objective is what makes the project such a unique opportunity for its students. While you will not be excavating human remains, you will begin your work on the Piaţa Cetăţii collection at precisely the point at which excavation ceased. While most human remains in teaching laboratories have already been prepped and curated, the Piaţa Cetăţii collection is untouched. Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology will teach you how to properly clean and prepare human osteological material for study. This skill-set, which is rarely developed by students outside of advanced graduate work, will familiarize you with bioarchaeological laboratory standards from the ground up.
Once the burials are cleaned and prepped for study, you will formulate biological profiles. These estimations of age-at-death, sex, and pathology are the building blocks of bioarchaeological research. You will gain experience formulating these profiles for both well-preserved skeletons and skeletons in the more fragmentary state that is typically encountered in the field. This advanced training will situate Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology students in extremely competitive positions for future employment in conservation or museum studies, and graduate work in archaeology, bioarchaeology, or other field sciences.
As a participant of Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology’s 2023 Transylvanian Laboratory Project, you will receive graduate-level training in Bioarchaeological, Forensic, and Archaeological theory and methods, including new and innovative multidisciplinary research frameworks that are rarely taught in other field learning programs. You will learn:
THEORY
Theories of Mass Grave Formation
Violence Theory
Black Feminist Archaeology
Queer Theory
Decolonizing Bioarchaeology
Bioarchaeological Storytelling
METHOD
Osteological Cleaning & Prep
Fragment ID & Siding
Skeletal Recording
Age-at-Death & Sex Estimation
Paleopathology & Skeletal Trauma
Analysis of Commingled Remains
Want to learn more?
Applications for Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology’s 2023 Transylvanian Laboratory Project are open now!Create your profileto register for our upcoming info-session, learn more about this unique opportunity, andapplyRegistered applicants will have access to restricted areas of the site, including discussion forums and applicant-only blog posts.
Rivulus Dominarum: Bioarchaeology of a Transylvanian Mining Town
Rivulus Dominarum is a town of many names. When the people represented by the Piaţa Cetăţii skeletal collection called it home, the town was known as Rivulus Dominarum, which is where our project gets its name. Between the 19th century and the end of World War I, the town was known by the Hungarian name of Nagybanya. Following the end of the war and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the town, along with most of Transylvania became officially part of the Kingdom of Romania. Despite reverting back to Hungarian control briefly during World War II, Transylvania remains Romanian and Rivulus Dominarum is now known by the Romanian name of Baia Mare, or “Big Mine”.
Maramureș county, where contemporary Baia Mare is located, was the metallurgical epicenter of Transylvania for almost 3,000 years. During the medieval era, Rivulus Dominarum was one of the most important Transylvanian mining towns in the Kingdom of Hungary, enjoying special privileges and social freedoms denied non-mining towns. With its long and continuous history of gold mining, the town represents an incredible opportunity to study the impact of mining and its biosocial consequences.
The analysis of the Piaţa Cetăţii skeletal collection, which you will play an instrumental part in formulating, is just one aspect of what promises to be a lengthy list of future research projects in Baia Mare. Very few bioarchaeological studies of mining exist, and fewer still that consider the biosocial role that mining played in mortality, community health, and social identity both inside and outside of the mines. Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology places the embodiment of mining and its biosocial consequences within the larger community at the epicenter of our project; for this reason, we will not be attempting to determine who did and did not work directly in the mines. Mining will instead be studied as it would have been experienced by the individuals represented by the Piaţa Cetăţii skeletal collection: as a phenomenon that would have impacted the biological and social lives of all the inhabitants of the mining town, in one form or another. These impacts would have included not only injury or death in the mines, but also illnesses contracted through contaminated drinking water, congenital disorders resulting from maternal exposure to heavy metals, or injuries sustained through domestic abuse in mining households. Each of these biological consequences would have created social ramifications that would have reverberated throughout the entire community of Rivulus Dominarum.
As a participant in Rivulus Dominarum Bioarchaeology’s 2023 Transylvanian Laboratory Project, you will create biological profiles of the Piaţa Cetăţii skeletal collection. These estimates of sex and age-at-death, along with inventories of paleopathology and skeletal trauma endured by each individual, will shed light on who was experiencing the biological consequences of mining and what the social ramifications of those consequences were within the larger community of 14th-17th century Rivulus Dominarum.
LOST CHURCHES PROJECT–MEDIEVAL FUNERARY EXCAVATION: LIVING AND DYING ON THE EDGE OF EUROPE (Valeni, Hatghita County, Transylvania, ROMANIA) – 2024
Date: Session 1: June 9 to July 6, 2024 Session 2: July 7 to August 3, 2024
Full project details can be foundhereand a detailed syllabushere
OVERVIEW
As Europe redefines itself in the wake of the Ottoman invasion, the Carpathian frontier still holds fast against the Eastern invaders. Although Transylvanian suzerainty has passed from the Hungarian Kingdom, to the Ottomans, to the Habsburgs from the 15-17th century, its territory has never been invaded by the Turkish troops. However, the local populations lived under constant social, political, economic and religious stress. Since the Neolithic, Transylvania has been at the crossroads of European identity. During the late Middle Ages, this region goes not only through major political changes, but also through a spirituality crisis, under the pressure of Islam from the East and Protestantism from the West.
During the 18th century, several churches around Odorheiu Secuiesc have been abandoned. What is even more interesting is that those churches were removed from collective memory as well. Not only the written records pertaining to these churches were lost, but the local communities forgot about their existence.
Our excavation aims at retrieving the memory of these churches and to try to elucidate the social, political and religious context that created such an environment that would extract a church from local collective memory.
The Lost Churches Project started in 2013, with the excavation of two of these churches and associated cemeteries: Bradesti and Lueta. Concurrently, our osteology team has uncovered a very strange phenomenon within another church, at Teleac: 69 out of 70 burials were juveniles, with 49 preterm or fetal age, all of which dated to the 17th century.
In 2014, we have started exploring the environment that created this very unique skeletal assemblage, with the excavation of Teleac’ sister church in Valeni, with outstanding results We have discovered the building phases of the ecclesiastic buildings and their relationship to the deceased. Two of theses phases, an early medieval and a Gothic one have been uncovered, but the stratigraphy indicates that there is an even earlier church that we have been identified. The most surprising result of our 2014 campaign is the presence of what appears to be a migration period, pre-Christian tumulus under the church, as indicated by the burial of a horse associated with several individuals buried in fetal position.
Participants enrolled in this program will also have an opportunity to work with commingled human remains. Excavations at the Lost Church of Valeni during summer 2017 revealed an almost intact, stone built, medieval ossuary with excellent preservation, which we completed excavating in 2023.
Our excavation will deploy a bioarchaeological field approach. Within this context, we will concentrate our work on the individuals themselves and their immediate surroundings (i.e. clothing implements, jewelry, coffin and other primary funerary depositions). During one session of the excavation, we expect each participant to fully excavate approximately 2 individuals. Primary processing of the excavated remains, together with various lectures will provide our participants with the necessary training in human anatomy and morphology to be able to fully take advantage of the field experience.
To further expand their skills, several other projects are available to all our participants in osteology and bioarchaeology, as intensive laboratory research programs, respectively:
Academic Credit (optional):3 or 6 undergraduate (graduate – if applicable) credits can be earned through University of South Florida – additional USF tuition. SeeUSF Program Brochurefor more information. USF procedures and deadlines apply. Contact Dr. Jonathan Bethard at USF for more details.
JUVENILE OSTEOLOGY RESEARCH LABORATORY WORKSHOP (Bioarchaeology of Children): MEDIEVAL CRISIS POPULATIONS: VICTIMS OF CHANGE (Odorheiu Secuiesc, Harghita County, Transylvania, Romania)
Our Juvenile Osteology Research Workshop is a more advanced continuation of the Adult Osteology Workshop. The aim of this workshop is to provide participants with an intensive review of juvenile osteology and an overview of the ways in which this kind of unique information is interpreted by bioarchaeologists. During the workshop, participants will have the chance to study the growth and development of the human skeleton across various juvenile age cohorts, ranging from pre-natal to pre-adult. Most importantly, participants will have the opportunity to gain hands on experience with the analysis of exceptionally well preserved juvenile skeletal remains.
The aim of this project is to evaluate to what extent and how the major political events of the 16th and 17th centuries have impacted physically local populations, especially the children. During the 2013 season of our Osteology Workshops we uncovered a very interesting and unique phenomenon: during the 17th century, the inside of some of the churches in the region of Odorheiu Secuiesc, in the heart of Transylvania (Romania), was dedicated to infant burials. Our initial study of the church in Teleac/Telekfakva showed one adult, 69 juveniles out of which 48 were of preterm or fetal age.
