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Experiencing the Zuleta Culture

By: Adela Elizarrez I participated in the Proyecto Arqueológico Zuleta (PAZ) in Ecuador over the summer which focused on the Zuleta region, located north of the country’s capital of Quito. Zuleta is nestled within [...]

March 10th, 2024|Blog|Comments Off on Experiencing the Zuleta Culture

10 Days Deep

 By: Annmarie Delgado It has been a while, but I have been trying to get acclimated. The first ten days in Karaman, Turkey have been quite the experience. It took eight days to dig [...]

October 5th, 2022|Blog|Comments Off on 10 Days Deep

Walking With the Goddess

By: Austin Jacques The goddess arrived with a fanfare of brass horns and drums. Her palanquin, held aloft by her devotees and bedecked with ornaments and other ceremonial objects, was carried into the temple courtyard [...]

August 26th, 2022|Blog|Comments Off on Walking With the Goddess

The Adventure Begins!

By: Annmaire Delgado Well, as many of you know I am headed to Konya, Turkey tomorrow to learn how to excavate. The site is fantastic and dates back to 14000 BCE! There has been [...]

July 12th, 2022|Blog|Comments Off on The Adventure Begins!

Map of El Rayo

By Andrew Califf The site of El Rayo is massive and abounds with artifacts. Renewed excavations at the lakeside site of El Rayo lead to exciting finds, but raised many questions about archaeological context, [...]

October 5th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Map of El Rayo

Uncovering Individual #4

By Andrew Califf The sky is blotted out by ominous grey clouds as the removal of the human remains belonging to Individual #4 began. The outer edges of Hurricane Elsa make it a nice, [...]

October 4th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Uncovering Individual #4

Crafted and Looted Pottery

By Andrew Califf Chortega archeological sites are littered with ceramic sherds, including incised and painted pieces of polychrome pottery and intricate figurines. These ceramic items are ultimately iconic due to how common they were [...]

October 3rd, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Crafted and Looted Pottery

Re-Writing the Books

By Andrew Califf Every pile of dirt poured into the sieve at El Rayo has the potential to change what history books preach. Imported pottery, polychrome pottery associated with incense burners and other pieces [...]

October 2nd, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Re-Writing the Books

Zapatera and Other Mysteries

By Andrew Califf The motionless, yet seemingly sentient, stone figure peers through the dangling vines and  swaying leaves to get a glimpse of Lake Nicaragua’s sparkling blue body. There used to be more statues [...]

October 1st, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Zapatera and Other Mysteries

Spiders, Scorpions and Snakes

By Andrew Califf Students clear foliage around exposed burial urns at El Rayo’s Locus 3 to further excavate the cemetery. One of Geoffrey McCafferty’s goals for this field season is finding this cemetery’s [...]

September 30th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Spiders, Scorpions and Snakes

First Day Breaking Dirt

Grid lines being laid out at Locus 3, the cemetery. The cracked urn in the foreground is one of four visible on the surface. These visible artifacts vaguely approximate how large the cemetery [...]

September 29th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on First Day Breaking Dirt

Visit to the National Palace

By: Andrew Califf We visited the grand National Palace and Ivonne Miranda Tapia, the director of Nicaragua’s Institute for Culture, gave us a tour. Miranda has tried to drastically improve the government’s approach to  [...]

September 28th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on Visit to the National Palace

A Day in Granada

By Andrew Califf and contributions by Jerry Walter, Simone Judea Muhammad, Philip Hutton, Anna Brown and William Robison. Geoff McCafferty’s IFR team arrived in Managua and bussed to the colorful, Spanish spired city of [...]

September 27th, 2021|Blog|Comments Off on A Day in Granada

What Did IFR Students Find This Year?

From US-CO:Amache: “My favorite artifacts, and the ones that excite me the most, are those that tell a story. One artifact we find are these homemade coal scoops made of [...]

January 30th, 2020|Blog|Comments Off on What Did IFR Students Find This Year?

The Gallina Phase: Hillbillies or Hippies?

By Gary Chandler, 2019 Field School Student from New Mexico: Puebloan Rebels of The Southwest Have you ever tried putting together a complex jigsaw puzzle?  You eventually find one piece that doesn’t [...]

January 29th, 2020|Blog|Comments Off on The Gallina Phase: Hillbillies or Hippies?

