Archaeology

Our students have the opportunity to get down and dirty in foreign countries digging up ancient artifacts and ruins. Digging can be both exhilarating and grueling. They live on or near the site and work hard in the field during the day. Usually, room and board is covered, but you pay for your own travel costs.

Mediterranean

• The American Institute of Archaeology lists digs and scholarship opportunities. It is North America’s oldest and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology.

• The American School of Classical Studies at Athens offers a program for volunteers to assist with the excavations of the Athenian Agora.

• Amelia International Conservation Studies hosts immersive field school programs in Italy where students gain hands-on experience in restoration and conservation.

• The Archeodig Project is conducting a dig on the coast of Tuscany at the Roman settlement of Poggio del Molino, which will be held in June and early July.

• The Balkan Heritage Field School offers a range of projects and fieldwork opportunities, including work with Ancient Greek pottery, Roman pottery, Roman glass, and Roman masonry, among others.

• The Hellenic Education and Research Center is currently excavating a bronze age site in the Peloponnese region.

• The Gabii Project is an archaeological project run through the University of Michigan.

• At the Caladinho Archaeological Project, students excavate a 1st century BCE Roman watchtower located near Redondo, Portugal.

• ArchaeoTek offers a number of opportunities to dig at Roman villas or pre-historical sites throughout the ancient Greco-Roman world. 

• San Gemini Preservation Studies offers a variety of programs involving historic preservation, restoration, and conservation in Italy.

• The Santa Susana Archaeological Project is excavating a Roman villa in Redondo, Portugal.

• The Iklaina-Pylos Archaeological Project, sponsored by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, combines digging and travel on the Peloponnesus.

• The International School of Archaeology in Abruzzo Summer Program (University of Pisa, Italy) offers participants a multi-period approach to the study of archaeology through students’ participation in seminars, laboratories, and two different excavation sites.

• The Villa of the Antonines archaeological field school is offered through Montclair State University in the Alban Hills just outside Rome. Two scholarships of $1,000 each are available to students from any American university.

• Do like Hadrian and escape the heat and crowds of Rome by digging at the Imperial Villa at Tivoli!

• Dig at Tel Dor, which is an ancient harbor now located within Israel.

• Learn at the largest open air ethnographic museum in Europe. Spend three weeks learning about Roman metal, ceramic and wood use at the Brukenthal Museum in Transylvania, Romania.

Roman Britain

• Dig near Hadrian’s Wall in Britain and learn about the Roman army at Vindolanda.

• York Archaeological Trust allows you to participate in a training excavation in York, England. England is rich in Roman antiquities—Hadrian’s Wall, Bath, British Museum, York. You get hands-on experience digging on a medieval or ancient site. This program is very flexible; you can attend for as little as one week.

• Take a five-week course on the Romans in Britain on the site of the beautiful bath complex in Bath, England.

Butrint

Excavations by David Hernandez, the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Associate Professor in archeology.

As the nation's first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Butrint (ancient Bouthrotos/ Buthrotum) is the most famous archaeological site in Albania. Discovered in 2005, the Roman Forum at Butrint is the only known forum in Epeiros and one of the best preserved of Augustan date (27 BC - AD 14) in the provinces of the Roman Empire.

Built over 2000 years ago by Roman colonists, the forum was the center of public justice, administration, business, religion, and entertainment. The Roman Forum Excavations (RFE) Project is bringing to light the forum and unearthing a story that spans millennia, from the time of the city's birth in the 7th century BC to its abandonment in the 16th century AD.