Turkey Field School: Archeological Dig at the City of Pompey the Great

Please note: The Turkey Field School has an earlier application deadline due to the processing time for a security clearance for the archeological site in Turkey. Applications are due by November 26, 2018. Please e-mail Allison Broadbent, Study Abroad Manager, if you would like to apply.

The 5-week summer Turkey Field School will be devoted to learning and implementing the theories and practical application of classical excavation techniques at the site of Pompey the Great's City, Pompeiopolis, along with field trips to other sites and museums in order to examine and learn about other artifacts from ancient civilizations that have had a significant impact on the modern culture of Turkey. This Field School is open to students from all disciplines at the University of Guelph - no previous experience in archeology or excavation techniques is required as students will learn these skills through the program!

Information Session

Thursday, Nov. 8

5:30 - 6:30 pm

MCKN 261

Field School Details

Instructor: Dr. Andrew Sherwood, School of Languages and Literatures

Offered: Summer 2019

Prerequisite: 7.5 credits or permission of the instructor, 70% cumulative average.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Dr. Andy Sherwood or Allison Broadbent, Study Abroad Manager.

Program Dates

5 weeks from early July to mid-August, 2019

Course

Before leaving Guelph, each student will select and research a specific monument that presently exists in modern Istanbul. The group will meet in Istanbul for several days at the beginning of the Field School in order to visit the monuments, with each student presenting their research to the group, and thus learning why Istanbul has been a significant and fascinating city for more than two millennia.

For the remainder of the program, students will stay in a residence in the small town of Taskopru, which is 70 km south of the Black Sea, with the other archeological teams who are working at the excavation site of Pompei the Great's city, Pompeiopolos. Most of the time (five days per week) will be devoted to learning excavation duties and techniques: techniques to recover artifacts, recording them properly (measuring, drawing, photographing), and their analysis. Students will get to spend some time with a variety of professional specialists from the international team of researchers also working at the site, who are happy to instruct students in the rudimentaries of their various disciplines: architectural drawing and surveying, ceramic analyses and drawing, bone identification and analyses, sculptural analyses, conservation of artifacts, photography, archival recording, storage, museum display, epigraphy, numismatics, etc. The two remaining days of the week will be spent visiting other archeological sites and collections at museums to examine comparable artifacts that have already been documented and interpreted, in order to gain a greater understanding of the ancient civilizations that have helped to shape modern culture in Turkey. These interactions give students the incredible opportunity of witnessing cutting edge new discoveries, including archeological materials that have not yet been published anywhere in the world, from the various civilizations that have controlled Turkey and other areas of the NE and the Mediterranean.

Besides the discipline-specific trips, participants will also get to visit some of the natural wonders of Turkey, which involve hiking and swimming in some of the areas off the beaten track of tourism. While in the lesser cities of Turkey, after the ‘academic’ work/visitations, the students will be free to interact with a very friendly Turkish population, attuning themselves to a culture that is different in so many ways from Canada, but extremely welcoming. One of the great benefits for the Canadian students working on the excavation is that Turkish students (male and female) also work there, and are delighted to accept the Canadian students as their guests - helping them with local customs, courtesies and basic Turkish.

Overall Learning Objectives:

to introduce students to archaeological practice: from excavation techniques, to recording of information and interpretations of the artifacts in order to build an understanding of the cultures that produced them.
to introduce students to several civilizations that helped to formulate Western concepts of form and beauty.
to initiate understanding of the purpose of critical review of material objects within a proper cultural context.
to help students to build confidence in recovery and critical evaluation of information.
to introduce the students to a different culture (and all that entails) in order to help them develop a more open understanding and appreciation of areas very different from not merely Guelph, but from North America.

Costs

Students should budget for the following:

University of Guelph tuition and fees for 1.0 course credits

Round-trip airfare to Turkey (estimated $1600)
The Turkey Field School fee: approximately $1800 (includes 5 weeks accommodations, including 3 meals/day for 5 days a week, and field trips inTurkey). Amount is subject to change based on fluctuating exchange rate.
Visa fee (approx. $80)
Mandatory travel health and emergency insurance through the company Guard Me ($1.65 / day) for the five weeks in Turkey
Personal expenses (other food, additional personal excursions, etc)

About the Faculty Coordinator

Dr. A.N. Sherwood, a professor of Classical Studies at University of Guelph, has worked on excavations in Greece, Israel, Jordan, Italy, Romania and Turkey since 1978. He has been a student volunteer himself, then worked his way up to become Associate Director of several excavations at which student volunteers were/are employed. The student groups he has led on international excavations have varied from four to twenty-five students, with the length of excavations being from five to seven weeks. In 2013, he first visited Pompeiopolis at the invitation of the excavation director, Dr. Sumerer, to investigate the possibility of bringing students. Seeing that the international team was already assembled and working harmoniously, and that living and working conditions were superb and safe, Dr. Sherwood took groups of students to Turkey in 2014, 2015 and 2018. The trips were extremely successful; the students were terrific, their work outstanding, and the international scholars at the excavation site totally revised their opinions about undergraduates (Canadians, at least) as only graduate students had been previously allowed to work at the site.

Eligibility

Students applying for the program must have completed a total of 7.5 undergraduate credits by the time the program begins in July 2018, or have permission from the instructor. Applicants must have a 70% cumulative average at the time they apply. (Students with a 67 - 69% cumulative average may be considered if there are extenuating circumstances that affected their marks which are described on their application.)

The program is open to students from all disciplines at the University of Guelph, with a maximum of 15 students being accepted to the program.

Apply to the Turkey Field School

The Turkey Field School has an earlier application deadline due due to the processing time for a security clearance for the archeological site in Turkey. Please e-mail Allison Broadbent, Study Abroad Manager, if you would like to apply.

Application deadline: November 26, 2018