Anthropology 589
6 credits

Six week session:
June 2 through July 11, 2008

Monticello's Department of Archaeology and the University of Virginia are pleased to offer a six-week archaeological field school at Monticello from June 2 through July 11, 2008. The program offers six credits to undergraduate and graduate students through the University of Virginia School of Continuing and Professional Studies.

Monticello will offer successful applicants half-tuition fellowships. Since space is limited, please be sure to have all materials postmarked or emailed by the application deadline.

Research Focus

Our fieldwork addresses changing patterns of land use and settlement on Thomas Jefferson's, Monticello Plantation from c. 1750 to 1860, along with their ecological and social causes and consequences. Toward the end of the 18th century, spurred by shifts in the Atlantic economy, Thomas Jefferson and planters across the Chesapeake region replaced tobacco cultivation with a more diversified agricultural regime, based around wheat. Our research is revealing the enormous implications of this shift for what the landscape looked like and how enslaved African-Americans worked and lived on it. Significant questions remain about the ecological processes that were unleashed, how they were experienced by slaves and slave owners, and the importance of changing slave work routines in explaining social dynamics among enslaved and free people. Field School students will focus on two major efforts during the summer of 2008. The first is the exploration of how the domestic lives of slaves changed during the shift from tobacco to wheat cultivation. The second is devoted to documenting the ecological effects of agricultural change.

The Program

Students will learn basic archaeological excavation and recording techniques required to execute successfully multi-disciplinary field research in landscape archaeology. Technical topics covered include survey and excavation strategies, the analytical possibilities for ceramics, faunal remains, plant phytoliths and pollen, deposits and the sediments they contain, soil chemistry, and spatial distributions of artifacts. The Field School, like the program of which it is a part, emphasizes multidisciplinary approach to archaeology. Guest lecturers are drawn from a variety of disciplines including geology, zooarchaeology, palynology, architectural history, and social history. On-site instruction, lectures, and discussion sessions at Monticello will be complemented by field trips to related sites. Students will attend classes forty hours per week, with the bulk of that time spent doing on-site field research. Reading assignments, lectures, and discussion sessions will cover both technical and historical issues. Most weekends are free for individual travel.

Requirements

The course does not assume students have previous archaeological field experience. An introductory course in archaeology will be helpful, but is not mandatory. Archaeological fieldwork is very demanding. Students should be in excellent physical condition and enjoy sustained, strenuous teamwork.

Cost To Participants
Tuition and Scholarship:

All students in the field school will receive a Monticello Archaeological Scholarship from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. This tuition grant covers one-half of the normal University of Virginia tuition charge. Taking into account this support, the total cost to students is expected to be about $800 for students who are Virginia residents and $1,200 for students who are not Virginia residents.

Room and Board:

Air conditioned housing at the University of Virginia is available to Students at an estimated cost of $34.50 per night or roughly $242 per week (double or single). Meals are available at an additional cost through University dining services, or students can choose to prepare their own meals. Numerous summer sublets are also available in Charlottesville, but students will need to make their own arrangements.

To Apply

Your application should include a one-page cover letter that outlines your interest in archaeology and a résumé that contains the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references. The application deadline is March 28, 2008. Applications should be mailed to:

Monticello-University of Virginia
Archaeological Field School
Monticello
P.O. Box 316
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902

Lecture and Seminar Topics

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