Study Abroad In Europe

 

The Birth of Europe - Excavations of the Neolithic Settlement Ilindentsi

 

Period: Early and Middle Balkan Neolithic (6000-5500 BC)

Project type: field school & archaeological excavation.The variety of activities and team flexibility make this project suitable for both Beginners and Advanced in either Field or Prehistoric Archaeology. Individual program and task assignment are available to advanced students. 

 

Site: Prehistoric settlement near Ilindentsi, Southwestern Bulgaria   

Project Venue:Blagovesta guest-house in the village of Ilindentsi (district of Blagoevgrad), located (3 km away from the municipal transport hub Strumyani having a train and bus stop) in the foothills of the majestic Pirin Mountains (UNESCO World Heritage Site) in Southwestern Bulgaria. The site is within 10-15 min walking distance from the guest house.   

 

Program Dates:                                                                           Tuition

 

Field school session 1: 10 June - 24 June, 2019                          $ 2,550

Field school session 2: 24 June - 8 July, 2019                             $ 2,550

Academic Credits; up to 9 

Application Deadlines: until the places are filled, or latest 10 May, 2017   

Minimum length of stay: 1 session (two weeks)

Minimum age: 18 (16, if the participant is accompanied by an adult family member)

Number of field school places available: Maximum 20

Project language: English

Experience required: No   

Note: The program fees include accomodation.

 

The Site and the Excavation Project

 

In the seventh millenium BC the Balkan Peninsula was a gate through which farming, animal husbandry and generally Neolithisation spread to Europe from Anatolia and the Near East. Central parts of the Balkans (including the Struma River Valley) were among the most important migration routes during that period. Six Early Neolithic settlements are mapped in the small Middle Struma Valley. One of them is the prehistoric site near Ilindentsi. It is located on a high terrace at 250-253 m above sea-level in the Struma River Valley and at the foot of the Pirin Mountains - the third-highest range on the Balkans. The site (with vertical and horizontal stratigraphy) covers a territory of almost three hectares, where the prehistoric cultural layer surprisingly lies immediately under the topsoil humus (10 to 20 cm). During the previous seasons: 2004-2009 and 2011-2014 archaeologists unearthed there remains of Early and Middle Neolithic settlement structures and features.

 

 

 

Period: Archaic Greek, Hellenistic and Early Byzantine

Project type: field school (excavations). The variety of activities and team flexibility make this project suitable for either beginners or advanced in Field Archaeology.

Site: Apollonia Pontica - sector of the the ancient city's sacred precinct (temenos) located on St. Kirik Island, Sozopol, Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.   

Venue: Sozopol, Bulgaria 

 

Program Dtaes                                                                                            Tuition 

 

Field school session 1: 24 June - 8 July, 2019                                          $ 2,550

Field school session 2: 8 July - 22 July, 2019                                           $ 2,550

Field School Session 3 (Session 1 Extended): 24 June - 22 July, 2019     $ 4,350

Application Deadlines:

For sessions 1, 1+2 and 3: 15 May 2019

For session 2: 1 June 2019  

Minimum length of stay for volunteers: 1 session (two weeks)

Minimum age: 18

Number of field school places available: Maximum 35

Project language: English   

Experience required: No

 

Note: The program fees include accomodation.

 

The Site and the Excavation Project

 

Ancient Apollonia Pontica (present-day Sozopol, Bulgria) is one of the earliest towns on the Western Black Sea coast. The city, founded by Miletian colonists around 610 BC, was named Apollonia Pontica in honour of the patron deity of Miletus - Apollo. The Ancient authors identify the philosopher named Anaximander as the founder of the city. It became an autonomous and strong democratic polis and important trade center between Ancient Greece and Thrace. Thanks to its strong navy and naturally protected harbors, Apollonia kept control of the major merchant road along the Western Black Sea Coast, called Via Pontica, for several centuries. The city preserved its independence during the campaigns of Phillip II of Macedon (342-339 BC) and Alexander the Great (335 BC) but in 72 BC it was conquered, pillaged and burned by the Roman legions of Marcus Lucullus. The city succeeded in restoring its former glory and was known in the Roman World as Apollonia Magna (Great Apollonia). Following the Christian mainstream tradition, its name was changed to Sozopol, town of salvation, in the 4th century AD. Despite the damage, it survived the period of the Great Migration of People (4-7 century AD) and entered the Middle Ages as a focal point of long-lasting Byzantine-Bulgarian conflicts.

 

 

Rise and Fall of the First European Civilization - Tell Yunatsite Excavations 

 

Period: Chalcolithic (4900-4100 BC)

Project type: field school & archaeological excavation.The variety of activities and team flexibility make this project suitable for both Beginners and Advanced in either Field or Prehistoric Archaeology. Individual program and task assignment are available to advanced students.

 

Site: Prehistoric tell next to the village of Yunatsite, Southern Bulgaria.   

Project Venue: in a comfortable downtown hotel in the district town of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria. The site is 8 km away (15 min ride) from Pazardzhik and the hotel. Transport on work days will be arranged and covered by the Balkan Heritage Field School (BHFS).

 

Program Dates:                                                                                Tuition 

Field school session 1: 24 June - 8 July, 2019                                 $ 2,550

Field school session 2: 8 July - 22 July, 2019                                  $ 2,550

Filed school session 3: Extended 24 June - 22 July, 2019                $ 4,350

Application Deadline: until the places are filled, or latest 10 June, 2019   

Minimum length of stay: 1 session (two weeks)

Minimum age: 18 (16, if the participant is accompanied by an adult family member)

Number of field school places available: Maximum 20

Language: English

Experience required: No

 

Note: The program fees include accomodation.

