Current ShovelBums Field Schools in Asia as of March 10, 2016

Asia - China - Yangguanzhai Field School - 2016

The prehistoric village of Yangguanzhai (YGZ) dates to the Middle to Late Yangshao period (4,000-3,000 BCE), and it is one of the largest of its kind. The site is located in the Jing River Valley, approximately 25 kilometers north of the ancient city of Xi’an in northwest China. YGZ has a moat, a row of cave dwellings, subterranean houses, child urn-burials, and extensive pottery kilns. In the coming 2016 season, the project will continue working in the northeast portion of the site. There are multiple possible excavations that we will undertake including: refuse pits, a potential large building and a nearby child urn burial, and the cemetery adjacent to the settlement. In order to gain a better understanding of the overall settlement system of the region, we will also conduct survey work at the nearby Neolithic sites of Manan and Huiduipo.

Asia - Mongolia - Central Mongolian Nomads Project - 2016

The Central Mongolian Nomads Project is a 17-day archaeological field school and research project conducted in Ulaanbaatar, Ar Janchivlan Valley (located in Tuv Province), and western Khentii Province. Archaeologists from the University of Chicago and the Mongolian University of Science & Technology will give lectures, lead seminars and lab practica, and provide hands-on instruction in core field methods through original research and visits to sites of archaeological significance in rural Mongolia. The field school aims to provide students of all ages and backgrounds with a rigorous, well-rounded introduction to archaeological research in Mongolia through intellectual and practical engagement with Mongolian history, prehistory, and culture. Our team of students and staff will live, learn, and adventure together for two weeks in late June and early July through the steppe, river valleys, and forested zone of Central Mongolia after three intense days of classroom learning in Ulaanbaatar. Archaeologists always conduct their field research within a specific cultural context; thus, our team will engage with individuals, communities, and institutions that have a stake in Mongolia’s cultural heritage. Our students of all ages and backgrounds will practice their new language skills with Mongolian staff, visit with a nomadic family, and attend a local naadam festival as part of their education on Mongolia.

Asia - Mongolia - Northern Mongolia Archaeology Project - 2016

Need a little adventure in your life? Interested in traveling to Mongolia? Interested in trying your hand at archaeological fieldwork? A small international team is now being assembled to conduct archaeological fieldwork in northern Mongolia from July 5th – 26th in collaboration with the National Museum of Mongolia. Applications are due by March 18th, 2016. Activities include surface survey, geophysical survey, excavation, ethnoarchaeological interviews, and artifact cleaning, cataloging and basic analysis. No experience necessary. Good attitude required. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request an application or go to: 

https://www.cognitoforms.com/NorthernMongoliaArchaeologyProject/_2016Application

Asia - Mongolia - Northern Mongolia Archaeology Project - 2016

A small interdisciplinary, international team of Mongolian and foreign researchers will be selected to conduct archaeological research (primarily excavation, but also survey and ethnoarchaeology). No experience necessary, but interest, a good attitude and reasonable physical fitness a must! Terrain and climate are challenging, and the location is VERY remote, so general preparedness essential. No credits offered, but will work with your home institution to arrange independent study credits if necessary. Research aims: Mongolia’s mobile pastoral economy is the foundation of the national identity and primary economic strategy, a lifeway made possible with the introduction of domesticates into the area from regions to the north and west. The archaeological site of Soyo, in the Darkhad Depression of northern Mongolia, has the potential to contribute significantly to understanding questions about the archaeological history of this region. Located at the intersection of the dense forest taiga and the grass steppe-land of the basin, Soyo is uniquely positioned to facilitate interaction between hunting and herding practices. Preliminary research at the Soyo site has revealed a unique depositional history where wind-blown sand has stratified thick artifact deposits creating a one of a kind, 7,000 year continuous record of human activity. Despite being such an important part of Mongolian heritage, this site is threatened by the development of a tourist camp. It is critical that an archaeological team conduct this research at the site in the summer of 2015 as the site is actively being threatened by this development.

Asia - Philippines - Ifugao Field School - 2016

The Ifugao Rice Terraces are UNESCO World Heritage monuments that attest to the ingenuity and communitarian management of Cordilleran people of Luzon in the Philippines. Once thought to be over 2,000 years old, our recent work has demonstrated that the upland rice field systems in the region were responses to the social and political pressure from intrusive Spanish colonization into the region starting at c. AD 1600. To determine the impacts of Spanish colonialism on Philippine highland populations, the 2015 and 2016 field seasons of the Ifugao Archaeological Project (IAP) focus on the Old Kiyyangan Village, an abandoned settlement in the town of Kiangan, Ifugao. The IAP’s primary research goals are: 1) to document highland political and economic responses to colonialism by looking at the development and expansion of the Old Kiyyangan Village; 2) to determine subsistence shifts and health and diet by examining botanical, faunal, and human skeletal remains; 3) to investigate the process of increasing social differentiation through the examination of exotic goods; and, 4) to understand how the Philippine highlands resisted Spanish colonialism by exploring settlement patterns in Ifugao.