Excavating at the Spartan Sanctuary of Apollo Amyklaios (Peloponnese-Greece)

Location: Sparta, Greece

Season: July 23, 2023 to August 12, 2023

Session Dates: July 23rd - August 5th, 2023 AND July 23rd - August 12th, 2023

Application Deadline: May 19, 2023

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://www.herc.gr

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
Hellenic Education & Research Center (HERC)

Project Director:
Dr. Stavros Vlizos

Project Description:

Please note that for Summer 2023 two possibilities are available for the Amyklaion Excavation: a two-week program (July 23-Aug. 5) and a three-week program (July 23-Aug. 12).

The Amyklaion, with its monumental Throne of Apollo, constituted the most prominent sanctuary in ancient Laconia and one of the most important Spartan religious and civic centers. Current excavations on the site started in 2005 and have brought to light numerous significant finds.

Students will have an active participation in the systematic excavation of the Amyklaion and they will experience the entire excavation procedure. They will work at the excavation during weekdays from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm. This will include excavation, archaeological method and practice, on site documentation, recordkeeping, archaeological drawing, pottery cleaning and sorting, describing and cataloguing artifacts. The participants will familiarize themselves with a variety of artifacts of different materials and types covering a wide chronological range extending from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine period. Students will also have the opportunity to practice and become familiar with a wide range of new technologies used by the archaeological research.

In the afternoon selected literary texts and inscriptions on the history of Sparta will be read. Students who have no knowledge of Ancient Greek will read the texts of inscriptions in translation. If there are enough students enrolled with knowledge of Ancient Greek, several Ancient Greek literary texts and inscriptions will be read in the original.

Also afternoon lectures will take place on the history and archaeology of Sparta, on the theoretical issues of the archaeological research and excavation technique and how historical evidence is extracted from archaeological objects with a focus on the material from Amyklaion. Additionally, students will be introduced to Public Archaeology and cultural heritage management.

Scheduled fieldtrips will take students to sites of great archaeological and historical importance such as the Acropolis of ancient Sparta, the ancient sanctuaries of Menelaion and Artemis Orthia, Vafeio Tholos Tomb, the Byzantine city of Mystras and other sites, including the archaeological museum of Sparta.

From Sparta there is frequent bus connection to all parts of the Peloponnese for weekend travel and it is a 3 hours drive from Athens.

Period(s) of Occupation: Mycenean, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman

Notes:
Amyklaion, Apollo, Sparta, Peloponnese, Greece

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Two weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: None

Room and Board Arrangements:
Students will share apartments or hotel rooms in Sparta. The program fee includes a welcome dinner, snacks taken to the excavation site for the break (ca. 10am) and a farewell dinner.

Academic Credit:
Recommended credit: 3 credits offered by the applicant's home institution. Tuition is €2.500 (Euros) for the two-week program and €3.500 (Euros) for the three-week program. Both of the above fees include tuition, accommodation, transportation from Sparta to the excavation site, field trips and the meals stated in "Room and Board Arrangements".