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Field School 2: World Archaeology

Vak
2022-2023

Admission requirements

Field School 1 and Field Techniques obtained.

Description

Field School 2 is in fact an internship and is meant to gain routines in your previously acquired practical/field skills (Field School 1). These skills may include excavation, surveying, coring and a wide variety of remote sensing techniques.

You are expected to arrange your own projects. No matter where the internship takes place, and no matter what type of projects are involved: you should make sure that the skills practised show sufficient diversity of type and level of skills.

You are allowed to spend your entire Field School 2 on one project, as long as you are able to demonstrate you will learn a variety of (field) skills on this one project. Doing more than one project is highly recommended.
All Faculty field projects qualify as Field School 2 project, but you are also allowed to participate in a field project that is organised by other organisations (both academic and commercial).

A Field School 2 project is always concluded with a report/essay in which the scientific framework, historical context, data and analyses of the project are accounted for. Reports always include a critical review of the fieldwork. The instructions for the report can be found on Brightspace.
When your* Field School 2* is spread out over multiple projects, the size of the report is 1,000 - 1,500 words. When the entire Field School 2 takes place on one single project, the size of the report is at least 1,500 - 1,800 words.

During Field School 1, Field School 2, Internship BA3, and throughout the Master programme Applied Archaeology you will build up your own personal portfolio containing all your acquired (field) skills and experiences.

Where to go?

Always start by checking Brightspace: here you can find all the necessary procedures, forms and FAQs. On Brightspace also a list of relevant archaeological organisations in the Netherlands is provided, as are Field School 2 opportunities that have come to the Faculty’s attention.
The internship coordinator, dr. Arjan Louwen, advises on the general rules and regulations.

Conditions

Field School 2 is fieldwork or a fieldwork-related activity such as finds processing, not labwork. It comprises 30 field days of minimally 8 working hours. These 30 field days may be fulfilled during shorter (field) projects, of which the shortest is 1 week.

You can schedule your fieldwork or internship in any period in which you do not have educational obligations, including January. But please note that exams and retakes have priority.

Only 10 ec can be obtained in total for Field School 2. In case more than 30 days have been spent on projects, the remaining credits will be stated on the diploma as extra-curricular.

Course set-up

The following steps are necessary:

  • Register in uSis/Brightspace;

  • Carefully read the *Field School 2 *procedures in Brightspace;

  • Find a field project in which you can participate;

  • Fill out the official ‘Field School 2 agreement form’ (to be found on Brightspace) with the Field School 2/Internship provider (Party B on the agreement form);

  • Send the filled-out ‘Field School 2 agreement form’ to the appointed region coordinator (see Brightspace; Party A on the agreement form). They will check whether the proposed project is indeed admissible as Field School 2. Arrange for the final approval of your project by the region coordinator no later than:

  • 6 weeks before the start of the project (projects abroad)

  • 2 weeks before the start of the project (projects in the Netherlands);

  • During the project: make daily reports and ask the project leader to fill in the assessment form (to be found on Brightspace);

  • Upload the report within 6 weeks after the last field day.

Course objectives

  • To gain routines in practical archaeological fieldwork, including interpretation and reporting of archaeological field data;

  • To become experienced in a wide variety of archaeological fieldwork practices;

  • To know under which circumstances and with what purpose these can be applied (excavation, prospective researches etc.);

  • To deepen knowledge about sampling techniques;

  • Ability to work in a team;

  • To gain more experience in describing archaeological data according to the applicable guidelines;

  • To obtain insight into the relationship between the research questions and the chosen field method;

  • To gain insight in the organisational, legal, logistical, societal and administrative aspects of a research project;

  • To obtain knowledge of the historical and theoretical context of a research project;

  • Ability to write well-structured and relevant daily field notes/reports;

  • Ability to write a well-structured academic report with a clear research goal and in which the Faculty guidelines are applied;

  • To gain routine and to develop an independent research attitude.

Timetable

Not applicable.

Mode of instruction

Practical work in the field.

Assessment method

  • A sufficient level of acquired practical skills and the quality of the daily reports. This assessment is partly made by the Field School 2 provider (50%);

  • An internship report that complies with the Faculty standards of reports. Internship reports are graded by project leaders of Faculty projects, or the internship region coordinator (50%).

A retake is only possible for the report, and only if all other requirements have been met, including handing in the report before the deadline.

The report needs to handed in through Brightspace within 6 weeks after the last field day.

Reading list

To be compiled by the student. It must comprise academic literature.

Registration

Enrolment through MyStudymap is mandatory.

General information about registration can be found on the Course and Exam Enrolment page.

All information (costs, registration, entry requirements, etc.) for those who are interested in taking this course as a Contractstudent is on the Contractonderwijs Archeologie webpage (in Dutch).

Contact

For more information about this course, please contact dr. A.J. (Arjan) Louwen.

Remarks

  • Compulsory attendance;

  • This course will be taught in both Dutch and English.