Field School Board
Summer Field School with The Montpelier Archaeology Department
The field school will take place from Tuesday May 27th to Thursday July 3rd 2025. The first week (May 27-30) is virtual. The first in person day is on Monday June 2nd 2025.
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 principles 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.
WHERE WE WILL BE WORKING
The 2025 season is focused on obtaining a better understanding of Walnut Hollow, a site located near the iconic Temple and Ice House, where recent surveys identified several structures believed to be homes for enslaved families, potentially dating from the late 18th century to the early 19th century. Students will conduct phase II excavations at Walnut Hollow as well as phase I testing at the Revolutionary War Era Blacksmith site.
COST & 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 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 are provided when applying for the Field School!
APPLY FOR THE FIELD SCHOOL
Learn More about the field school here: https://www.montpelier.org/archaeology-programs/field-school-paid-internships-volunteers/
Apply Here: https://forms.gle/LDBKXzgK2MstuU1g6
Applications are due by March 23rd!
PAID INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Students who have participated in and completed the Archaeology Field School will also be provided an opportunity to apply for our internship program(s).
SIU’s Archaeology Field School offers six weeks of full-time instruction in archaeological methods including basic survey, excavation, and laboratory techniques. This summer we will be investigating one or more early 19th-century farmsteads in what is now the Shawnee National Forest. These sites may have been occupied by some of the earliest Anglo-American settlers in Illinois and have been little studied before now.
Prior coursework in archaeology is recommended but not required.
Expected cost: $1,979 (undergraduate tuition for 6 credit hours + $50 course fee for supplies)
Both in-state and out-of-state students pay the same tuition rate. Room and board are not included, but housing may be available on campus for an additional cost of $28/night.
Daily transportation will be provided from Carbondale to and from the fieldwork location(s), departing at 7:30 am and returning around 4:30 pm. We recommend students have a car for getting around Carbondale in their free time as public transportation is limited.
Contact Dr. Matt Greer (matthew.greer@siu.edu) for more information.
Terrestrial Archaeological Field School
The 2025 UWF terrestrial archaeological field school will take place May 19-June 27 and will divide its time between excavations at the 16th-century settlement of Tristán de Luna y Arellano in suburban Pensacola overlooking Pensacola Bay, and at the 18th-century site of Mission San Joseph de Escambe, an Apalachee village located alongside the floodplain of the Escambia River near Molino. Both sites have been the subject of excavations by UWF archaeologists over the past two decades, and fieldwork will build on earlier excavations to learn more about both Spanish and Native American life in West Florida during the Spanish colonial era. Students will receive training and experience in archaeological excavation in both sandy and clayey soils, including flat-shoveling and troweling, sifting, water-screening, field recordation (including forms and individual field books), scale mapping and photography of plan views and profiles, and mapping with a total station.
Maritime & Combined Field Schools
Activities will include remote sensing survey using magnetometer and side scan sonar equipment; site testing in Pensacola Bay, Blackwater Bay, and Blackwater River; hull recording; and underwater photography. Site assessments and dives on known historic wrecks located in the area will also be undertaken. Fieldwork will be supplemented by lectures and discussions on themes ranging from the colonization of northwest Florida, maritime landscapes and economic maritime connections in the Gulf region. When not diving, students will perform topside duties such as dive tending and support, artifact recording, and database entry. Students may also be called on to participate in the conservation and laboratory analysis of recovered material. Terrestrial activities will include the establishment of site control grids, setting up excavation units, basic excavation techniques, use of hand tools, screen techniques, and field documentation.
Jamestown Rediscovery and the University of Virginia are pleased to offer a field school at Historic Jamestowne—the first permanent English colony in North America—from May 27 to July 3, 2025. This field school provides a unique opportunity for students of all backgrounds to contribute to the research and interpretation of early 17th-century America. Through hands-on fieldwork, students will learn archaeological excavation methods from the Jamestown Rediscovery team, who have excavated at the site for 30 years.
Course topics include:
- Archaeological Excavation Methods
- Artifact Recovery, Identification, and Processing
- Feature Excavation and Analysis
- Archaeological Mapping
- Ground-Penetrating Radar
The course also includes field trips and weekly seminars exploring the contributions of historical archaeology to colonial history, as well as recent literature in the discipline.
Historic Jamestowne is located on Jamestown Island, near Williamsburg, Virginia. Students who successfully complete the field school will receive 6 graduate credits (Anthropology 5589) through the University of Virginia. Housing is available for students at the College of William & Mary for the duration of the field school for an additional cost.
For more information, including costs for tuition and housing, and application forms please visit https://historicjamestowne.org/archaeology/archaeological-field-school-2025/. Completed applications must be received by March 31, 2025.