During the next stage of the project, started in 2014, we started to address how the health of the children in the various cohorts, ranging from preterm to pre-adult, varies in this period of crisis. The very good preservation of the medieval osteological material and the high quality of the recovery during excavation provides a unique opportunity for a very intensive hands-on experience while working with juvenile osteological remains. This laboratory workshop session is intended for students with some previous osteological experience. Knowledge, both theoretical and practical, of the human anatomy and morphology is highly recommended.
In addition to hands-on laboratory instruction, participants will also contribute to numerous seminar discussions and hear lectures on topics related to the bioarchaeology of children. The workshop comprises daily intensive lectures on infant anatomy and pathology, group discussions, laboratory work, bone restoration and analysis, leading to individual and group research projects and presentations as part of theEleventhInternational Osteology and Bioarchaeology Student Colloquiumin Odorheiu Secuiesc. Topical areas to be included involve the following subject areas: an overview of the bioarchaeology of children, growth and development, weaning and dietary stress, juvenile trauma and pathology, and reconstruction and interpretation of infant mortality. Moreover, seminars and lectures will introduce how novel technological applications (i.e., histology, CT imaging) have been utilized by bioarchaeologists who study juvenile remains.
Students who wish to expand their skills and experience in the field can register for an additional 4 week session of theMedieval Cemetery Funerary Excavation, immediately preceding the Juvenile Osteology Workshop. Note that previous experience in human anatomy and osteology, such as ourAdult Osteology Research Laboratory Workshopor equivalent, is recommended but not mandatory.
Academic Credit (optional):3 or 6 undergraduate (graduate – if applicable) credits can be earned through University of South Florida – additional USF tuition fees apply. SeeUSF Program Brochurefor more information. USF procedures and deadlines apply. Contact Dr. Jonathan Bethard at USF for more details.
Project Director: Prof. Jonathan Bethard, Dept. of Anthropology, University of South Florida (e-mail jbethard@usf.edu)
SÂNPETRU BIOARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL: UNEARTHING THE MEDIEVAL PAST OF TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
Dates: July 7 to August 3, 2024 Click here for project syllabus with full details
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTOR(S) Dr. Annamaria Diana, Bioarchaeologist/Independent Researcher (annamaria.diana@outlook.com) Dr. Daniela Marcu Istrate, Institute of Archaeology ‘V. Pârvan’, Bucharest (dmarcuistrate@gmail.com)
The field school takes place in the quaint village of Sânpetru, located a few km north of Braşov, in southeast Transylvania (historical region of Romania), and is part of the broader Braşov Bioarchaeology Project, established in 2014 after rescue excavations in the centre of Braşov exposed a large medieval cemetery and associated medieval and post-medieval structures. Our team has since explored the history and development of Braşov and environs through the analysis of archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence.
Located in the heart of the Carpathians and founded in the 12th century by Central European colonists (generally referred to as Saxons), invited as settlers by the Hungarian king Géza II, the city of Braşov (called Kronstadt/Corona in medieval times) was a crossroads during the Middle Ages for travelers, merchants and diplomats from central Europe and the Middle East, where communities from various ancestral backgrounds coexisted. Such a multi-cultural reality, still poorly understood, was the result of centuries of population movement across Transylvania. From pre-Roman times to the Middle Ages, the fertile Transylvanian lands were traversed and pillaged by nomadic tribes, colonised by European settlers, or disputed and conquered by more powerful entities. The Saxon cities of Transylvania (Braşov, Sibiu, Sighişoara, to name a few), are emblematic of the persistence of this historical heritage.
The Sânpetru Bioarchaeology Field School combines training in both bioarchaeological analysis and archaeological fieldwork, and in 2024 aims to achieve two crucial research objectives:
1) The post-excavation processing (cleaning and drying) and organization (anatomical sorting and preparation for storage) of human skeletal remains from the Braşov medieval parish church cemetery, an extremely interesting site not only for its complex stratigraphy and abundance of finds, but also because of its uninterrupted use by the wealthy and upper echelons of Braşov society for over five centuries, between the 12th and the 18th century AD. This was rare for Transylvanian cemeteries, the use of which was discontinued after the Reformation. Students will be able to learn new skills, both practical and theoretical, by working with skeletal materials from single, multiple and commingled burials.
2) To continue exploring the history and origin of the fortified Saxon church of Sânpetru, a village known for this religious building and for its 14th century painted chapel. During the 2023 season, two trenches (S.18 and S.19) relative to the outer fortified walls were excavated. Students were able to expose and retrieve an articulated calf skeleton, evidence of wall collapse, and a very interesting arched structure, together with pottery sherds from diverse historical periods, and scattered animal and human bones.
The 2024 excavations in Sânpetru will also aim to:
● Further our knowledge of the structural remnants discovered in the 2023 season;
● Continue investigating the origins and development of the settlement, which was donated to the Order of the Cistercians in 1240 AD;
● Clarify the relationship between the 13th century fortified structures and the religious buildings with them associated.
Students will also be able to witness the ongoing process of conservation and restoration of the church and associated fortified enclosures and to participate in cultural heritage activities. This is a unique opportunity which will allow students to experience the importance of interdisciplinary projects and discover how the combined efforts of researchers from diverse fields of study can answer compelling research questions and bring back to life sites rich in culture and heritage.
ACADEMIC CREDIT UNITS & TRANSCRIPTS
Credit Units: Attending students will be awarded 6 semester credit units (equivalent to 9 quarter credit units) through our academic partner, Connecticut College. Connecticut College is a highly ranked liberal arts institution with a deep commitment to undergraduate education. Students will receive a letter grade for attending this field school (see assessment, below). This field school provides a minimum of 270 hours of experiential education. Students are encouraged to discuss the transferability of credit units with faculty and registrars at their home institution prior to attending this field school.
SPAIN
2024 Spain: Exhuming Human Remains from Modern Mass Burials: Forensic Archaeology from the Battle of Teruel, Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was a global political event and experimental grounds to test modern weaponry and war tactics. One of the most consequential battles of the war was the Battle of Teruel, fought between December 1937 and February 1938. The vicious battle took place during one of the worst winters in Spain and considered to be the ‘Stalingrad’ of the Spanish Civil War. More than 40,000 soldiers from both sides died there. At least 406 of these soldiers were buried in a large mass grave at the site of San Blas, a small cemetery on the outskirts of Teruel. The soldiers were buried side by side, regardless of the side they fought for, with their weapons, uniforms, boots, and personal objects. This mass burial is the focus of this program.
Initial investigations at San Blas were carried out in 2022 and the remains of 18 individuals were recovered. One individual wore a uniform with brass buttons with symbols of the U.S. Army and other American artifacts. This suggest that American members of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion were buried at San Blas, and that more U.S. citizens may be recovered there.
This program is design to train students in the process of human remain exhumation from mass graves. The goal is to identify and bring closure to families and decedents of these dead. In addition, this program train students how to plan, execute, record, document and identify individuals from mass burials. While our hope is that such skills will not be needed, reality is different, and professionals trained in excavation of mass burials are still needed across the world.
This program will extract an emotional toll on its participants. Families of the deceased will be present and there is still a deep political division in Spain about its civil war. This program requires resilience, perseverance, strong ethics and attention to details. Consider how challenging this program is before applying.
PLEASE READ BEFORE APPLYING
This program is focused on exhumation of human remains who perished during the 1937-38 Battle of Teruel, one of the most vicious of the Spanish Civil War. The program is designed to train students in the excavation and exhumation of mass burials in conflict zones and prepare participants with methodological and legal issues (chain of custody, documentation, etc) that are crucial elements of such work. This program takes place where family & community members are alive and have deep and intensive interest in the exhumation work.
This program is emotionally and physically demanding, requiring the utmost respect for the dead and the living. Students should be aware of the challenges and should attend only if they feel this type of experience is for them. This program DOES NOT offer onsite professional grief counseling.
DIRECTOR: Dr. Llorenç Alapont Martin, Prof. Physical and Forensic Anthropology, Universidad Europea Valencia (llor.alapont@gmail.com)
ZORITA CASTLE ARCHAEOLOGY AND OSTEOLOGY (Zorita de los Canes, Spain)
Date: June 26 to July 15, 2023
Application Deadline: Rolling application. We accept applications until all spaces are filled.
Click here for the Summer 2022 brochure Click here for a World Archaeology article about Zorita Castle
OVERVIEW
Zorita Castle perches on a plateau overlooking the tiny village of Zorita de los Canes. It sits on the banks of the Spain’s longest river: The Tagus. The castle once controlled one of the three only bridges that crossed the river. Slightly smaller than an international football pitch, the original fortress was built by armies from North Africa during the Moorish and Berber conquest of Spain. For the foundations, the builders looted the stonework from the nearby ruins of the Visigothic city of Recópolis.
