PARTICIPANT
INFORMATION
Pambamarca
Archaeological Project
Archaeology
Field Program in
2008
Project Dates: July 6 - August 10
If you are making flight reservations you should plan on flying into
DOCUMENT
CONTENTS
Daily Schedule and
Working Conditions
We are glad that you will be joining us on
the Pambamarca Archaeology Project this summer in
Samuel Connell: connell.samuel@gmail.com
Ana Lucía González: anilugonza@gmail.com
It is important to stress that all of us,
as members of this project, are guests of the government of
The
Pambamarca Archaeological Project consists of an international team of
researchers investigating ancient, historic and living landscapes in
The
Pambamarca fortresses pose a number of interesting research problems concerning
their origins and use. The late kings of
the Inka Empire were enchanted with
Today
the provinces north of
The
efforts of the Pambamarca Archaeological Project are valuable on other levels
as well. First, in cooperation with
professors and archaeologists from the host country, the project provides
Ecuadorian university students with the opportunity to learn and train with
foreign archaeologists. Second, the
results of this research will be included in the pending application of the Instituto Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural
Travel to
A valid
Participants should plan to
fly into
Travel within
The project will organize site
visits over the course of the program.
Thankfully, the Northern Highlands of
Before or after participating
in the program students are encouraged to travel to more distant parts of
Maps and
Guidebooks
You
are urged to purchase an up-to-date edition of an
Field Life in
We will be
residing in Pambamarca in the small town of Cangahua, which is located in the
County of Cayambe on the northeastern limits of the Province of Pichincha (all about one hour north-north-east of
Quito). The capital city of this county
is also named Cayambe, which you will find on any map of
Some participants
will stay in a dormitory-styled house located behind the main church in the town of
Other
students will stay in the colonial-period
Hacienda
Guachalá located down the road from Cangahua. This hacienda is a wonderful hotel located
on the grounds of a colonial ranch established in the 1500s. The rooms are clean and comfortable and each
includes a private bathroom and fireplace that is re-stocked with wood on a
daily basis. You can learn about the
Hacienda online at http://www.ecuadorexplorer.com/guachala/.
If the idea of the dormitory-styled living
in Cangahua is uncomfortable, students can elect (for
extra cost) to stay in the Hacienda Guachalá.
Banking and
Financial Services
Cultural
Sensitivity
It is important
to stress that all of us, as members of this project, are guests of the
government of
It is against
Ecuadorian law to remove artifacts from archaeological monuments or to damage
them in any way. Always be sensitive
when taking photographs. Remember, not
everyone shares our view of the visual spectrum as being part of the public
domain. Be discrete when photographing a
scene and ask permission when taking a photograph of individuals, particularly
an older person. We highly recommend
that you also keep a personal field journal so you will be able to remember all
the experiences you have had. Your diary
and photographs make the best souvenirs.
Restrictions on
Alcohol and Drugs
The project will
not serve alcohol to students at anytime. Do not bring any drugs with you or attempt to
obtain them in
Enforcement of
Project Rules
The safety of
students and project participants may be jeopardized by violations of the
project’s accepted operating procedures, which will be posted and explained in
detail when students arrive in Pambamarca.
The directors reserve the right to expel any student from the program
for violating any of the rules. In such
a case the student will be put on a plane home and lose credit for the entire
program. The directors’ decisions are
final, and in accepting a place in the program the student accepts the
directors’ jurisdiction.
Daily Schedule
Fieldwork will begin at 7:00am
each day and end at 3:00pm. Before setting
out for the field, students will divide into teams devoted to carrying out
various archaeological tasks. A rotating
weekly schedule guarantees that students will be able to participate in all of
the different activities. Students
should be in decent physical shape when they come to
Working Conditions
The goal of an
archaeological project is to observe and gather large amounts of information in
a relatively short period of time. As
such, fieldwork can be an intensive and unpredictable experience. While some participants will have had
previous fieldwork experience, others will have not, meaning the chance to work
in close quarters with a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds will be
a new experience. Every effort will be
made to plan the fieldwork well in advance; however project participants should
be prepared for schedule changes that can occur from time to time. Flexibility and patience, therefore, are
important traits to bring to the field.
The primary thing to
understand about the climate is that conditions can be unpredictable due to the
high elevations of the
Vaccinations/Immunizations. There are no required immunizations for
Current
Health Precautions. For the most
current information available regarding health precautions for travel to
Medical
Insurance. All student participants
must have demonstrated health insurance.
Remember that not all
Personal Medication. Bring all personal medication, aspirin,
Band-Aids, first aid cream, Maalox, Kaopectate,
Kleenex, tampons, sunblock, etc. If necessary, you can buy over the counter
medications in the area. If you wear
glasses be sure to bring an extra pair.
You will find that the high altitude of the
Medical
Facility. The project has
established detailed emergency procedures for first-aid and evacuations in case
someone gets hurt. Participants should
be assured that a basic first-aid kit will be available at all project sites
and a dedicated medical clinic is located in Cangahua. The nearest advanced medical facilities are
in Cayambe and
Acceptance of Risk. We take all practicable measures to minimize
risks to the safety and well-being of all participants in this program. Nonetheless, it is in the nature of things
that not all risk can be eliminated. In
particular, the risks of road accidents and other health emergencies far from
first-class health-care facilities are real.
By taking part in the program, you accept these risks for your own
account and agree to hold the project directors and staff free of
responsibility for any harm caused to you other than by the action of the
project’s agents.
Here’s the trick about
In selecting items for your
time in
If you are partial to certain tools that you’ve used in the field in the past we ask that you bring them for use in the excavations. Favorite items owned by many archaeologists might include a pointing trowel with a 5-6 inch blade, a small line level, a retracting-blade tape measure marked with metric graduations, maybe some brushes, and a whisk broom. If you want to start your own ‘dig kit’ we suggest "Forestry Supplies" and "Ben Meadows" (available online). If none of this makes any sense then remember that the project supplies tools as well.
