Study Abroad!
The Lower Saxony Institute for Historical Coastal Research (http://www.nihk.de) offers an archaeological field work opportunity to students of the Departments of Archaeology, History and Classics at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The excavations will take place in August 2016 on a multi-period settlement site of the Roman Iron Age to the High Middle Ages in the Lower Elbe region (Northern Germany). Located next to the coast, in an area belonging to the barbaricum in late antiquity and to the Frankish kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, the settlement was originally connected to maritime traffic that sailed the North Sea in those times. The project aims at gaining information about the economic structure of the settlement and at locating potential harbour sites. It is expected that the excavation will uncover objects indicating connections with the Rhineland, Scandinavia, or the British Isles.
Participants will be taught a variety of practical skills including excavation, artifact identification, cataloguing techniques, and geo-archaeological prospection. It is a very interesting site with many different artifacts that will help us to reconstruct its past. Interested students may apply by 20 December 2015 for participation. Applications will be reviewed and final registration will close on 29 February 2016. The number of participants from Memorial University is limited to ten individuals. All applicants should be physically capable of performing the duties associated with the participation in an archaeological excavation. Preference will be given to candidates with first excavation experience and specialized in Viking Age or medieval archaeology. Applicants are requested to send a letter of intention and short CV by email to Dr. Rossignol. The University of Rostock will give students who complete the program (four weeks) a certificate for six (6) ECTS credit hours that will be transferrable as three (3) MUN credit hours.
The excavations are carried out in the framework of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)-funded project "Medieval Trading Ports on the German North Sea Coast" (http://www.spp-haefen.de/) in collaboration with the local archaeological service. Participants will bear expenses for health insurance and travel costs on their own. Free accommodation near the excavation site is provided. On weekends field trips to the UNESCO's World Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea landscape, the city of Hamburg and other sightseeing destinations will be organized.
Contact information: For information regarding travel arrangements, opportunities for travel funding, and MUN regulations, contact Dr. Sébastien Rossignol srossignol@mun.ca; for information about the archaeological site, the research project, and arrangements in Germany, contact Dr. Eichfeld eichfeld@nihk.de.