2026 Collaborative Archaeology Field School
Dates: June 22nd to July 17th
Application Deadline: March 24th
Location: Hollister, California
Tuition: $4,500
The Collaborative Archaeology Field School is a 12-credit-hour course designed to train students in Indigenous, collaborative, and decolonizing archaeology principles. This course teaches students how to conduct archaeological research with diverse stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples, descendant communities, non-profits, and state and federal agencies. Students will be immersed in the complexities of collaborative research grounded in shared decision-making, reciprocity, power sharing, and centering Indigenous perspectives. In line with these collaborative principles, this course is Tribally-led and co-directed by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band through its Amah Mutsun Land Trust. Students participating in this field school will be trained in archaeological field methods developed by the Tribe and archaeologists over the last two decades to study and preserve Indigenous cultural heritage.
Students can expect to learn how collaborative archaeology is conducted, how low-impact field methods are applied in collaborative archaeology, and how the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band developed Integrative Cultural Resource Survey methods to protect and preserve their cultural heritage. Specific techniques to be taught include archaeological landscape surveys; ethnobotany; geophysical methods in archaeology, including ground penetrating radar and magnetometry; high-resolution (<1 cm) mapping protocols using GNSS receivers; excavation; and collecting, recording, and cataloging archaeological materials. These skills will prepare students for careers in archaeology, including academic research, Tribal heritage preservation, and cultural resource management.
Links to Field School Background Material:
Challenging Colonialism Season 3, Episode 4: Collaborative Archaeology
Field sessions are open to graduate and undergraduate students. Post-baccalaureate students may register for graduate credit even if they are not yet enrolled in a graduate program.
Archaeology Field School students will enroll for 12 credits in ANTM 408/508. A course fee of $4,500, for both in-state and out-of-state students, covers tuition, field transportation from Eugene, OR to California, and food.
Students that have completed their bachelor's degree may take this course for graduate credit, with the expectation that graduate level effort will be required. Tools and other materials are provided for the course.
Please send questions to Gabriel Sanchez gsanche2@uoregon.edu
Health and accidental insurance is required for all students.