Preparing to Direct Your First Field Project or Field School [Foundational Skills]
Graduate schools provide students opportunities for fieldwork and training in archaeological methods and theory, but can sometimes overlook instruction in field safety and well-being. More explicit guidance on organizational considerations for projects and how to conduct safe fieldwork will improve the overall success of student-led projects and prepare students to direct safe and successful fieldwork programs as professionals. This guidance can also be instilled during field school, and so a portion of this course will be dedicated to considerations for organizing and directing field schools to meet the needs of today’s workforce and to emphasize crew safety and training scaffolding. In this seminar, we will draw on the experiences of current and recent graduate students as well as professors who have overseen fieldwork to outline key considerations in improving field safety and well-being and to offer recommendations for specific training and safety protocols. While discussing these considerations and recommendations, we will use primarily domestic field project examples, particularly those involving community collaboration, but will briefly touch on international projects.
The resources and recommendations provided in this seminar will be especially useful for projects whose crews are comprised at least partially of students, interns, or volunteers (such as Passport in Time, university, or nonprofit-sponsored projects).