Training Opportunities for Future Archaeologists: The 2024 ARF Field School

The Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) Field School program at UC Berkeley is designed to provide archaeological training for students underrepresented in the discipline with an aim to expand the number and diversity of people pursuing archaeological careers. Most field school opportunities are located far away and are costly, making the necessary training they provide inaccessible to many students. The ARF’s field school follows a different model, providing this training as a commuter-based program and offering stipends to student participants. 

The program provides essential skills and training required for careers in archaeology, while augmenting those with analysis, report writing, and public outreach. These latter three aspects of the field school are areas that traditional field schools do not normally cover due to a lack of time or personnel.

Given the success of this pilot program and the clear demand for this approach to archaeological training, we are working to raise funds for another field school in 2024. Donations to this program will help in the following ways:  

• Ensure that students interested in archaeological careers have access to the training necessary to pursue archaeology after graduation. 
• Incorporate lectures and workshops led by archaeologists from UC Berkeley and other Bay Area universities, cultural resource management firms and public agencies, and independent non-profit organizations, providing students with exposure to a variety of career pathways for archaeology.
• Provide summer tuition and stipends for student participants.

This program costs $55,000 for a 6-week summer program with 10 student participants. Two thirds of the program funding goes directly to the students (stipends and summer tuition).