Greece
Field-school/ Study-Abroad in Greece (ANTH 4550/6550)
This one month (4 weeks) program affords students a unique study abroad/immersion opportunity and combines hands-on exposure to archaeological excavation and lab methods, as well as the opportunity to visit archaeological sites and museum collections in Northern Greece.
A. Archaeological Field School
Over these four weeks students will be mapping, excavating, analyzing pottery, lithics, and other finds; they will also be trained in cataloguing and compiling artifact inventories, in artifact drawing, as well as in data base management and computer applications such as GIS. The field school requires that students attend a number of lectures offered by excavation specialists as well as by guest lecturers (different every year). It is also required that students participate in meetings where their work is discussed and evaluated. Advanced students with previous training or special interests may be asked to participate in a number of independent research projects that run parallel to the Thessaloniki Toumba excavation and use the same lab facilities.
Students will participate at the Thessaloniki Toumba Excavation. The site is a prehistoric mound occupied from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Classical Period, and is located in the center of the city of Thessaloniki, which is the second largest city in Greece after Athens, at the northern part of Greece. This is one of the several field schools organized by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of History and Archaeology. The University of Thessaloniki is the largest university in Greece (www.auth.gr). Thessaloniki Toumba Excavation is a national/ international field school already hosting students from a number of institutions in Greece, the EU, and the USA. The excavation is directed by Professors S. Andreou and K. Kotsakis. The current excavation project underway that GSU students will participate is directed by Prof. Stelios Andreou, and a number of collaborators. The director of the GSU study abroad program is one of these collaborators. A total of 40-50 students attend this field school every summer. The duration of the field school is 1 month (4 weeks), in the month of July.
Students are trained in all aspects of the excavation process including: Excavation/ Mapping (participation in mapping is restricted to graduate students and/or students with previous experience); Archaeobotany; Archaeofauna; Special laboratory skills (such as cataloguing/ drawing/ special recording of pottery, lithics and small finds).
B. Study-Abroad
Besides the archaeological field school this program focuses on aspects of traditional and Modern Greek culture. In that way students will not only learn more about recent and Modern Greek history, but using Northern Greece as a “lab” will be exposed to a number of issues that pertain to the practice of archaeology beyond the field, within its wider political, ideological, and public contexts.
Students will participate in a number of fieldtrips, some within the city of Thessaloniki and some to other parts of Northern Greece.
The study abroad program reflects the curriculum of a number of courses offered by the Department of Anthropology at GSU besides the Introduction to Archaeology/ Introduction to Anthropology courses, namely: Archaeological Method, European Archaeology, and Archaeological Practice and the Public. The program provides practical training that is required for the major in archaeology and for all graduate students in archaeology.
Requirements:
ANTH 2030 (Introduction to Archaeology) and ANTH 4590/6590 (Archaeological Method) or by special permission of the instructor; Knowledge of Modern Greek is not required but is welcome.
Expected Dates: July 4- Aug. 4
Number of students: 6
Credits hours: 8
Student Evaluation:
The evaluation of students in the program will be based on the following:
a) Their participation in the Thessaloniki Toumba excavation
b) Their 3 brief site presentations
c) Students will be asked to keep a diary starting from before leaving Atlanta (as they prepare for the trip) and during the one month they will be in the program (including-if they wish- a photographic diary).
At the end of the program they will be asked to write a final paper on the basis of their personal diaries, describing how their participation in this program and/or specific aspects of this program had an impact on the ways in which they think about archaeology and their own possible contribution to the field in the future; if their views concerning the practice of archaeology and the pertinence and significance of archaeology may have changed. They will also be asked to include their feelings about the program and their suggestions for changes that might be made in future years.
Overall benefits of the program
1) Students will gain hands on experience and be trained in methods of archaeological excavation, as well as in lab methods (recording/ cataloguing/ analyzing/ digitizing).
2) Using N. Greece as a “lab” students will have an opportunity to consider the more “public” aspects of the archaeological practice: museums; representation of cultures and “peoples”; how contemporary political aspirations and agendas, nationalism, and ethnic divisions and conflicts may be implicated in the work of the archaeologist; how archaeologists can reach the public, provide alternative views of the past, and permit diverse voices to be heard.
3) A significant aspect of this program is that GSU students will be afforded a unique international and cultural immersion experience, as they will be working and living in a foreign country together with a number of students from Greece, the EU and with students of other US institutions.
