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Field School 2

Vak
2019-2020

Year

Bachelor year 2.

Admission requirements

Field school 1 and at least 45 ec of the BA1 Archaeology programme obtained.

Description

Field School 2 is meant to gain routines in your previously acquired practical field skills. During the field school, a variety of archaeological skills are practised in the field. These skills include excavation, surveying, coring and the related field recording techniques, and may vary in the different projects. You are expected to arrange your own Field School 2 project.

Field School 2 should consist of an excavation or fieldwork. Wherever the traineeship takes place you should make sure that the skills practised show sufficient diversity of type and level of skills.

All faculty field projects are part of Field School 2, but you are also allowed to go to a field project that is organised by other organisations (academic or commercial). However, to assure the quality of such an external fieldwork, permission by the region coordinator needs to be obtained, at least 6 weeks before the start of the fieldwork. The necessary form can be downloaded from the internship website.

From Field School 1 until the Internship in BA3, and even throughout the Master programme Applied Archaeology, all necessary field skills will be registered in a portfolio which shows your personal acquired skill set and experience.

Where to go?
For information about specific projects or other options for a fieldwork, please contact the region coordinators – they advise in detail about projects, professional companies etc.
The internship coordinator, drs. Richard Jansen, advises on the general rules and regulations.

Available projects are announced on the internship market in the fall term and also online, in the Brightspace module Fieldschool / Internship. Please enroll in the corresponding Brightspace module to stay informed about placements on offer and any other information.

Conditions
Field School 2 is fieldwork, not labwork. Field School 2 comprises 30 field days (9 ec).
These field days may be subdivided into shorter (field) projects, of which the shortest is 2 weeks.

Field school can be divided into these blocks:
2-week project (10-14 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 3,5 ec.
3-week project (15-19 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 5 ec.
4-week project (20-29 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 6,5 ec.
6-week project (30 or more field days plus report of appr. 1,800 words) 10 ec.

A fieldwork that lasts longer than 30 days is only counted as 10 ec – the remaining credits will be stated on the diploma as extra-curricular.

All Field School 2 projects are concluded with a Field School 2 report (1,800 words = 1 ec/1000 words is 0,5 ec) , of which the format can be found on the faculty website. If you do 2 projects, you also have to write 2 reports.
Joining field schools is only allowed when it does not clash with other obligatory courses.

For detailed information about all matters concerning fieldwork and placements, please see the Field school and Internships Regulations on our internship website or contact the (regional) coordinator.

Set-up of the course

The following steps are necessary:

  • Register in Brightspace;

  • Find a field project in which you can participate;

  • In case of an external project: ask permission of the region coordinator (not later than 6 weeks before the start of the fieldwork);

  • Fill out the official agreement form and have it signed by the (regional) coordinator (to be found on the website);

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

  • Upload the report within 3 weeks after the fieldwork.

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 of archaeological fieldwork practice in more than 1 project;

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

  • To deepen knowledge about sampling techniques;

  • To be able 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;

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

  • To be able 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.

Mode of instruction

Practical work in the field.

Course load

The course load will be distributed as follows:

  • 6 weeks (30 days) of fieldwork (9 ec);

  • Field School 2 report in which scientific framework, historical context, data and analyses are accounted for. A report always includes a critical review of the fieldwork (1 ec).

Or alternatively:

2-week project (10-14 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 3,5 ec;
3-week project (15-19 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 5 ec;
4-week project (20-29 field days plus report of appr. 1,000 words) 6,5 ec.

Assessment method

  • A sufficient level of acquired practical skills. This assessment is made by the internship supervisor (30%);

  • 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%);

  • Quality level of portfolio (20%).

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 within 4 weeks after the last field day.

Reading list

To be acquired by the students, but should comprise of academic literature.

Registration

There is no need to register for the field school in uSis, the Archaeology Administration Office will take care of registration.

Registration 'Contractonderwijs'

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 drs. R. (Richard) Jansen.

Remarks

  • Compulsory attendance;

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