The Field School

       The Rio Bravo Field School is expected to have up to 30 students and volunteers, plus seven or eight staff members in 2007.  We maintain a student-to-staff ratio of about four to one, which is among the lowest among archaeological field schools.  Each of the staff have several years of field experience at the site or on other archaeological projects.

Peter Davis instructs students in the use of survey equipment

The staff in 2007 will consist of the project director (Dr. Walling), the director of Residential Terrace Investigations (Jonathan Hanna), the Ballcourt Investigations director (Leah Matthews), as well as the Project’s Field Director (Peter Davis), who will manage soil investigations and assist the Project Director in overseeing field operations.  Several junior staff will assist in day-to-day activities in the ballcourt and other areas of the site.

What the Field School Teaches

       The field school teaches you archaeological survey techniques (used to create site maps), methods of excavation (test-pits, trenches, and post-hole testing), archaeological record-keeping

Joe, Peter Davis and Lizzie collect soil core samples

(in form of standard archaeological record sheets, survey note books, individual student field books, and archaeological photography), and procedures for soil coring and analysis (an essential part of the evolving field of geoarchaeology).  Participants will also gain experience in the historical interpretation of ancient architecture and processing recovered artifacts in the field laboratory.

Even though archaeological practices vary somewhat from one culture area to another, this experience is designed to give you the education you will need to be useful to archaeological projects around the world.  If you have previous experience, the staff and I would be happy to talk to you about what type of supplemental education you might want beyond what you have learned already -- perhaps in a more focused area of field work, such as survey, geoarchaeology, or ceramic study. 

The Field School as a Learning Experience

       The educational goals of the field school and research project are to provide participants of all types with an intensive grounding in field archaeology and instill a sense of what archaeology can tell us about the past.  Although the field school, which has been running for several seasons, has produced a number of Ph.D. students and other professional archaeologists, it is not meant only for those who want to pursue archaeology as a career.  The field school is intended for students with varied personal educational goals who want to learn through direct experience how archaeologists decipher the remains of ancient cultures.  The educational atmosphere in the field school benefits strongly from the fact that we have a mix of experienced and non-experienced students and volunteers, with diverse backgrounds, who come from all over the United States – and often several locations outside the U.S. 

Previous archaeological experience is not a requirement for admission, nor is a major or minor in archaeology or anthropology.  We also do not require a specific G.P.A., but we do require recommendations from responsible individuals who know you well.  We often follow this up with a face-to-face or telephone interview.  About half of the students we accept have no specific archaeological class work or field experience and many of our students and volunteers are following career paths other than archaeology, but all participants accepted in to the field school have in common the fact that they want to get a realistic understanding of what field archaeology is about. This diversity of backgrounds and common purpose helps create a cohesive mix of participants and staff in the field.