The Castle History. Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Zorita Castle thrived as a focal point for commerce and military adventures during the wars to take control of Spain between Muslim and Christian armies. Since then, the castle has fallen into obscurity. Geographically unpopular, ignored by academia, and until recently left to crumble. Today the former headquarters of one of Spain’s most important military orders is coming back to life. Since 2014 and overseen by the Heritage Office of the regional Castilla-La Mancha government, Zorita Castle field school teaches students and archaeology lovers from around the world how to conduct an archaeological excavation while uncovering part of the castle history.
The best preserved building inside the castle is the church of San Benito. The knights of the order of Calatrava built the church at the end of the 12th century when the castle became the order’s headquarters. Documents mention a cemetery, but the only material evidence was a long stone slab, possibly a burial cover. When cleaning the stone, a Medieval Tic-Tac-Toe, a game we owe to the Arabs was discovered.
Throughout the fifteenth century and like other castles, Zorita was no longer the residence of Commanders of Calatrava Cavalry Order, whose preferred live in houses in nearby towns like Pastrana, becoming an arsenal castle, guarding firearms, propulsion, armor, ammunition and miscellaneous tools.
The Order of Calatrava and Zorita Castle
The Order of Calatrava was born in the actual region of Castilla-La Mancha, specifically in the province of Ciudad Real, where during the twelfth century intensified the struggle between the Berber villages arrived in Al-Andalus and the Christian of Castille. All Mancha region south of Almagro is known today as Campo de Calatrava, the first seat of the institution of monks warriors.
Alarcos, defeating in July 19th of 1195, saw the fall of the Guadiana frontier, with the loss of the Head Castle of the Order (Old Clatrava castle). This battle and abandonment of Salvatierra means an unprecedented crisis that brought the Order to the brink of extinction. The remains of the Order took refuge in Zorita castle, one of the few possessions that kept the calatravos under their control. In Zorita, the Order was again organized, rearmed and once strengthened was delivered to new strategies for the recovery and control of territory. After the Christian victory in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Almohad in 1212, the Order settled permanently based in New Calatrava castle, construction designed to support a large-scale siege avoid Alarcos surprises like.
Order of Calatrava text about Zorita castle, dating from 1518 The state of the castle was revised on March 25, 1518 in detail by the visitors accompanied by Miguel de Echeverría, a neighbouring stonemason from Almonacid; Damián, a neighbor of Pastrana, master of Carpentry and plasterwork. The expenses that were suggested include a considerable budget: In the wall, the door to the Jewish quarter was burnt, as was the White Tower, by the part of Badujo river, 8,000 Maravedíes. Wall of the Jewish quarter, 2,000 Maravedíes – Moat an Wall between the fortress and the Jewish quarter 4,000 Maravedíes. Iron door, small repairs, without price, second door with a hand mill, 6,000 Maravedíes. -Stables passing these doors, 500 Maravedíes. -New room, in the new kitchen, in front of the church, 25,000 Maravedíes. The corral of the Counts, which was cemetery, clean it of ground, 1,000 Maravedíes. The Keep, demolished in part, for demolishing it completely and removing the stone, 10.000 Maravedíes
EXCAVATION
During the excavations of 2014 and after discovering and excavating three burials,the existence of a cemetery inside the castle was finally confirmed . The skeletons were resting on their backs, legs straight, their arms crossed over their chests and facing east. Only one of the skeletons had a proper burial, an anthropomorphic stone tomb. All three were adult men, and only one died at an old age. Probably knights or clergy of the Calatrava order because only these groups would have been buried so close to the church within the castle walls.
From 2016 Zorita teams have been excavating the space over the castle cistern. Onto this courtyard converged all the roofs and poured the water from the rain into the cistern. Later on, the courtyard was transformed and home spaces were built, among which the remains of a bread oven stand out. The cistern was abandoned and transformed into a wine cellar with a well on one side. It must have been a terrible drought what forced the castle inhabitants to carve this 40 m deep well directly into the rock. In 2017 new underground chambers were discovered under the access to the church.
Goals for 2023
Excavation of the deepest graves en the Area 1, to verify the time of the the initial date of occupation in the cemetery.
The Archaeology and Osteology program at Zorita Castle is focused on teaching archaeological methodology and on the excavation of graves. Mornings will be dedicated to excavation with a break for a snack. Fully recovered after a bath in the river, lunch and siesta, afternoons will be dedicated to seminars and workshops.
Participants will take part in all the excavation process, they will keep a field journal and clean, identify, and catalogue artifacts. We will learn to define a burial, the right way to dig a skeleton and how to remove it from the ground: how to deal with the body, what tools to use, how to remove the bones in anatomical units with the right and left sides individualized, what is the correct packaging, how to register everything in situ (practice with photogrametry for recording).
SITE DIRECTORS: Dionisio Urbina Martínez PhD. in Geography and History from the University Complutense of Madrid. He has been a professional archaeologist since 1990 and has directed over fifty archaeological excavations: Medieval, Late Antique, Roman, Iron and Bronze Age. Specialist in the Roman world and the Second Iron Age in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, he has published several scientific articles and divulgative books, co-edited several conferences and exhibition catalogs, and several articles in scientific journals. He has taught numerous courses, conducted ten archaeological exhibitions as well as various presentations, and lectures and seminars. He taught the specialized course “Generalist in Antiques and Twentieth Century”, at the Center for Arts and Business Álvaro Durán, from 2001 to 2007, and was a teacher of the Degree in Cultural Management at the University Antonio de Nebrija in 2009 and 2010. Currently runs Achaeospain, directing the investigations at the sites of Zorita Castle and Cerro de la Muela Roman castellum.
Víctor Barrera Alarcón Graduate in History and Archaeology from the Complutense University of Madrid and Master in Physical Anthropology: Human Evolution and Biodiversity by the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Alcalá de Henares and the Autonomous University of Madrid. Specialist in Archaeology and Forensic Anthropology by the Institute of Professional Training in Forensic Sciences of Madrid. I have collaborated as a technician in archaeology and as a specialist in human skeletal remains in more than a dozen archaeological excavations both in Spain (Convento de San Juan de Dios, Arco de Conejeros, Ermita de la Vega, el Ceremeño, Zorita de los Canes) and abroad (Hala Sultan Tekke -Cyprus- and Viminacium -Serbia-). I have directed the Osteoarchaeology Laboratory of the Complutense University of Madrid for four years and carried out the osteological studies of 5 different collections during those years. I have also taught several introductory courses on osteoarchaeology for young archaeologists during my tenure there. I have more than a dozen scientific publications including articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.
THE ROMAN FORUM OF VALERIA ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL (Valeria, Cuenca, Spain)
The Roman city of Valeria is located in central Spain, to the south of the city of Cuenca in the area called Sierra Alta. It was founded between 93-82 BC by the proconsul Gaius Valerius Flaccus, who put down the last revolts of the indigenous Celtiberians. Given the unstable climate at the time, the city was planed and constructed on a narrow plateau very well defended; between two streams with high cliffs . But Valeria was also planned within the Roman program of colonization of the interior of the Iberian Peninsula, as one of the romanized setlements that were to become administrative, economic and commercial centers of a new region.
The imposing gorge of the river Gritos sculpts and shapes the landscape around Valeria. Deep limestone canyons modeled by the action of the water, varied vegetation in which thyme and rosemary groves alternate with communities of black juniper or poplar and poplar groves, specimens of peregrine falcon, Bonelli’s eagle or eagle owl make up a unique natural catalog that will delight all nature or adventure sports lovers.
Valeria’s splendor spans from the time of Augustus to the Flavians. It was then that a building program was designed to give monumentality to the heart of the city. Numerous vestiges of it’s earliest moments are also preserved, including part of the Republican forum and some of its outbuildings. As the orography of the chosen place for the city was very irregular, in order to obtain a sufficiently flat, horizontal space, suitable for the function of a square, it was necessary to create a large artificial terrace in the narrowest part of the peninsula. For this purpose, four retaining walls were erected on which the forum was constructed. On the west side a temple for the emperor cult was constructed, and in the east wing a colonnade of 86m long, and taking advantage of the unevenness of the ground, a nymphaeum and another portico oriented to the outside were placed under the colonnade. Under the nymphaeum we can still see an alignment of tabernae. In the rest of the space around the forum there are public and administrative buildings such as the curia, the basilica or the tabularium.
The Forum was the administrative, political and religious center of the city. It was formed by a large arcaded square around which the main public buildings were distributed. It was well paved and this pavement was covering 4 large water cisterns. The remodeling of the forum took place in the time of the emperors Tiberius, Caligula and Claudio, ending roughly between 20 and 50 AD.
