Information for Excavators and Volunteers
Information for ASCSA Regular and Associate Members
The excavations at Corinth serve as an introduction to those who wish exposure to field techniques and general principles of excavation. Participation is limited to Regular and Associate Members of the American School. The season runs from April through the end of June and is divided into three four-week sessions: a short training session kicks off three weeks of excavation and concludes with one week of analysis, synthesis, and clean-up. Those who would like more experience may request to stay for multiple sessions. Each session is limited to no more than seven or eight Members who are responsible for the close supervision of the work. Both Regular and Associate Members are eligible but in the case of heavy demand preference will be given to Regular members. Spouses are very welcome but they will be put to work!
Daily Schedule:
Excavation takes place from 7 AM – 2 PM (Monday-Friday) with pottery analysis from 4 PM – 6 PM, sometimes later. Saturday is devoted to the entry of records.
Specially trained local technicians do the actual digging, while students gain experience as area supervisors, keeping a written account according to a system described in our manual. Each student is fully responsible for his/her area. After a break from excavation in the field, every afternoon is spent sorting and reading pottery with the Director, at which time the material culture from one’s area is described and dated, weighed and counted. Saturdays are devoted to the cataloguing of worthy objects and describing small finds, again from one’s own area, in the Museum with the Assistant Director. At the end of the season each excavator must write a report that pulls together the history and significance of his or her area.
The Corinth training program is unique in that it gives each participant an opportunity to complete the whole sequence of work for his/her area, beginning with the field excavation, then processing the material recovered from those excavations, and finally putting the whole together in a report detailing the historical sequence that will remain as part of the city’s historical record. At all stages the excavation staff closely monitors this work. The program exposes students to a variety of archaeological field methods, the assemblage of Harris Matrices, surveying methods and the use of a total station, architectural recording and graphic representation, pottery quantification and seriation, and the iDig application for iPads. It also introduces students to the ways in which history can be reconstructed and presented from raw archaeological data. The latest information technology is employed, including an integrated database to cover all aspects of work from the excavation to museum. The sessions in the Museum are intended to instruct students in how to look at ancient objects and how to write systematic descriptions, a technique that can be applied usefully to nearly any discipline.
Information for Volunteers
In some years, spaces reserved for ASCSA members may remain vacant. Interested graduate students are asked to send a CV (two-page maximum) to the Director of the excavations by October 31 of any year. Please enclose a short cover letter requesting consideration for the excavation the following spring.
Other educational opportunities are open to a wider group of students. Volunteers interested in Museum Internship positions are asked to contact the Assistant to the Associate Director. Please enclose a short cover letter detailing why you wish to volunteer and when you are available. Note that October to April is the best time to volunteer. In some cases room and board may be covered.
Information about Housing
Members whose room and board has been paid for in Loring Hall (e.g. under fellowship or already paid by other means) will be credited for room and board in Corinth during the excavation season. This is provided that the members vacate their rooms in Loring.While Loring Hall usually closes in early June, members may usually stay in Corinth until June 30th.
Housing in the Hill House during the excavation season
Members whose room and board has been paid for in Loring Hall (e.g. under fellowship or already paid by other means) will be credited for room and board in Corinth. This is provided that the members vacate their rooms in Loring. Additionally, while Loring Hall usually closes in early June, members may usually stay in Corinth until June 30th.