Iklaina Excavation

Location: Pylos

Season: June 20, 2025 to July 11, 2025

Application Deadline: February 23, 2025

Deadline Type: Exact Date

Website: http://www.iklaina.org

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
University of Missouri-St. Louis; Athens Archaeological Society

Project Director:
Prof. Michael B. Cosmopoulos

Project Description:

Iklaina, one of the capital cities of the Mycenaean state of Pylos, is famously associated with Nestor’s kingdom in Homer’s Iliad. Systematic interdisciplinary excavations have uncovered groundbreaking evidence of early Greek political organization, monumental architecture, and sophisticated administrative systems. This field school, worth 6 credit hours, offers hands-on excavation experience, lab work (ceramic, faunal, and botanical analysis, conservation, etc.), evening seminars, and visits to major archaeological sites in the Peloponnese, including the Palace of Nestor, Mycenae, and Olympia.

Period(s) of Occupation: Late Bronze Age (Mycenaean), ca. 1500-1200 BC

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 3 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: No prior archaeological experience is required. However, applicants must be in good health, so that they can participate in all aspects of the program. This includes physical tasks, such as digging, cleaning, cataloging artifacts, entering and exiting trenches, and walking 1-2 miles, in intense outdoor conditions, including heat. Applicants should also be prepared to handle the challenges of international travel, adapt to unfamiliar environments, manage stress, and interact with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Room and Board Arrangements:
The following are included in the Program fees: - accommodation in air-conditioned rooms with TV and private baths (double occupancy); most rooms (first-register first-serve basis) have breathtaking views of the bay of Navarino - buffet breakfast, light lunch, and full four-course dinner every day - daily transportation to and from the dig site - round trip bus transportation from the Athens airport to the hotel in Pylos on the days of arrival (June 21) and departure (July 11)

Academic Credit:
The field school is offered for a total of 6 credits through the Department of History of the University of Missouri.