Archaeological Field School in Jordan

Student surveying

Student excavating

Student on a camel

Brockport Students in Petra

Dead Sea

Students working

Students brushing

Excavation

Student in a tomb

Brockport students group photo

Students excavating a wall

Student excavating

Student hiking

Local people in Petra

The Petra Garden and Pool Project 2020

Apply to Work on the 2020 Petra Garden and Pool Complex Excavation — an experience that will change your life.

Project Dates: May 20 - June 21, 2020

(Subject to minor adjustments)

Brockport students had a wonderful summer not only learning about archaeology, but also learning about the culture of the local Bedouin population that we were living with in the summer of 2020.

Check out our 2016 field season to get a better idea of what archaeological work in Petra looks like. Also, feel free to check out our slideshow to get a feel for the full study-abroad experience.

Check out our 2016 field season

Location

Jordan is a stable, moderate, pro-western Arab state with a rich cultural heritage. Its cultural showpiece is Petra, recently voted one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World”. This 2,000 year old city, capital of the Nabatean kingdom and later a major city within the Roman Empire, is famed for its magnificent rock-cut tomb facades, temples, and Byzantine churches.

Safety of Jordan

“9th Safest Country in the world”

“Jordan is Spectacularly Safe and Friendly”

“Is Jordan Safe?”

Project Description

The Petra Garden and Pool Complex is located in the heart of Petra. The excavations currently focus on a large pool with a central pavilion flanking a monumental colonnaded garden. The complex is adjacent to the “Great Temple” complex, excavated by Professor Martha Joukowski (Brown University), which has been recently restored. During the 2020 season, excavations will focus on the monumental pool, pavilion and grotto area. During the field school students will learn excavation techniques and have evening lectures by the excavation staff and local specialists on a variety of topics related to the site and the region.

Courses

After arrival in Amman and transfer to Petra (about a three-hour drive south of Amman), students will join an orientation session to include an overview of the history of Jordan, the archaeology of Petra, and the culture of contemporary Jordan. Students will then receive more specialized training in Field Methods (six credits). In addition to recovering the architecture, stratigraphy, and artifacts of a Hellenistic Nabataean/Roman site, students will also be working in the dig house on artifacts, data entry, and photography, as well as techniques of environmental archaeology (sampling, retrieval, identification of plant remains, faunal remains, etc.), ceramic analysis and site survey. There is flexibility in the type of credits students may need or want that you can discuss with Dr. Ramsay (eg: internship, lab methods, independent study). Students will work in the field for four weeks (six days a week) alongside local Jordanian workers. One day each week (and two days for one weekend) students will be free to travel to other archaeological and historical sites in Jordan. There will also be an arranged trip to Wadi Rumm and Aqaba during the two day weekend mid-season.

Field Staff for the 2020 Fieldschool

Dr. Leigh-Ann Bedal (Penn State Behrend) – Site director
Dr. Jennifer Ramsay (SUNY Brockport) – Fieldschool director, Associate director and archaeobotanist for the excavations
Dr. Debra Foran (Wilfred Laurier University) – Registrar
Dr. Bjorn Anderson (University of Iowa) – Supervisor/Specialist
John Rucker (PhD Candidate, University of Missouri) – Supervisor
Sarah Wenner (PhD Candidate, University of Cincinnati) – Ceramicist & Supervisor

2013 blog posts

Education Abroad Project Page

For more information, email Jennifer Ramsay.

Why Study Abroad? Comments from the Field:

“The experience is integral, really. It becomes easy to lose your sense of “human in the world” when you are constantly subject to the circumstance of your home country: your job, your classes, your friends, your family; it becomes easy to become a one track mind, to remove yourself from your participation in a world in which we are all connected. And I mean connected less in the trippy, Zen sort of way but in the globalization sort of way. We should get to know those in the countries that we affect in one way or another. This process is more important for us, who, perhaps even reluctantly, live in a place of incalculable privilege. It becomes necessary for us to know how others live, that there are circumstances so different than ours that are possible. In this way we may learn to take the state of the world more seriously or to take our own lives less seriously to achieve a greater happiness, something that I learned from the Bedouin people I have met. The former does not lose its significance, however. Awareness is a powerful tool in the way one lives life and without a visit to the place one considers, awareness and knowledge is not truly possible. So, in short, yeah, study abroad; it will make you a better human.”

Devin Pescara ’17

“Study Abroad encourages students to move beyond the classroom setting and essentially put their knowledge to the test by applying it in the world, especially those who are going on trips that relate to their area of study. Also, you meet so many amazing people while traveling that you are connected with for the rest of your life because of this experience. I don’t think I have ever heard someone say that their time studying abroad wasn’t one of the most amazing experiences of their lives.”

Danielle Maerlender ’16

“It’s probably cliché to say that this excavation was one of the best decisions/experiences of my life, but it’s true. I made more good memories in the space of the six weeks in Jordan, than I have in my entire year of college or high school career. Almost everything I can summon up brings a smile to my face.”

Michelle Heeman ’19