Here is a list of the items you should consider bringing on your trip:
Personal Items:
photocopies of essential documentation (passport, etc.)
winter, low-temperature sleeping bag
large back-pack (large enough for a weekend trip)
small day back-pack (large enough for a day in the field)
heavy-duty plastic bags (for keeping stuff organized and dry)
underwear and long underwear
long-sleeve work shirts, t-shirts
sweaters, fleece pullovers, warm vests
heavy windbreaker, raincoat
jeans and long pants
shorts and swimsuit
warm wool socks
hiking boots, sneakers, bath sandals
winter hat, warm gloves, neck scarf
sunglasses
toiletries
sunblock (maximum SPF)
sunburn cream
insect repellant
flashlight and extra batteries
alarm clock
camera
small binoculars
books
music (Walkman etc)
warm work gloves
pocket knife
personal water bottle
This is a description
of the fieldschool courses offered for credit through
UCLA. This program runs for 5 weeks.
Archaeology C159 (Undergraduates): 12
quarter units
Archaeology C259 (Graduate Students): 12
quarter units
Introduction
The Project Fieldschool consists of one class divided in two sections
taken over a span of five weeks. The
first section, Archaeological Fieldwork
and Laboratory Training, will be the central feature of the student’s
experience in the Fieldschool. The second section, Ecuador Past and Present, will provide students with the historical
and sociopolitical context of their fieldwork experiences. Before the end of the fieldwork season the
students will complete an Independent Project in which they will interpret original data that they have
helped collect in the field within the context of Ecuadorian history and
culture.
Archaeological
Fieldwork and Laboratory Training
Working six days a week, students will
participate in all aspects of the research project, gaining skills and
knowledge in intensive archaeological fieldwork, laboratory work and initial
data analysis.
During Week 1 of the program students will be
introduced to the study area from a regional perspective as they visit a sample
of Pambamarca's 60 archaeological sites. Traveling by foot and by car, the students
will be instructed by project leaders in basic survey methods, including how to
locate archaeological sites and resources, assess site degradation, and analyze
site surface remains. Students will then
help develop the project's field strategies for the year, which will require
them to consider research feasibility, site choice, environmental impact,
personnel management, and the project's overall responsibility to local
communities.
Once they have
studied the cultural landscape of Pambamarca and the project's place within it,
the students will conduct intensive archaeological fieldwork in Weeks 2-4 at a selection of the
Pambamarca sites. First, they will learn
how to consider and investigate the sites themselves, preparing maps of
settlement layout and analyzing standing architecture. Here they will be trained in the use of a
total station, the standard equipment used in site survey and mapping, and they
will practice basic field photography and architectural drawing. Second, students will learn how to select
for, plan and grid areas of each site for excavation. Experienced project staff will then instruct
students in the basics of horizontal excavation. This work will be a highlight of the program
as students are allowed to conduct actual excavations.
Carefully
recording every activity and discovery made during archaeological excavations
is an essential feature of responsible research, and on this project
record-keeping is emphasized. First,
students will help make daily photographic and video recordings of each
excavation and its discoveries. Second,
students will be shown how to analyze and draw to scale stratigraphic
profiles and cultural features at each excavation. Third, students will learn the importance of
note taking in the field by contributing on a daily basis to the project records
as well as to their own field journals.
Processing
artifacts discovered in the field is also a vital aspect of archaeological
fieldwork, and students will be instructed in basic laboratory work starting
from the first day they arrive in Pambamarca.
In Week 5 they will then work
entirely in the laboratory refining their skills as they learn the basic steps
of artifact processing, including how to stabilize, catalogue, analyze and
curate archaeological materials.
Student Assessment: Throughout the program
students will rotate between different archaeological sites and work teams
exposing them to all aspects of fieldwork.
During these rotations the students will be under observation by the
directors and staff of the project, and the students' efforts and abilities in
the field and laboratory will be assessed regularly. In addition, students will be graded on the
contributions they make to the project records as well as the notes they keep
in their own field journals.
There is a long
history of archaeological and ethnographic research in
Specifically,
students will meet two evenings a week for classroom and library work based in
the project house in Pambamarca. These
lectures and readings will provide initial overviews of (1) the geography
and demography of
In this course,
then, students will come to understand:
*
* the major
changes that have occurred in
* the
repercussions of the Conquest on
* the role
played by race, class and ethnicity in Ecuadorian history
* the
outline of Ecuadorian society and culture today
* the main
political issues informing contemporary Ecuadorian politics
Student Assessment: Students will be
evaluated on their participation in the classroom seminars (33%), their
overview presentation given at one of the locations visited during the program
(33%), and their notebook recordings of site-visits that they will keep during
the course of the program (33%).
Independent Project
Academic credit
will be awarded for the two courses described above on the successful
completion of an Independent Project that combines original data recovered
through fieldwork with a facet of the material covered in the
With the help of
the project leaders students will conceive of their projects at the start of
the program; sample topics include ancient pottery production, military
architecture, GIS modeling, remote sensing methods, etc. Students will work on their projects over the
duration of the program and present their findings during the final days of the
project in oral and written form. They
will have full access to the computer lab in the project house in Pambamarca for graphic work, CAD modeling, database
management, statistical analysis, and basic word processing.
The Independent
Project will be a challenge on a number of levels. Intellectually it will be the first time many
of the students have connected primary data to original interpretations. Emotionally the students can expect to be
challenged by the prospect of doing academic work amidst so much activity and
foreignness. Physically the students
will be tired from the fieldwork, travel and classroom work.