Field School Syllabus

The Field School offered a combination of hands-on practical training and academic content. The academic content of the programme was primarily concerned with Roman imperial archaeology and material culture, with a particular reference to archaeology of the Tiber delta and Rome. Fieldwork training focused upon theories, techniques and strategies of survey and excavation, archaeological stratigraphy, sampling procedures, field data collection and recording methods, documentation and report preparation. Students also learned to map, recover, catalogue, and process archaeological artefacts. The project also usesd cutting-edge digital technologies and provided a training in a variety of techniques that we used in our work. 

For example, in 2018 the students received practical training in the following areas:

• Archaeological survey – photogrammetry
• Archaeological excavation – tools, techniques, artefact recognition
• Archaeological recording procedures – photography, imaging, context sheets, section, plan and feature drawing, site maps
• Global positioning systems (GPS) and total data station (TDS)
• Recovery, identification and interpretation of cultural materials, archaeological features, contexts and stratigraphy
• Basic report preparation – documentation of inventory and excavation results
• Finds processing