US-IL: Champaign Archaeological Curation (IFR)

Location: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, USA

Session Dates: June 1-July 11, 2026

Application Deadline: March 1, 2026

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://ifrglobal.org/program/us-il-archaeological-curation/

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
This project is an RPA certified field school

Affiliation:
Institute for Field Research (IFR),, Center for Archaeological Investigations

Project Director:
Dr. Tamira K. Brennan, Dr. M. Teresa Palomares Rodriguez

Project Description:

This RPA-certified field school offers the rare opportunity to gain both excavation and curation experience in a single program, giving you a full-circle perspective on archaeological collections. You’ll begin with two weeks of excavations at a late pre-contact Mississippian site near Bloomington-Normal, then transition to the Illinois State Archaeological Survey in Champaign-Urbana, home to one of the largest archaeological collections in the Midwest. Working directly with materials that span the entirety of human occupation in Illinois, you’ll develop excavation skills, learn best practices in curation and preservation, and explore how collections are made accessible for outreach, education, research, and stakeholder communities.

Field school highlights:

• Excavate at a pre-contact archaeological site and work hands-on with artifacts, including materials from some of the earliest archaeological investigations in North America!
• Build a transferable skillset for a career in curation, museums, collections, archives, and/or field archaeology.
• Enrich your experience with field trips to museums and repositories, as well as guest lectures from area experts.

Period(s) of Occupation: Curation, Museum Studies, CRM, Prehistoric

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Students are expected to stay the full length of the program.

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: None

Room and Board Arrangements:
Students will have private bedrooms in an apartment or dorm setting with common spaces (kitchen, living room, bathrooms) shared between two or more students. Furniture and linens for the beds will be provided, as will all dishes/cook wares and cleaning supplies. Wi-fi is available, and the housing is near community bus lines. Dinners will be a combination of meals cooked by students in teams of 2 or 3 on a rotating basis on most class nights, a weekly meal out at a local establishment, and whatever the students choose to arrange for non-class nights. All meals will minimally include a protein and fruit/vegetable. Students will pack their own lunch to bring to class each day. Refrigerators are present at student housing, but not at the class site, so plan to bring a lunch box with cooler packs, if necessary. Groceries for lunch and dinner for the entire week will be provided at the project’s expense. Students should plan on providing their own breakfast foods. The project van will make weekly trips to the grocery store so that students can acquire groceries for both.

Academic Credit:
8 semester (12 quarter)