The four cisterns in the center of the Forum were covered by barrel vaults and are an exemplary example of Roman hydraulic engineering. Its walls are made of opus caementicium, the floor has a quarter-round molding at the juncture with the wall in order to facilitate cleaning and prevent leaks. The water was distributed through lead pipes, fistulae plumbae.
The basilica is located to the north of the Forum and also underwent extensive renovations, changing its archaic appearance of double portico for a central nave and a perimeter ambulatory. The interior decoration of this space was made of stuccoes and limestone slabs, with ornaments and moldings.
The Tabernae were located on the south, east and west side of the Forum. They were premises dedicated to commercial uses with a regular floor plan, with a large doorway, which were usually covered with a barrel vault and had a window above it to let light into a wooden attic that was used for storage. They were open to the main roads of the city.
The height of the Forum over the area, allows the layout of cryptoporticus to extend its surface to the West and a monumental entrance with a staircase to the South.
The Nymphaeum. On the east side of the forum lies this very original fountain building dedicated to the nymphs and rivers. It is very large at over 105m long of which more than 80 belong to the fountain proper. This makes it one of the largest known throughout the Roman Empire and, of course, the largest in Hispania. The Nymphaeum did not perhaps figure in the first, late-republican, forum and was perhaps devised when forum was raised in level in the remodelling of the first century AD in the Claudius era. It is, however, a very old example since its construction must date from the early years of the 1st c. AD, and therefore well before the great nymphaea of Africa (2nd c. AD) so that Valeria is closer to the older Hellenistic types.
The hillside fell abruptly on this side of the Forum and it was necessary to build a high retaining wall which would have compromised its aesthetic appearance. Therefore the designer of the forum took advantage of this wall to create a shrine to water gods, typical in the celtibérian world. In front of the wall, decorated with rectangular niches and alcoves, shops were built at the foot of the retaining wall. Their roofs served as part of an elongated terrace at a lower floor level of the Forum and divided into two halves, one like a large balcony supporting the retaining wall on the rear and providing a view over all the city, and the other half covered and attached to nymphaeum.
EXCAVATION
From 1951 to 1974, archaeological excavations began, in which the people of the modern small village became actively involved, putting an end to the plundering, and an attempt was made to divulge the Roman city of Valeria in various forums and congresses. A Local Museum was also created in 1952, which would be the germ of the Archaeological Museum of Cuenca. From 1974 to 1978, the excavation of Valeria was greatly promoted under the direction of Manuel Osuna, after the departure of Suay. From 1979 the new director was Ángel Fuentes. During this period, work continued in the Forum: the Basilica, until its total excavation and the site of the Curia, the tabernae of the wing of the Nymphaeum were excavated to the end, the cave dwelling known as “hanging house” was cleaned and excavation began in the Cryptoporticus.
On the southern side of the Forum structures is the House of the Adobe. Another example of private urbanism is the “Casa del Hoyo”. The Roman city had a good water supply through an articulated system of aqueducts that can be seen carved into the rock. The objects found at this site are in the museum of Cuenca, including the treasure of Valeria consisting of silver coins dating from the period after the Second Punic War in about 185 BC.
Goals for 2023
In our first excavation campaign in Valeria during the summer of 2022 many important discoveries were made. Excavating at the forum, fragments of sculpture, pedestals and memorial headstones were abundant. As an example, we found an inscription on a pedestal corresponding to a statue of Annia, which was made by the will of Gaius Grattius. Gaius was IIIIVIR, the highest office in the city, and twice a priest or Flamen of the emperor’s cult. We have also found a fairly large number of construction elements such as fragments of bases and column capitals. Two capitals are especially important, one of them is Corinthian, very likely from the time of Augustus and the other has a decoration that has no exact parallels in all the Roman West. In addition to the capitals, some small bronzes have been found, such as a stylus for writing. But the most important of all is a torch fragment corresponding to a statue of the Goddess Ceres. This is a remarkable find, since there was no news of the presence of this goddess in the Valeria forum, and it is the only known in Hispania so far. The torch is an attribute of the goddess Ceres (Greek Demeter), related to the nine days she was given, to search the underworld for her daughter Proserpina (Greek Persephone), where Pluton (Greek Hades) had taken her.
In 2023 the excavations will undertake the investigation of one of the unexcavated cores of the Forum; in the area known as the Exedra or Temple of the Imperial Worship. This area is located between the cardo maximus and the tabernae under the emperor’s cult building. This area is 10x10m and at least 2m deep, and is located between the wall that encloses the Forum on the west and to the east of the tabernae excavated in 1981. The construction of the first forum, or Republican forum, is dated to around 20-15 BC.
This witness is therefore located in an area which, according to its researchers, underwent the following transformations: On the west side a huge semi-circular building was laid out, inserted into the large rectangular bay that had to be built parallel to the new platform, subdivided into tabernae. This building went over the cryptoportico to the foral area where it had its façade.
This “huge semicircular building”, known as the Exedra and which researchers propose to rename the Temple of Imperial Worship, is located between the tabernae. Between the tabernae and the enclosure of the forum there is a long, narrow space known generically as the cryptoporticus; it could be interpreted as an underground street allowing passage from one wing of the forum to the other. The portico that enclosed the forum on this side must have been located above it. The temple of imperial worship would have been accessed from the forum, but it is not clear how it would have ended on the other side, towards the cardo maximum.
Valeria is a small municipality in the middle mountains of Cuenca with barely 80 inhabitants. Its urban area is structured around the Plaza Mayor, where we find the church, the Town Hall and some interesting mansions such as the house of the Curato and the house of the Dukes of Granada.
From the square you can see the Town Hall building, which dates from the 18th century. It has a rectangular floor plan and two floors. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Sey, which was the seat of the Visigoth bishopric, stands out among the buildings in Valeria. The Visigothic seat was probably built over an ancient Roman temple of which the Airón well was preserved, and later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Romanesque temple was built, with three naves and three apses, unique in the province. And in the 16th and 17th centuries it was modified again, obtaining its current appearance. On its walls we can see Roman columns and funerary stelae, Visigothic pieces, or its Mudejar roof.
Attached to the church on the north side are the sacristy and the Parish Museum. This museum is of great value for housing, among others, artistic treasures such as: Baroque canvases, a Mudejar coffered ceiling, Roman funerary stelae, construction elements of Visigothic origin and an altar front made of Talavera tile. A museum has recently been installed in the site’s old medieval church, with decorative construction pieces and epigraphs.
The group, including ArchaeoSpain staff, will be staying at two small guest houses near the Plaza Mayor.
The project will provide all meals; lunch and dinner every day in the bar-restaurant on the ground floor of the Town Hall. (If you have dietary requirements, the restaurant will be informed in advance).
NEANDERTHALS & MODERN HUMAN ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES AT COVA GRAN DE SANTA LINYA, SPAIN
Dates: June 22 to July 20, 2024 Status: Open Orientation date: April 14, 2024
Dr. Jorge Martínez-Moreno, Research Associate, Universitat Autonoma Barcelona (Jorge.martinez@uab.cat)
Dr. Rafael Mora Torcal, Professor, Universitat Autonoma Barcelona (Rafael.mora@uab.cat)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Where did we, humans, come from and where are we, contemporary people, heading to? These important and intimately related questions have become increasingly relevant as technological [r]evolution, along with profound political, economic, and cultural changes impact our daily lives. Leading scholarship on the issue has become broadly read and widely popular – Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Jared Dimond’s The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? and David Graeber & David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, to name just a few.
This program is dealing with our beginning, with the emergence of modern humans as seen from Southern Europe. It also deals with relationships & interaction with our closest relatives – Homo neanderthalensis. While our work is highly focused and limited in space, the unique level of preservation and depth of occupation history at Cova Gran offers an exceptional opportunity to study our ancestors, their interactions with the environment, with other hominins and with each other.
By 50,000 years ago, groups of hominins arrived at the Cova Gran rock shelter, building hearths and leaving behind well preserved bone, lithics and other evidence of human activity. These occasional visits lasted for thousands of years – throughout the Middle/Upper Paleolithic (at Cova Gran, 50,000- 40,000 years ago). A complex stratigraphy of built hearths allows us to carefully study the evolution of human relationships to their environment, to specialized activities and to changes in technology.
During the 2024 season, one part of the team will excavate at Sector R, where the Paleolithic visitors left their material evidence.
