Update: Scholarship Now Available for AUR Archeological Field School Students
The ‘Butrint Foundation’ is offering a full scholarship covering tuition, room and board for a student registering through AUR for the Butrint archaeological field school this summer. The scholarship can be used for either of the two courses listed below.
Click Here for Scholarship Details
In conjunction with Albanian Heritage and the Albanian Institute of Archeology, The American University of Rome is offering two 3 credit field schools at Butrint, Albania in July 2011.
ARC 293: Archaeology Practicum is an introductory excavation course covering all the basic skills required to find, excavate and record archaeological remains.
ARC 303: Archaeological Conservation Practicum is an introduction to practical conservation techniques in the field, students should have completed either an introductory conservation course or an introductory archaeological excavation course in order to register for this course. Both courses will run 3-23rd July 2011.
About Butrint
Butrint is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Albania where an Anglo-Albanian project has been working since 1994 to research the ancient city and develop the site as a tourist resource and training center. The training program has been held annually for Albanian students since 2000.
Aerial View of Butrint
The excavation program (ARC 293) is based around a Roman villa and associated cemetery just to the south of the ancient city, and forms part of an important research strategy focusing on the suburbs of Butrint. The training program is intended to be a wide ranging introduction to archeological excavation where students are led progressively through the various techniques and the theoretical basis of modern fieldwork. The main focus of the excavation in 2011 will be the suburbs on the Vrina Plain on the opposite side of the channel to walled Butrint, where there are a series of Roman buildings, a necropolis and medieval structures. This will be an expansion of previous excavations of a mausoleum and a Roman villa. In addition to their excavation participation, students will also complete their own monuments project focusing on an individual monument (either on the Vrina Plain or on the main site of Butrint). The project will consist of a photographic and condition survey of the monument accompanied by appropriate plans. The project will also contain a series of recommendations for archeological management.
The conservation program (ARC 303) will focus on the masonry walls of the main site of Butrint. The students will spend the first two weeks in the field learning how to critically assess the conservation needs of an archaeological monument and diagnose its “pathology”. They will analyze the best conservation approach taking into account broader issues such as the environmental context, the long-term site management plan and public accessibility. Each student will be assigned practical work to complete under the supervision of an experienced conservator. The last week will be spent either studying post-excavation conservation of finds or working in the field on the parallel excavation project.
Students at the dig in Butrint
Dates and Cost
The Butrint field program will run from 3-23 July. Final costs will be available in early February but will be in the region of €2000. This price will include all tuition and full-board on the excavation. The working language is English.
