Location: Orange, Virginia
Staff: Montpelier Archaeology Staff headed by Montpelier's Director of Archaeology, Matthew Reeves, and Senior Research Archaeologist, Terry Brock
2015 Season Focus: South Yard Smokehouses
Length: 4 weeks
Overview:
I attended the Montpelier Field School at the beginning of the 2015 season, where we participated in the multi-year project to excavate and reconstruct the South Yard of the mansion property (thanks to funding from David Rubenstein). The South Yard was the location of the domestic slave quarters and living space, and as such, it included two smokehouses, which were the focus of the 2015 season.
We spent roughly three of the four weeks in the field, and three days in the lab. Field excavation consisted of learning how to open and close a unit, excavate and label artifacts, navigate the copious amounts of paperwork, screen dirt, take soil and pollen samples, set up for photos, refine troweling techniques, and keep a field journal among other tasks. Working in the lab consisted of flotation, water screening, gradient sorting, and "picking" and cleaning artifacts. There was a public archaeology aspect to both the field and the lab: we were each responsible for maintaining the Instagram account for a day and interacting with visitors.
We worked Monday through Friday, with weekends off, and a normal work day lasted from about 7:30am to 4:00pm, with two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break. Typically, we had one tour and one lecture each week. Tours included the mansion and the property, and lectures were given on the history of Montpelier; on ceramics, nails, and bottles; on stratigraphy; on public archaeology; and on a career in archaeology. We were each supposed to work one-on-one with the staff metal detector technicians, but only ended up getting a collective demonstration due to bad weather. There was a field trip to Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, where we received a tour from the Director of Archaeology, Jack Gary, and learned about the archaeology they're doing there.
Pros & Cons:
- There were two to three students for each staff member, which allowed staff to quickly give guidance and feedback.
- Since Arlington House (where students and interns stay) was on the property, it was a quick and convenient drive to and from the site/lab everyday.
- There were opportunities to get some extra hands-on experience on the weekends, which included volunteering in the lab and digging shovel test pits (STPs). These were optional, and I'm glad I took advantage of both of these opportunities.
- Nearby Charlottesville and Shenandoah made for fun group excursions on the weekends.
- The public archaeology aspect ended up being one of my favorite parts of excavating. I loved explaining the archaeology to visitors, which in turn, helped me to process what we were doing. I had never used Instagram prior to then, and found it a fun and useful way to focus on a particular unit or artifact on the site and to interact with Montpelier's followers.
- Field school students were not only allowed, but also encouraged, to have a car. This made running errands and doing fun things on the weekends much easier, though many people who didn't have their own cars were able to carpool with others. (This is also a "con" because I didn't realize that having my car would make me obligated to transport others for four weeks. It worked out fine, and we all got into a routine where the same people carpooled together, but it would have been nice to know that ahead of time.) I did have to buy towels at the local dollar store to protect my seats and floor from getting stained with dirt - a piece of advice if you find yourself in a similar situation!
- Housing was provided! Again, this was a pro and a con: I didn't have to worry about arranging my own accommodations, but living in a 1850's house with twenty other people was, well, as you might imagine it would be.
Recommend?
Yes! Montpelier's field school was not perfect and there are some additional things that I would have liked to get out of it, but overall, it was a great experience and I learned a great deal.
Advice:
Do your research before applying to field schools. When I began searching for a field school, my criteria was mainly focused on cost and accommodations. I chose Montpelier not only because it satisfied my criteria, but also because they have a good reputation, and information regarding its field school is easily accessible from the website. Additionally, different field schools have different focuses; if you know that you're interested in osteology or zooarchaeology, there are field schools with those focuses that may be better tailored to your specific interests. A great place to start your search is AIA's Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin. I also recently came across ArchaeoDirt, which dedicates an entire tab to submitted field school reviews (on which I've loosely based my review).
Take advantage of your field school! Similar to an internship, field school is a practical learning experience. So ask questions, read all the readings and reports assigned, attend the lectures and tours, participate in optional activities, etc. If you're fully engaged with the experience, you'll take much more away from it, which can only benefit you.
Say thank you. Even if you weren't buddy-buddy with your supervisors, be sure to thank them for their time and expertise. Field school is a great place to network. Your supervisors have been in your shoes, and are valuable resources. At Montpelier, many of the staff were either between their Bachelor's and Master's or between their Master's and Doctorate, had backgrounds ranging from lab technicians to CRM, and were focused on different areas of study such as marine archaeology and GIS. Ask staff about their experiences, their plans, and ask them for advice - and remember that a sincere thank you can go a long way.
* Please note that a field school differs from season to season, with changes in staff, students, research goals, and sites among other aspects. This review is based solely and subjectively on my experience, and is only meant to help you in your own field school search.
