Household Archaeology at Sant’Aniceto, Calabria, Italy in summer 2009

Under the direction of Dr. Meredith S. Chesson (Notre Dame),Dr. John Robb (Cambridge University), Nicholas Wolff and David Yoon, the Bova Marina Archaeological Project will conduct a 5-week excavation season at the Late/Final Bronze Age site (ca. 1000 bce) of Sant’Aniceto. The season will run from roughly mid-May to late June, 2009 (exact dates still TBA).

Research Focus:

Our current research focus takes advantage of recent methodological and theoretical advances in household archaeology to investigate the material remains of individual and group identities, connectivity, and place-making in a small rural settlement of the Late/Final Bronze Age in southern Calabria. Excavation methodology will be designed to utilize state-of-the-art methodologies in (1) activity area analysis, and (2) the contextual analysis of material culture. We are keen to investigate daily life in this small settlement, its and its inhabitants’ place in the greater social and economic geographies of the southern coastal plain and the Aspromonte Mountains, and to understand Sant’Aniceto’s connections to the greater Ausonian world. For more information on all the projects conducted by the Bova Marina Archaeological Project, please see our webpage(http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~jer39/BMAP/).

Requirements:

No previous excavation experience is required for participation in the project. Fieldwork requires physically demanding work in the Calabrian sun and heat from roughly 6:00 am until 2:00 pm six days a week. Sant’Aniceto is located on a 200-meter high hill requiring a strenuous 15-minute climb every morning carrying the day’s water and equipment, and thus participants should be very fit, comfortable with heights, and not suffer from vertigo.

What students will learn:

The Sant’Aniceto project is not a field school that offers credits and provides a schedule of lectures. However, field trips are organized by the staff, and students will learn the daily tasks associated with excavation fieldwork. With a small team in the field, students are intimately involved in all levels of field research, including the decision-making process, the collection of data, and the laboratory analysis. Students will learn the basic archaeological field methods of excavation, and data recording, and laboratory techniques for cleaning and analyzing material culture.

Cost to Participants:

While there is no fee for tuition credits, the team will charge each participant $500 to help us cover costs of food, accommodation, field trips, and miscellaneous camp expenses. Participants are responsible for their own airfare, trip insurance, and health insurance. Notre Dame undergraduate students have several options for applying to fellowships to help fund summer field experiences. For further information on these fellowships, see the description and application materials for the UROP grant, offered by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (http://isla.nd.edu/), as well as the website describing fellowships offered by the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at ND (http://www.nd.edu/~nanovic/).

Room and Board:

The BMAP team offers full room and board for the extent of the field season in rented apartments. We live in a small coastal town called Bova Marina, across the street from the Mediterranean. We eat dinners collectively, and traditionally hire two local cooks to prepare Calabrian dinners most nights of the week.

How and When to Apply:

If you are interested in applying to join the 2009 team, please email Dr. Chesson at mchesson@nd.edu to receive an application form. All applications are due no later than Monday, 17 November, 2008. Applications can be mailed or faxed to Prof. Meredith S. Chesson, Dept. of Anthropology, 611 Flanner Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Email: mchesson@nd.edu Fax: 574-631-5760

Posted on 6 October, 2008