Limited excavations during Covid yielded spectacular results in Sector V. Partial skeletal remains of Homo Sapiens – primarily long bones – were recovered at the site and dated to 15,000 years ago. This is a rare find, as we know very little about European human populations of the time (we know a lot more about the anatomy and lifestyle of Neanderthals from the region). As these populations were likely replaced by migrants from Anatolia and the Near East during the Neolithic “revolution” (ca,7,000 years ago in our region) we know very little about the indigenous H. sapiens who originally migrated from Africa to Europe around 50,000 years ago. For the 2024 season, another part of the team will excavate in this area – Sector V – trying to find specific bones with enough preserved DNA materials to study and understand the paleogenomic and paleoanthropological relationship of this individuals with other H. Sapiens populations spread and isolated in Eurasia at the same period.
To find the best path forward we must understand where we came from. We must understand the forces that shaped our biology and culture to become what we are today. The Cova Gran project is a narrow, but deep window into the past, allowing us to explore and reflect on such issues. Cova Gran unique preservation and extremely long cultural occupation provides for the extended documentation, study, and interpretation of human evolution at the regional level. It is a critical and significant data point for the global understanding of our human origin and for our ability to make informed decisions about our collective future.
Students MUST remember that while our research is informed by big questions, field work is highly detailed, narrow, careful and slow. Expect lively discussions of exciting issues, but DO NOT expect a definite answer. Archaeological knowledge works gradually, by building evidence upon evidence, so patience and perseverance are crucial for any quality research work.
ADITU ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL 2023 (Roncesvalles, northern Spain)
Join us in the exploration of one of the most intriguing and mysterious sites in Western Europe. In 2022 we will be returning to the Silo of Charlomagne, where legend has the final resting place of the Carolingian soldiers who died at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, and immortalised in the French epicTheSong of Roland.
SESSIONS: First session: June 15 to July 4, 2023 Second session: July 6 to July 25, 2023
The 2023 Field School at Roncesvalles Click here to get more information on our response to the coronavirus epidemic. Note: In recent days we have noticed that a few emails requesting information from our programme have arrived to our spam mailbox. We do not know why this happened, but if you have contacted us and did not get a reply from us, please, contact us again. We always reply to every email we get, and from now on we will be monitoring our spam mailbox frequently to detect these cases.
If you have emailed us again and you do not get a reply from us, please, send an email to the Field School director Fran Valle de Tarazaga, to his personal email: <fran.valledetarazaga@gmail.com>
The 2023 Aditu Archaeological Field School is a research project investigating the origins of the medieval ossuary located at Roncesvalles (Northern Navarre, Spain) just a few miles from the French border. The purpose of the project is to investigate what is rumoured to be the burial site of the rearguard of Charlemagne’s army, ambushed in the Battle of Roncesvalles and immortalised in the medieval French work “La Chanson de Roland.” In addition to its historical significance, the location has long been an important rest stop for pilgrims hiking the Camino de Santiago from France, as it represents the traditional first stop upon crossing the Pyrenees mountains and entering the Iberian peninsula.
The ossuary is the oldest structure that forms part of the religious complex of Roncesvalles. Historical sources, as well as previous interventions at the site, have attested to the long chronology of burials present within the ossuary, and this project anticipates being the most extensive excavation undertaken to date at the site.
In 2023 our aim is to better understand the history and importance of the structure through continuing to excavate the upper layers of the complex. The focus of the field school will be on the excavation and the analysis of complete skeletons and commingled remains, and will be accompanied by lectures on human osteology, calculation of MNI, archaeological practice, Basque and medieval archaeology and relevant topics related to field methodology and finds processing. The field school represents a rare opportunity to excavate a unique site of huge historical significance and gain insight into different types of field and laboratory methodologies within commingled contexts.
The team responsible for the excavation, Aditu Arkeologia, has extensive experience in field schools and there was already a field season at Roncesvalles between 2019 and 2022. Results from the anthropological analysis of remains uncovered at the site will form part of a wider study of the population of Navarre in the Middle Ages, and samples from articulated burials are expected to provide data to be used in stable isotope analysis.
Where is Roncesvalles? Roncesvalles (Orreaga in the local Basque language) is a small municipality in Navarre, one of the seven Basque territories nested in the Western Pyrenees. The site is located at around 1000 meters above sea level (some 3200 feet). Throughout the whole year but more specially during the Summer, Roncesvalles is a favourite destination both for tourists and pilgrims, as the sanctuary is a pivotal place along the old European pilgrimage route to Saint James of Compostela, known as “el Camino.”
Will you join us in 2023? The field school is aimed at students or graduates of archaeology and associated disciplines, although if places are available it will be open to anyone that has an interest in developing their knowledge and skills in archaeological field methodology. At least a basic knowledge of human osteology is preferred, as archaeological layers consist of primarily articulated skeletons and disarticulated remains, and the ability to recognise fragmentary skeletal elements will be an asset. Students will spend 7-8 hours per day engaged in field work or in the processing of materials recovered from the field. Throughout the course, students will become proficient in excavation procedures, field drawing, documentation, and find processing and analysis.
Please note that a certain level of physical fitness is necessary to get in and out of the ossuary, as well as to work for extended periods kneeling. The ossuary is a large space, measuring about 9m x 9m (30 x 30 feet), but has no windows and only one opening for access. As such, this may be a difficult site for those suffering from severe claustrophobia.
Accommodation will be provided locally, including self catering breakfast and lunch (ingredients provided), with dinner being the main meal daily. All necessary facilities are provided (electricity, hot showers, dormitory style accommodation). Participants will be given 2 rest days in the middle of each session.
TURKEY
THE PINARBAȘI PROJECT, TURKEY: INVESTIGATING THE BEGINNINGS OF SEDENTISM IN THE NEAR EAST
Date: June 9 to July 10, 2022 Deadline: Open, Payment deadline: April 15, 2022
Turkey has evidence of one of the earliest transitions from hunting and gathering to sedentism in the world. Understanding the period in time immediately preceding and encompassing the first steps in this transition, the Epipalaeolithic period, is crucial; however, the Epipalaeolithic period in central Turkey is poorly understood. The Pınarbașı project investigates the only known Epipalaeolithic site in Anatolia. During previous excavations, our team uncovered exciting burials with elaborate grave goods, indicating a commitment to place that may represent a transition to more sedentary behaviours. Working alongside professional excavators and experts in Epipalaeolithic communities, students will learn a range of archaeological research techniques and methods and about the wider context of Anatolian archaeology.
The course will take place at the Epipalaeolithic site of Pınarbașı (c. 14,000-11,000 BCE), the only Epipalaeolithic site on the central Anatolian plateau and the predecessor of the famous Neolithic sites of Boncuklu and Çatalhöyük. The site is located on the edge of the Konya Plain in central Turkey, 65 km east of the major city of Konya, a famous Medieval centre where the ‘whirling dervish’ sect was founded by the Medieval philosopher Celaleddin Rumi. We will stay in Karaman, an important Medieval city located 50 km to the south of Pınarbașı. There are many medieval buildings of the Seljuk period to visit in Konya and Karaman, both booming cities. The field school also includes visits to other sites and museums in central Turkey including Çatalhöyük and the dramatic Neolithic site of Aşıklı, where there is evidence of repeated rebuilding of houses and an experimental village. Aşıklı is located about 3 hours east of Konya in Cappadocia, also famous for its underground cities and painted medieval churches. We will also visit a number of remote Byzantine and Hittite sites around the Konya plain.
FIELD SCHOOL DIRECTOR: Prof. Douglas Baird, Department of Archaeology, University of Liverpool, UK (dbaird@liverpool.ac.uk)
This field school is one of many operated in collaboration with the Institute for Field Research (IFR)
HACIMUSALAR SETTLEMENT,ELMALI PLAIN (SW TURKEY)
Course Dates: Session I: June 11- July 11, 2023, Session II: July 12- August 12, 2023
In the Near East, there were many rapid past climatic changes, which brought significant socio-economic and political transformations. Past human societies dealt with these changes while causing anthropogenic changes in the same environment. The research on the Elmalı Plain will focus on reconstructing the past environmental conditions in the region along with possible rapid climate change events. Then, we will explore when and how human groups that inhabited Hacımusalar Mound might have adapted to such changes. Adaptive behaviors may include changes in land use patterns, resource extraction, social organization, and other socio-economic transformations. When these patterns are reconstructed at high spatio-temporal resolution across the Plain, simulating the socio-ecological dynamics will be possible.
Hacımusalar is a multi-period archaeological settlement in the Elmalı Plain of SW Turkey. The region still follows traditional agro-pastoral lifeway yet experiencing all the problems related to rapid climate change and anthropogenic degradation of its environment. Previous excavations at the Mound revealed major architectural remains such as fortification walls, houses and churches. The new phase of field work focuses on the long-term evolution of socio-ecological dynamics on the Plain. Using the long and complex archaeological record obtained from the Mound, researchers will dedicate the next decade to understand the time-transgressive patterns in human-environment interactions.
