Location:

Lima, Peru

Program Type:

Study Abroad

Degree Level:

Undergraduate

Term:

Summer

Program Overview

Program Description:

This course is designed as a general practicum in archaeological field methods. Students will receive training in the mapping, surveying, and block excavation of the site’s temple zone and domestic sectors. The comparative spatial analysis of public ceremony with quotidian activities will aid interpretation of the changing rhythms of political centralization defining this particular urban complex from the Gallinazo to Moche Periods. Such an approach will further illuminate the ideological strategies of different communities as a means to interpret how diverse agents promoted, contested, or identified with prevailing sociopolitical arrangements. The field experience will not only familiarize students with the fundamentals of archaeological research but will provide a rare opportunity to engage in the meaningful interpretation of the material record (“interpretation at the edge of the trowel”). Students will receive instruction in total station mapping, excavation, stratigraphic analysis, surface survey, mural conservation, flotation, and ceramic analysis. Field trips to nearby archaeological sites and lectures on Andean prehistory will also constitute important components of the program.

The University of Toronto offers 3 to 6 week summer courses in Australia, Central Europe (Czech Republic) China (Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Peru, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. Courses are for degree credit and students from other North American universities are welcome to participate. Prices vary by site and range from approximately $4200 to $9000 (this include tuition, accommodation, meals, textbooks, and field trips).

This program provides a unique opportunity receive intensive training in archaeological field methods in the archaeological site of Huaca Colorada, which located in the beautiful desert landscape of Peru’s North Coast, a region famous for its remarkable archaeological heritage.

Setting Description:

The archaeological site of Huaca Colorada is the location of elaborate spectacles of ritual warfare and human sacrifice, performed by elite specialists and celebrated in a standardized artistic canon, constituted an overarching theme of Moche political culture. In this course, students will receive intensive training in archaeological field methods, including the mapping and block excavation of the site’s temple zone and domestic sectors. The comparative analysis of public ritual with household activities is designed to illuminate the ideological strategies of different communities who resided at the center. The field experience will not only familiarize students with the fundamentals of archaeological research and Andean prehistory but will provide a rare opportunity to engage in the meaningful interpretation of the material record.

Cost:

Prices vary by site and range from approximately $4200 to $9000 (this include tuition, accommodation, meals, textbooks, and field trips).