Armenia

Archaeology and Digital Humanities in the Field (ARTH2110)

Official HKU page about the course:  https://arthistory.hku.hk/index.php/academic-programmes/undergraduate/courses/arth2110/

This course is an archaeological fieldschool that will travel to Armenia in the South Caucasus to participate in an actual archaeological field research project. Archaeology studies the human past by documenting and researching the material remains left behind by past societies – including landscapes, sites, architecture, and objects. In this course, students will learn all aspects of conducting archaeological fieldwork, starting with surface survey where the team hikes through the landscape to find new sites. Students will then help to excavate important archaeological sites that date back thousands of years. This course teaches how to record important data while digging using the latest digital humanities technologies such as drones, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), 3D modeling, and cloud databases. Students will also learn how to record and study ancient artifacts like pottery, bones, and stone tools. We will discuss issues in cultural heritage such as public outreach and the conservation of sites and objects.  We excavate a site called the Vedi Fortress that was a major center of political power during the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (ca 1550-800 BCE).  This site has massive ruined fortification walls.  Several fieldtrips to local sites will provide broad familiarity with the past in Armenia and the Near East (ancient Southwest Asia).   This course is officially Semester 2, but most of the course takes place during a 3-4 week period in the May to July timeframe every summer.

No prior archaeological experience is necessary.  Anyone can join this class.  Please read all the details about this class below, scroll down.

Side note: If you are interested in the ancient past, please also consider the courses Common Core CCHU9080: Dead People's Things: Excavating the Past with Archaeology, ARTH2108: Emerging Societies: An Introduction to Mesopotamian Archaeology, ARTH2102: The Connecting Sea: An Introduction to East Mediterranean Archaeology, and HIST2136: Graeco-Roman History: From Homer to Augustus.

Given space limitations, it is recommended that you contact Dr. Peter Cobb (pcobb@hku.hk) if you are interested in joining the class, particularly if enrollment is already full.  Please also note that if you are on study abroad in semester 2, you can still join this class, but you need to register through the Faculty Office.  Please contact Dr. Cobb.

This is the tentative schedule, subject to change before the trip: 

1. During the spring semester 2, we may have short meetings to practice digital humanities methods, and introduce Armenia, archaeology, and the trip to the students.  These will be scheduled based on student availability.  For students who will be away from HKU during the spring semester, we will meet with video conferencing software.  Much of the preparation will be done online.

2.  Given space limitations and the length of the field project over the summer, the class may be split into smaller groups of students.  Each group will spend about 3 weeks at the archaeological project in Armenia.  The summer schedule will be decided later but the sessions are likely to fall sometime in May, June, or July. 

While in Armenia, students will spend most weekday mornings at the excavation and the afternoons in the lab working with artifacts.  We meet at the lab at 5:20am to be on the site as the sun is rising, we leave the site at noon and head straight to the lab, where we work until 3pm.  Approximately 1-2 Wednesday or Thursday afternoons will involve field trips to local archaeological sites, workshops such as pottery-making, or hiking to look for new sites.  Weekend days are free.  HKU students may help to teach Armenian school children about archaeology and the past.  We work hard, but it’s a fun social experience with a diverse international team.   Please also note that this class requires a lot of physical activity, such as digging, hiking, or carrying buckets of dirt, and generally outdoors work in a rural part of the world.  Make sure that you are ready to commit to hard physical work or repetitive data work for 10 hours a day.

This course introduces foundational archaeological and cultural heritage theories and methods together with a basic outline of the past in the ancient Near East (ancient Southwest Asia).  It will provide an international context for learning the interdisciplinary information practices used to study the past.  Students will be exposed to innovative digital methods for recording and working with cultural heritage, while they learn how cultural heritage impacts contemporary society.  For more information you can read this article: https://cerc.edu.hku.hk/academic-praxis/interdisciplinary-learning-in-an-intercultural-setting-during-archaeological-fieldwork/

You can also read about student experiences during the previous seasons in a series of blog posts here: http://openarchaeology.org/armenia 

Student out-of-pocket expenses: The main expense is the airplane ticket.  Each year, we will apply for funding from the University to cover 5000HKD towards each student's airplane ticket, but this is not guaranteed.  In Armenia, student expenses will include a project participation fee (paid before arrival), ground transportation, housing, food, mobile phone/data service,  entrance to Museums, etc.  All of these costs are significantly less relative to living in HK.  In a past summer, students each paid about 21 USD per day for food and housing, but this will likely increase in future years.  Students will live in rented houses in a local village, where the local family will cook for them.  Ground transportation will include getting from the Yerevan airport to the village and weekend travel.

HKU students have access to a variety of funding sources to help cover these costs.  Each student is encouraged to apply to these sources well ahead of time.

Most HKU undergraduate students can apply to any of these funding sources:

https://tl.hku.hk/horizons/overview/award-rh/ 

Faculty of Arts undergraduate students can apply to this funding source:

https://arts.hku.hk/current-students/student-global-experience/support/faculty-global-exploration-fund--ug---fgef- 

Course Learning Outcomes:  

1. Learn the basic theories and methods of archaeology and cultural heritage practice, as well as an overview of the past of Armenia and the Near East (Southwest Asia).

2. Build teamwork and leadership skills in a cross-cultural setting.

3. Understand and apply digital techniques for the collection and management of cultural heritage and archaeological information in the field.

4. Review and identify current trends in archaeological tourism, knowledge exchange, and cultural heritage engagement with public audiences.

5.  Critically analyze and articulate a range of issues in cultural heritage and data sharing, including ethical considerations and resource constraints. 

Assignments:

1. Digital humanities practice exercises: During the pre-trip workshop sessions in semester 2, students will learn the basic digital archaeology methods that will be used in the summer.

2. Archaeological fieldwork: During the summer, students will be full participants in all aspects of the archaeological fieldwork – including recording data and visiting sites.

3. Contributions on public engagement and data sharing: Each student will contribute to online presentations on high-level topics at the end of the fieldwork.

This class is graded pass/fail

Example bibliography (will undergo significant modification before the trip):

• Cobb et al. (2024) "Defending the Vedi River Valley of Armenia: The Fortification and Refortification of a Flatland-Mountain Interface." Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research, 392:151-177.  https://doi.org/10.1086/732090 

• Roosevelt, Cobb, et al. (2015) “Excavation is Destruction Digitization: Advances in Archaeological Practice,” Journal of Field Archaeology, 40:3, 325-346, https://doi.org/10.1179/2042458215Y.0000000004 

• Kansa, E. (2012). “Openness and archaeology's information ecosystem.” World Archaeology, 44(4), 498-520.

• Sapirstein, P., & Murray, S. (2017). “Establishing best practices for photogrammetric recording during archaeological fieldwork.” Journal of Field Archaeology, 42(4), 337-350.

• Sagona, A. (2018). The archaeology of the Caucasus: from earliest settlements to the Iron Age. Cambridge University Press.

• Smith, A. T., Badalian, R. S., & Avetisian, P. (2009). The Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies: The Foundations of Research and Regional Survey in the Tsaghkahovit Plain, Armenia. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.