Field methods (geophysics, geology, paleobotany, remote sensing, etc.) that complement archaeological research make EFSG a unique setting to learn about the past human-environment interactions through active participation while learning about the current climate crisis and how it impacts communities with traditional lifeways.
The directors welcome emails and inquiries about the research elements of this project. More general information (tuition, health insurance, and payment schedule) can be found under the ‘Students’ tab above. Any further questions may be addressed to IFR staff. Additional details about research, course schedule, travel, accommodation, and safety can be found on the syllabus. Contacting the directors or the IFR office is encouraged and appreciated. It may help you determine if this field school is a good fit for you.
The Boncuklu field school investigates a pivotal transition in human history: the shift from a hunter-gatherer society to a farming civilization. The site dates to c. 8500 BCE, the earliest Neolithic village in central Anatolia and the predecessor of the famous Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. Located in the Konya Plain in central Turkey, Boncuklu lies 40 kms east of the major city of Konya, a famous Medieval centre where the ‘whirling dervish’ sect was founded by the Medieval philosopher, Celaleddin Rumi. Students in the Boncuklu field school will work alongside expert archaeologists, learning and applying field research methods to expose the remains that tell the tales of the reality of life in the earliest farming settlements. The full gamut of archaeological field methods will be taught in this program: survey, excavation, laboratory analysis, artifact cataloging, and conservation. Students will also engage in the intellectual challenges presented by archaeological research, participating in research design, interpreting data, and the continual readjustment of hypotheses and field strategies with regard to information recovered in the field. The deep immersion in the site is complimented by an incredible range of regional field trips to other sites and museums including Çatalhöyük, the Hittite capital Hatussas, the Anatolian Civilizations Museum in Ankara and the dramatic Neolithic site of Aşıklı. Program participants can expect to walk away from this field school secure in their understanding of applied archaeological field research methods and deep understanding of the cultural landscape of Central Anatolia, past and present.
Prof. Douglas Baird, Dept. of Archaeology, University of Liverpool, UK (dbaird@liverpool.ac.uk) Prof. Andrew Fairbairn, School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland (a.fairbairn@uq.edu.au)
This field school is one of many operated in collaboration with the Institute for Field Research (IFR)
UNITED KINGDOM
The Cerne Abbey Research Project, southwest England
DIRECTOR:Dr. Hugh Willmott, Senior Lecturer, European Historical Archaeology, University of Sheffield (h.willmott@sheffield.ac.uk)
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Founded in 987 CE by Æthelmaer the Stout on the site of an earlier Christian community, Cerne Abbey grew to become one of the most important monasteries in the Southwest of England. Shortly after its closure during the Dissolution in 1539, the site was comprehensively demolished save for a gatehouse, and the precise location of its buildings was lost until archaeological work started in 2022. The abbey sits at the feet of the famous chalk-cut figure of a club-wielding giant that dominates the village of Cerne Abbas. Recent dating of the figure by the UK National Trust has shown that the giant was an Anglo-Saxon creation, and it seems directly connected to the earliest monks residing there.
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey undertaken by the University of Sheffield provided the first ever evidence for the medieval abbey, and potentially its Anglo-Saxon predecessor beneath. This survey clearly shows the location of the monastic cloister, measuring c. 20x20m internally, and its west, east, and north ranges. Within the cloister garth and abutting the north cloister walk are the clear foundations of an octagonal conduit house and, externally to the northeast of the cloister, the rather more ephemeral buildings almost certainly represent remains of the monastic infirmary. The GPR survey also demonstrated that a significant portion of the monastic church lies within an open area unobscured by later features and available for excavation. Not only do we now have an amazingly clear plan of the cloistral ranges, the survey showed that the buildings remained surprisingly intact with walls up to over 1m in places.
Small-scale excavations in 2023 started to investigate these results, with a trench located over the southwest corner of the cloister, which identified the transept and north aisle of the monastic church. We are now expanding this to start to answer a set of interrelated questions concerning the life of the abbey and its ultimate destruction in the 16th century.
Key aims to be addressed in 2024:
• Identifying evidence for the pre-Conquest monastery and earlier activity on site Work to date has confirmed the historical presence of the Saxon monastery, through ceramics and finds. However, in this season the project will focus on an area of the cloister that is relatively undisturbed by later buildings to attempt to find structural evidence for the first monastic community.
• Ascertaining the precise orientation and size of the church Whilst the layout of the cloister is clear from the geophysical survey, the form and orientation of the church is obscured by the overlying deposits of rubble and demolition debris. The excavation will expand the area of excavation in the area of the north aisle so that its wider plan can be reconstructed through comparison to other known churches of the same date.
• Characterizing the development of the cloistral ranges The GPR survey clearly shows that the late medieval cloister consists of several phases of redevelopment and expansion, yet for the geophysical data alone these cannot be dated or fully understood. Excavation will incorporate part of the cloister so that the sequence of rebuilding can be observed and better interpreted.
• Understanding the impact of the Dissolution and later developments on the site After its closure by Henry VIII, the monastery was rapidly demolished and just forty years later its very location was subject to some legal debate. Consequently, there is little understanding of how its dissolution occurred or what happened to the site later. We will pay particular attention to the 16th -century and later phases of the excavation, looking for evidence of dismantling and recycling of materials, and identifying any subsequent uses the buildings were put to.
STRATA FLORIDA ARCHAEOLOGY FIELD SCHOOL (Wales, U.K.)
The full Summer 2024 project brochure can be found here
Introduction Excavations have been running at Strata Florida for 20 years, and the Trust now runs a public dig open to all.
We offer a fully accessible training programme, including a wide variety of archaeological excavation and survey techniques, from understanding how to correctly use a trowel to the collection of geophysical data for archaeological mapping. We offer a mixture of residential courses and day courses, and we welcome people of all ages, those with no prior archaeological experience as well as those wanting to build upon previous skills.
Ours aims to be the most inclusive archaeology school in the UK. We work with wellbeing and mental health support partners to deliver onsite support to participants. Our mission is to share Strata Florida’s unique history, archaeology, heritage and links to Welsh culture with as diverse an audience as possible, including members of the public, students, volunteers and others.
Strata Florida
Strata Florida Abbey (Abaty Ystrad Fflur in Welsh)is a captivating, evocative and internationally significant site located in the heart of Wales. Known affectionately as the Westminster Abbey of Wales, it had its heyday in the 12th and 13th centuries and was once an important centre of culture, religion and trade, with connections spreading far across the Welsh landscape.
The Cistercian monks who founded the abbey were quite the entrepreneurs, taking advantage of the rural location to become self-sufficient, farming thousands of sheep and building roads and bridges to allow pilgrims and traders to visit the site. The abbey would have been a very striking and imposing building and you are still, today, able to admire the majesty of its iconic, carved west doorway. The plan of the church can still be clearly traced and, rather remarkably, some of the original richly decorated tiles from the abbey have survived intact. One of them, ‘Man with the Mirror’, depicts a medieval gentleman admiring himself in a mirror.
One of the foremost early Welsh historical sources, the Brut y Tywysogion, was written at Strata Florida and the site has many important connections with Welsh culture and identity. Dafydd Ap Gwilym, Wales’s most famous medieval poet, is buried in the churchyard, as are several medieval Princes of Wales.
Today, Strata Florida is made up of a variety of different elements, from the 12th century abbey ruins now in the guardianship of Cadw; to the early 19th century St Mary’s church built on the site of several original abbey chapels; through to the adjoining 17th century Mynachlog Fawr Farmstead.
In partnership with the the Princes Foundation, we are restoring the grade II and II* listed farmstead.
Every tree has a story to tell. Dendrochronology is the study of natural and human processes that are recorded in the annual growth rings of trees. This tree-ring record is archived thanks to the remarkable preservation qualities of wood, and across the wide geographical distribution of trees. Through the science of dendrochronology, a broad range of ecological, climatic, geological, and cultural phenomena can be reconstructed and analyzed with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Our curriculum highlights the goals, ethics, and practice of Preservation Archaeology, which integrates research, education, preservation, and engagement with Indigenous and local communities. We share what we learn throughout the project with the public via local events, blog posts, and other venues. Together, students and staff explore ethically responsible and scientifically rigorous field and research methods while investigating compelling questions about people’s lives in the past.
Campus
The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center maintains high standards of research and scholarship. Students participating in the Center’s programs are closely supervised by staff members, ensuring a positive learning experience, as well as high-quality contributions for the profession. In addition, American Indians—many of them descendants of Ancestral Pueblo people—consult and collaborate on all facets of the Center’s research, and colleagues from many other disciplines lend their expertise to advance mission initiatives. In such an environment, interns have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in working with, and learning from, a wide variety of people.