 

The Site and the Excavation Project

 

In 2006 archaeologists discovered by excavating numerous test pits and trenches in the area around the tell that the actual size of the Copper Age settlement was far larger (having a diameter of 400 m or surface of app. 100 000 sq.m) than the tell and and was composed of two areas separated (around 4750 cal. BC) by a five meter wide cob wall and ditch (2 meter deep and 6 meter wide): the larger downtown and the uptown (acropolis) at the tell. The earliest artifacts from these pits and trenches date 4900 cal. BC and mark either the establishment or extension of the prehistoric settlement. Inside the fortified uptown the buildings were placed close to each other because of the limited area.

 

Ancient Greeks in the Land of Dionysus - Excavation of Emporion Pistiros, Thrace

 

Period: Classical Greek and Hellenistic

Project type: field school & archaeological excavations. The variety of activities and team flexibility make this project suitable for both Beginners and Advanced in either Field or Prehistoric Archaeology.Individual program and task assignment are available to advanced students.

Site: Emporion Pistiros, between the small towns of Septemvri and Vetren, Southern Bulgaria.

Project venue:"Villa Terres" is a newly built tourism SPA complex, located in the southern part of the village Karabunar, 8 km from the motorway exit "Trakia" on the way to Velingrad. During the project work days all participants will be given a lift from the hotel to the site (that is located 14 km away) and back.   

 

Program Dates:                                                                                                Tuition 

Field School Session 1: 24 July - 7 August, 2019  2 weeks                           $ 2,550

Field School Session 2:  7 - 21 August, 2019        2 weeks                            $ 2,550

Field School Session 3 (Session 1 Extended): 24 July - 14 August, 2019      $ 3,450

Option Back to Back: Session 1 + Session 2: 24 July - 22 August, 2019     $ 4,350

 

Application Deadlines: until the places are filled or latest 1st of July, 2019

Minimum length of stay for participants: 1 session (two weeks)

Minimum age: 18 (16, if the participant is accompanied by an adult family member)

Number of field school places available: Maximum 20

Project language: English   

Experience required: No

 

Note: The program fees include accomodation.

 

The Site and the Excavation Project  

 

The ruins of an ancient Greek trade center (emporion) in the heart of Thrace – on the left bank of Maritsa River (ancient Hebros), between the towns of Vetren and Septemvri, were discovered by Prof. M. Domaradzki in 1988. He started regular excavations and in 1990 his team found a stone inscription (known as "Vetren inscription") that helped the scholars to identify the site as the Ancient Greek emporion named Pistiros. Merchants from Greek coastal cities of Maroneia, Thassos and Apollonia lived and traded there with their Thracian neighbors under the supreme protection of the Thracian Odryssean kings (the biggest and mightiest Thracian Kingdom at that time). 

 

The emporion was also a major metallurgical center and a key harbor for export of metals and metal products from Thrace to Greece in the Classical and Early Hellenistic periods (from the middle of the 5-th to the beginning of the 3-rd century BC). The trade contacts of the emporion are evident through finds of numerous imports such as Attic red-figured and black-glazed pottery, amphorae (mainly Thassian) and coins (e.g.several hoards of cooper, silver and gold coins found during the excavations - they represent the coinage of different Odryssean kings (e.g. Amatokos I, Bergaios, Kotys I, Amatokos II, Teres II, Kersebleptes, Teres II), Greek cities (Thassos, Maroneia, Parion, Thracian Chersonese, Kypsela, Enos, Apollonia, Messabria etc.) and Macedonian rulers (Philip II, Alexander the Great, Kassandros, Demetrios Poliokretes, Lysimachos etc.).

 

Most of the ancient authors and the majority of the modern scholars consider the cult of Dionysos rooting in Thrace. It played a very important role in the emporion's religious life. For instance the Vetren inscription informs about the oath taken in the name of Dionysos by the Odryssean king: Kotys I (383-359 BC) and his successor from the citizens of Pistiros - this how they guaranteed the integrity of their lives, properties and activities in their town under the sovereignty of the Thracian kings.  

 

 

 

The Balkan Heritage Field School provides in all the field school projects/courses comfortable accommodation in hotels, guest houses and modern cabins. Rooms (often equipped with air conditioning and Wi-Fi) are usually with 2 to 3 beds plus WC and showers. They are cleaned by the hotel staff. Students do not need to bring towels, sleeping bags or sheets. Cheap laundry service is available in all field school locations.

 

Where possible the Balkan Heritage Field School provides alternative accommodation options to students with preference to higher accommodation standards for an additional fee.

 

The Balkan cuisine is a mix between European and Oriental ones. All the students will be able to enjoy it while attending our field school. The field school admission fee covers three meals (typical Balkan fresh, organic homemade food) per day - they take place (except the lunch packages during the excursions) in taverns/restaurants/other dining premises in or very near to the project venue. The field school generally accepts requests for special diets (vegetarian, diary-free, meat-free and others meeting religious dietary needs). Only certain field school projects/courses can provide gluten-free menu.

 

You can have a look below at the accommodation premises provided by each of the Balkan Heritage Field School projects/course