Location: Mykines, Greece

Season Dates: May 30, 2013 - June 29, 2013
Application Deadline: March 31, 2013

Website: http://mycenae-excavations.org

Program Type
Field school

Affiliation: Athens Archaeological Society, Dickinson College, and INSTAP

Project Director: Christofilis Maggidis, Dickinson College & Athens Archaeological Society

Project Description

The Archaeology Department of Dickinson College and the D.E.P.A.S. of Mycenae project offer to motivated and qualified students the unique opportunity to participate in the excavation, geoprospection survey, and research of the legendary Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae and its surrounding region.

The archaeological site of Mycenae (a World Heritage site) is located in the Argolid, a region in the northeastern Peloponnese, at a distance of only 2 km from the modern village of Mycenae (where the excavation team is housed), 8-10 km from the city of Argos (the prefecture capital), 18-20 km from the shores of Nafplion, and approximately 140 km (two-hour drive) from Athens (the capital city of Greece) and the international airport Eleftherios Venizelos.

During the field campaigns the students are trained as trench assistants in archaeological excavation  (including digging, recording, plotting, drawing, dry and wet sifting), systematic geoprospection survey (with use of remote sensing devices such as GPR and Gradiometer, and aided by Total Station and GPS), pottery study and museum work (recording, cataloguing, and studying artifacts and archaeobotanical/skeletal material). The 2013 campaign will focus mainly on museum work, but also geophysical survey and targeted fieldwork (test pits and clearing operations) in the Lower Town outside the citadel walls (seventh season). The program further includes field trips to nearby museums and archaeological sites in Athens (4 days), Nafplio, Argos, Tiryns, Corinth, Epidaurus, Pylos, Olympia, Delphi, Glas, designed to offer the students hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of Prehistoric Aegean and Classical Greek art and archaeology, and familiarize them with the modern Greek culture and language.

Students may apply either for academic course credit or non-credit (fieldwork certificate). Applications must be submitted on-line at https://dickinson.studioabroad.com (applicants must first register as users and then log in, fill out required information, and select credit/non-credit program). For more information on fees, procedures, deadlines, cf. the Dickinson Global Education and the Mycenae Project website (http://mycenae-excavations.org).  

Period(s) of Occupation: Mycenaean (mainly), Geometric, Archaic

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 4 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: Prior academic coursework or other background in Greek archaeology and/or Aegean prehistory is required (prerequisite may be waived at the discretion of the director).

Room and Board Arrangements

The program fee (credit/non-credit) includes room, full board (2 full meals plus weekly allowance to cover third daily meal and weekend board), and local transportation (to/from the airport, to/from the archaeological site, and group excursions/field trips). International flight to/from Greece and all other incidental expenses are the students' responsibility. The students, junior and senior staff are housed in three adjacent hotels in the modern village of Mycenae: rooms are double/triple occupancy, air-conditioned, usually with private bathroom/shower and balcony. Laundry services; several restaurants on site, beautiful shores of Nafplio only 20-30 minute drive (by bus or taxi).

Cost: $4,000-$5,650 for 4.5 weeks

Academic Credit
Name of institution offering credit: Dickinson College
Number of credits offered: Participants may enroll either for academic course credit through Dickinson College (one full course credit equivalent to 4 semester hours), or, alternatively, for an archaeological fieldwork certificate (D.E.P.A.S. of Mycenae).
Tuition: $5,650 (academic course credit); $4,000 (non-credit, fieldwork certificate).

Contact Information
Prof. Christofilis Maggidis
Department of Archaeology, Keck Archaeology Lab, Dickinson College, P.O. Box 1773
Carlisle, PA 17013-2896
USA
maggidic@dickinson.edu
Phone: 717-245-1014

Recommended Bibliography

http://mycenae-excavations.org ("Geophysical Survey", "Lower Town Excavation," "History of Site")
Sp. Iakovides, Late Helladic Citadels on Mainland Greece, Chapter on Mycenae, 1983, Leiden
El. French, Mycenae, Agamemnon's Capital: the Site and its Setting, 2002
Chr. Maggidis and A. Stamos, Detecting Mycenae: Systematic Remote Sensing Survey in the 'Lower City' - Towards the Discovery of the Mycenaean Settlement Outside the Citadel, 2nd International Conference on Remote Sensing Archaeology: From Space to Place, BAR, 157-166, 2006, Rome
Shelmerdine, C.W. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, Chapters 10-15, 2008