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Field school is an irreplaceable component in the education of any student pursuing a career in archaeology. Each year, the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) oversees an intense, four-week accredited educational program allowing both undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in active maritime archaeological research along the First Coast, here in St. Augustine and the surrounding region.
Come to Hawaii and experience a field school like none other. You will live on the Big Island for three weeks. You will be exposed to a new way of thinking mixing an applied anthropological and an archaeological field school. Join us on the ground for the first of many years in Hawaii, beginning with the program at Kaloko Fishpond which is jointly administered by the National Park Service and native Hawaiian cultural groups. Check out the website
Newport, located near Blairsville, Pennsylvania, was founded circa 1790 and served as an important river town until the early nineteenth century. The town included several businesses, a hotel, a post office, and a wharf. The site is now completely abandoned. This year’s archaeological investigations will include shovel test pits, excavation units, geophysics, metal detecting, photogrammetry, and artifact analysis to identify the site boundaries specific structures. Students will be exposed to both traditional and high-tech techniques with the goal of preparing them for cultural resource management and academic careers.
Advanced instruction in survey and excavation field methods and technology, with an emphasis on the application of research designs to field settings, and the logistics of supervising field projects.
Newport is important for several reasons. It was an early trade hub in western Pennsylvania connecting the Frankstown Road to the Conemaugh River. The Frankstown Road ran east to the Juniata River, providing a link to the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay, while the Conemaugh River eventually joins the Allegheny River flowing past Pittsburgh and into the Ohio River. Sitting at the juncture of the Frankstown Road and the Conemaugh River, Newport helped connect the eastern and western United States and facilitated the movement of people, materials, and goods to, from, and through what was then the frontier. As other transportation routes developed, including roads, canals, and railroads, Newport was left behind and eventually abandoned. Its short occupation at a pivotal time in western expansion, makes it an excellent site to investigate life, commerce, and industry on the American frontier.
Our Archaeology Field School, which has operated since 1969, brings students each summer to sites in Colorado and beyond. The Summer 2024 session will take place in Tennessee and offer opportunities to learn and apply archaeological field methods.
Shelter, Bonneville Estates Rockshelter) and study the different habitats and vertebrate faunas of the regions. We will then stay for the remainder of the course (May 19-31) at the remote and scenic Range Creek Field Station in eastern Utah with continued field and lab studies and lectures on various topics in zooarchaeology. Students will complete a problem-oriented research project at the field station and present an oral presentation on that work at a conference on May 31. We depart on June 1.
The USDA Forest Service, Green Mountain & Finger Lakes National Forests is hiring a summer archaeological technician intern at $20/hour for 640 hours (16 weeks) with a flexible start date in May or June 2024. The position is based out of Mendon, Vermont and is being advertised through preservenet.org as a National Council for Preservation Education (NCPE) internship in partnership with the National Park Service. The completion of 640 hours in an NCPE internship will earn the individual a 2-year Public Land Corps non-competitive hiring authority to apply for permanent federal positions, if eligibility requirements are met (
The Monticello-UVA Field School offers a hands-on introduction to basic excavation, recording, and laboratory techniques in archaeology. The course emphasizes a scientific, multidisciplinary approach to doing landscape archaeology. It also provides the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge research into the ecological and social dynamics that unfolded on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello Plantation in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Technical topics covered include survey and excavation strategies as well as the analytical possibilities for ceramics, faunal remains, plant phytoliths and pollen, deposits and the sediments they contain, soils, and spatial distributions of artifacts across sites and larger landscapes.
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The program includes weekly readings on topics in historical archaeology; lectures by staff and noted authorities covering such topics as landscape history, plantation life, and nineteenth-century material culture; the archaeology of the African Diaspora in America and beyond; environmental archaeology; professional opportunities in historical archaeology; and the role of public archaeology in our world today. As part of the program, students will also participate in a half-day workshop on architectural restoration and preservation philosophy. On-site work is supplemented by field trips to sites where historical archaeology is underway. Students will be asked to observe and evaluate strategies used by these sites to incorporate archaeology into their public interpretation.
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC) believes that a great 21st-century museum is more than a building. We must engage communities in surprising and innovative ways, transcending boundaries and barriers. We are a migratory museum that brings Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the United States.
The Peter A. Krueger Summer Internship Program offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain professional skills and learn about museum practices at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States that is exclusively devoted to historic and contemporary design. Interns will acquire in-depth knowledge and develop an enriched understanding of how the museum fulfills its mission to educate, inspire, and empower people through design.
The intern will assist with the creation of teacher resources for TII and local educators, including integrating authentic data and technology into their classrooms. The intern will help review and log applications for TII 2023 and assist with planning of the 2023 institute. The intern will assist with a plan for 2023-2024 professional development.
Are you interested in US history? Do you want to learn more about the inner workings of history museums–either as an introduction or a deeper dive into an aspect of the museum field? The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) offers internships to folks who are excited to engage in professional learning experiences!
Application deadline: February 24, 2024
Natural History Research Experiences (NHRE) is a 10-week summer internship program hosted at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. NHRE interns work closely with scientific mentors to complete independent research projects in Earth Science, Biology, and Anthropology.
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) offers internships during the Fall, Winter/Spring, and Summer terms at the museum in Washington, D.C.; at the Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, MD; and at the museum (George Gustav Heye Center) in New York City. The NMAI internship program provides educational opportunities focusing on cultural transmission; professional development; meaningful departmental projects; and networking with museum professionals.
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Ancient Apollonia Pontica (present-day Sozopol, Bulgaria) is one of the oldest towns on the w
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During the 7th and 6th millennia BCE, the Balkan Peninsula was a gateway through which farming, animal husbandry and Neolithization spread from Anatolia and the Near East to Europe. This new population gradually settled down and got familiar with the surrounding region, suitable agricultural areas, raw sources and so on. In the 6th millennium BCE their economy, social organization, trade and cultural contacts evolved, to reach their peak in the 5th millennium BCE. In the beginning of the 5th millennium the earliest metallurgy in European and global prehistory (the processing of copper and soon after, gold) appeared in the Balkans. Thus, this period is known as Copper age, Chalcolithic, Eneolithic or Final Neolithic.
To date, approximately one third of the tell has been excavated. This work yielded rich collections of archaeological materials, and the sterile soil has not yet been reached. There is a medieval cemetery at the top of the tell, followed by a Roman period level, two Iron Age levels, another dated to the Early Bronze Age, and finally a Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic level. It is unknown if the cultural history of the tell begins in the Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic period or whether older Neolithic occupation layers exist.
Recent excavations at Tell Yunatsite indicate that the Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic period settlement covered an area far larger than the tell itself and consisted of uptown (acropolis?) and a downtown district. The uptown section was surrounded by a five meter wide clay wall and a broad and deep ditch. Buildings in this part were placed closed to each other, creating an almost unbroken urban fabric. The Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic settlement experienced a violent event at ca. 4,200-4,100 BCE. Evidence suggests deliberate destruction by outsiders. Many skeletons of children, elderly men, and women were found scattered on floors, suggesting a massive massacre. Those who survived returned and resettled at the Tell, but soon even they left. At that point, Tell Yunatsite and the area around it were abandoned for more than 1,000 years. During this time, a sterile layer accumulated over the last Chalcolithic/Final Neolithic layer.
This field school provides a unique glimpse into the rise and fall of arguably the earliest European civilization. In 2024, field school students will take part in further excavation of the burned Final Neolithic/Chalcolithic layer buildings. Faculty and students will work togethe
Our work at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump aims to clarify chronological and contextual issues related to the earliest occupation phases at the site, evaluate the relationships between different parts of the site, and identify earlier uses than those currently well-documented. Through this work, students will learn about the site and develop key skills necessary in North American archaeology. These elements of the project will involve targeted testing and excavations in three areas of the site and supplemental testing, surveying, and mapping in three other areas. During the field school students will have an opportunity to excavate at the site and process the archaeological materials they unearth in the laboratory.
The Athenian Agora Excavations and Study Center are funded by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, with major support from numerous foundations, institutions, and individuals. The work of excavating began in the 1930’s with the substantial support of John D. Rockefeller, who also funded the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos (1953-1956) to serve as the site museum with storage facilities. In recent years the work has been supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Packard Humanities Institute. Other key supporters include the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Princeton University, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Randolph-Macon College, among others. Millions of dollars have been provided in support of the excavation, restoration, research, and publication of 
While unveiling the history and the different phases of ritual activity at this important Cycladic sanctuary, the participants will be introduced to archaeological fieldwork methods and theory. In particular, the excavation will focus on the exploration of a number of edifices not only within the sacred precinct, but also outside of it. An oval or apsidal building of the 8th century B.C., which represents the earliest construction of the site up to date, presents special interest. The interpretation of its character and function is crucial for reconstructing the earliest ritual practices at the site. The sanctuary attracted numerous votive dedications of various types. This gives students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with a variety of artifacts of different materials and types covering a wide chronological range extending from the Early Iron Age (9th-8th c. BC) to the Classical period.
For more detailed information about the project, please see below:
historic buildings and will learn to analyse, describe and record these structures using a series of key survey techniques. Beginning in the early medieval period, the course will examine a number of pre-Norman ecclesiastical sites before going on to explore the wealth of Anglo-Norman and Gaelic castles and monasteries which are found across the Irish landscape. This field-based module will provide students with a solid understanding the evolution of Irish medieval architecture and will also give them key transferrable skills in building analysis and survey.
medieval archaeology and so the excavation site and the sites visited on field trips, which will include a series of castles, churches and monasteries, will be selected with this focus in mind. For the 2024 season, the course will be based upon an excavation at a medieval castle in Co Galway and so the students on the course will be part of our research programme which seeks to explore the archaeological evidence for settlement at late medieval castle sites in Ireland.
This course is open to students who have completed Course 2, or those who can show that they already have sufficient excavation experience from other archaeological sites. Students on this course will be involved in practical excavation, but will also gain valuable experience of a range of on-site recording techniques and will, where possible, take leading roles in on-site tasks including photography, drawing to scale, stratigraphic interpretation and finds recording. They will also be expected to assist in tutoring novice students in basic excavation techniques and so will make considerable progress towards appointment as site supervisors in future years.
The Blackfriary Archaeology Field School is part of the award-winning Blackfriary Community Heritage and Archaeology Project (BCHAP) in the town of Trim, County Meath, Ireland. Focusing on the buried remains of the 13th century AD/CE Dominican friary and associated graveyard, the field school is suitable for students from a wide range of backgrounds including archaeology, history, anthropology, and forensics – and for students looking for a unique study abroad experience. As participants in a public archaeology project, students are actively engaged with our outreach activities on site. They are also housed with families in Trim, allowing them to integrate wit
h the local community.
The program is delivered by both the 
University (Rhode Island, USA), with the support of the Soprintendenza Archeologia del Lazio e dell’Etruria Meridionale and the Comune di Vacone, with former support from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Alberta. The project, with staff and students from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Italy, seeks to understand the long-term development of rural settlement and economy in the Sabine region of Italy, located today in the province of Rieti of the region of Lazio. This area is located about 40 miles north of Rome, just east of the Tiber River, in the hinterland of the ancient town of Forum Novum (modern day Vescovio). Much of the project has focused on the excavation of the mid-Republican to mid-imperial villa located in the town of Vacone (the excavation is operated through two field schools that train undergraduate and graduate students in archaeological field skills and methods). We have also conducted survey and geophysical prospection at over 15 other sites in the region. This combination of excavation and extensive survey has allowed the project to document a significant Roman boom in settlement and economic activity in the area of the Upper Sabina Tiberina.
The archaeological field program of the Gabii Project is a five-week program (6/13/24 to 7/19/24) conducted at the site of the important ancient Latin city of Gabii, 18 km due east of Rome in central Italy. The field program aims to introduce students to the techniques and methodologies of field archaeology through direct, hands-on, experiential learning, imparting both practical skills and contextual training and stressing the full range of techniques that make up the modern archaeologist’s toolkit: from excavation strategies, to data recording and digital modeling, artifact recovery, processing, and analysis, as well as scientific applications that include the collection of osteological and environmental data. In addition to the instruction on site, the program provides an opportunity for students to contextualize their work, and the site of Gabii itself, within larger archaeological and historical frameworks, through excavation tours given at regular intervals, off‐site lectures, visits to museums and archaeological sites in the city of Rome, and readings.
During the 2nd century BCE; the northern end of the promontory was occupied by a fortified building, positioned to defend the territory of Populonia from pirate attacks. Thanks to contemporary sources we know that between the 2nd and 1st century’s BCE, piracy was prolific on the Mediterranean coasts and sea. The fortress’ strategic position allowed control of most of the Tyrrhenian Sea routes, the access to the channel that connects the sea to the lake of Rimigliano and the southern territory of Populonia.
The time of this field school is well organized so that participants engage in different aspects of the project: survey, excavation, and lab. The goal is providing the basis of archaeological work and give an overview about what means to become an archaeologist. We lecture a lot during the first few days and cover a lot of ground even for those who have no previous experience in excavation (especially working with human remains). This makes our field school a bit different perhaps; students do get a rich theoretical background before the excavations start as well as during the excavations so that theory and practice blends into a whole thus making sure the participants get connected with the work and the area and have a wholesome understanding of the research.
The study of burial patterns constitutes an important component of the examination of the ancient political organization and social identity. I believe that the study of tombs and their relationship to the landscape permits a di
The Slavia Summer Field School in Archaeology began in 1998 in the Lednica region as a joint project of scholars from Adam Mickiewicz University, First Piasts Museum and Slavia Foundation. From the start the project was directed to international students seeking archaeological adventure in Poland. It initially offered experience in the Lednica region which included excavation of a medieval, wooden bridge abutment on Ostrów Lednicki island as well as a medieval cemetery in Dziekanowice.
The Simon Fraser University Department of Archaeology is pleased to offer a lab-based field school focusing on the curation and lab analysis of human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts. Students will be traveling to three locations in Portugal for training and hands-on lab experience in the preparation, analysis and interpretation of forensic and archaeological human remains. At these locations students will have the opportunity to visit forensic and educational organizations as well as historically and culturally significant sites. The first week will be spent in the town of Gandra, nearby Porto, where students will receive basic osteological and forensic training and will visit the morgue and other forensically relevant locations. The second and third weeks will be spent at the Municipal Museum of Santarem and the University of the Algarve respectively, where they will attend labs to learn and practice various bioarchaeology lab techniques, lab processing and conservation of archaeological human remains.
The Sânpetru Bioarchaeology Field School combines training in both bioarchaeological analysis and archaeological fieldwork, and in 2024 aims to achieve two crucial research objectives:
Between the 9th and 13th centuries, 
also preserved, including part of the Republican forum and some of its outbuildings. As the orography of the chosen place for the city was very irregular, in order to obtain a sufficiently flat, horizontal space, suitable for the function of a square, it was necessary to create a large artificial terrace in the narrowest part of the peninsula. For this purpose, four retaining walls were erected on which the forum was constructed. On the west side a temple for the emperor cult was constructed, and in the east wing a colonnade of 86m long, and taking advantage of the unevenness of the ground, a nymphaeum and another portico oriented to the outside were placed under the colonnade. Under the nymphaeum we can still see an alignment of tabernae. In the rest of the space around the forum there are public and administrative buildings such as the curia, the basilica or the tabularium.
The height of the Forum over the area, allows the layout of cryptoporticus to extend its surface to the West and a monumental entrance with a staircase to the South. 
On the southern side of the Forum structures is the House of the Adobe. Another example of private urbanism is the “Casa del Hoyo”.
Valeria is a small municipality in the middle mountains of Cuenca with barely 80 inhabitants. Its urban area is structured around the Plaza Mayor, where we find the church, the Town Hall and some interesting mansions such as the house of the Curato and the house of the Dukes of Granada.
Turkey is poorly understood. The Pınarbașı project investigates the only known Epipalaeolithic site in Anatolia. During previous excavations, our team uncovered exciting burials with elaborate grave goods, indicating a commitment to place that may represent a transition to more sedentary behaviours. Working alongside professional excavators and experts in Epipalaeolithic communities, students will learn a range of archaeological research techniques and methods and about the wider context of Anatolian archaeology.
Anglo-Saxon predecessor beneath. This survey clearly shows the location of the monastic cloister, measuring c. 20x20m internally, and its west, east, and north ranges. Within the cloister garth and abutting the north cloister walk are the clear foundations of an octagonal conduit house and, externally to the northeast of the cloister, the rather more ephemeral buildings almost certainly represent remains of the monastic infirmary. The GPR survey also demonstrated that a significant portion of the monastic church lies within an open area unobscured by later features and available for excavation. Not only do we now have an amazingly clear plan of the cloistral ranges, the survey showed that the buildings remained surprisingly intact with walls up to over 1m in places.
We offer a fully accessible training programme, including a wide variety of archaeological excavation and survey techniques, from understanding how to correctly use a trowel to the collection of geophysical data for archaeological mapping. We offer a mixture of residential courses and day courses, and we welcome people of all ages, those with no prior archaeological experience as well as those wanting to build upon previous skills.