How Field School Made Me a Researcher

I’m Julian Gonzalez, a Psychology major and Anthropology minor studying at California State University, Los Angeles. When I expressed to my professor that I was interested in attending a field school, he immediately recommended [...]

December 17th, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on How Field School Made Me a Researcher

Updates from the Field 2019

Summer is here, and our field season is in full swing! From museum studies to primatology to indigenous archaeology, IFR students are engaged in hands-on research around the world. Check out the following updates [...]

September 6th, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on Updates from the Field 2019

An Interview with Dr. Mark Harrison

Meet Dr. Mark E. Harrison, Ecologist at the Borneo Nature Foundation and Director of our Indonesia: Peat Ecology field school. The program is based in the Sebangau peat-swamp forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo – [...]

August 1st, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on An Interview with Dr. Mark Harrison

Drawing in the Margins: Painting A Fuller Picture of The Ancient Southwest

The Gallina people inhabited an area of high elevations with inaccessible mesas, razorback ridges, and deep canyons (Photo 1). This rugged landscape was one of the reasons early archaeologists called them “isolated,” “backwards,” or even [...]

March 18th, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on Drawing in the Margins: Painting A Fuller Picture of The Ancient Southwest

From Primates to Plants: Forest Ecology in the Rungan

By Arabella Newton From the beginning of July until last week we have been living and working in the Rungan Forest, gradually building our understanding of the habitats found there and the animals that [...]

February 28th, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on From Primates to Plants: Forest Ecology in the Rungan

What Did IFR Students Find This Year?

From Israel - Tel Abel Beth Maacah: “This bearded male figure head made of faience (a kind of glass derivative), with a decorated headband and distinct coiffure, is being held for [...]

January 11th, 2019|Blog|Comments Off on What Did IFR Students Find This Year?

Human Connection, Past and Present

By Dr. Sarah Rowe I’ve been working with community members in Dos Mangas since 2006. The community has steadily built an audience for ecotourism through careful management of their forest resources and investments in [...]

December 10th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on Human Connection, Past and Present

A Day Living and Working in the Forest

By Camille Burton It’s 6:30am and the rustle of sleepy people and groans next to me confirms it’s time to get a move on to make sure I’m ready to pounce on breakfast before [...]

November 27th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on A Day Living and Working in the Forest

The Border Trilogy

In the aftermath of Trumps executive order to separate illegal immigrant children from their parents on the U.S. – Mexico Border, the U.S. government is scrambling to reunite the families. The Wall Street Journal [...]

July 15th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on The Border Trilogy

The Story of Amache: Security vs. Civil Rights

Sense of Place for the Displaced The Amache field school explores a location where Japanese immigrants to the US and their descendants were incarcerated at a time of international strife. We have primarily approached this [...]

March 20th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on The Story of Amache: Security vs. Civil Rights

Maverick Archaeologists: Thinking Outside the Box

By Dr. Ran Boytner, March 19, 2018 Mav·er·ick (/ˈmav(ə)rik) refers to an unorthodox or independent-minded person. Maverick archaeologist refers to a scholar who is pushing the intellectual envelope of archaeology and changing the way [...]

March 19th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on Maverick Archaeologists: Thinking Outside the Box

IFR-SAA Travel Award Winners Are Heading to the Capitol

Every year the IFR offers two SAA Travel Award scholarships, to give undergraduate students the opportunity to attend the most prestigious academic conference for archaeology in North America, the Society for American Archaeology. In addition to [...]

March 13th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on IFR-SAA Travel Award Winners Are Heading to the Capitol

SAA Travel, Paper, and Poster Awards

Each year, thousands of archaeologists and students from around the world gather at the most important archaeology conference in the United States-- the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) annual meeting-- to share their most recent [...]

February 6th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on SAA Travel, Paper, and Poster Awards

The Story of Stones: How Do They Tell Our Story?

By Dr. Alec Balasescu, December 17th, 2018 “Rock and Stone: Material Culture and Cultures of Making” is a multidisciplinary field course that aims to study the natural resources of pre-Alpine mountains and its immediate [...]

January 12th, 2018|Blog|Comments Off on The Story of Stones: How Do They Tell Our Story?

How to Deal with Increasing College Tuition and Affording a Field School

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that once again, college tuition is increasing (see here). Citing College Board Senior Policy Research Scientist Jennifer Ma, the article states, “The price increases [for 2017] are moderate, but [...]

November 2nd, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on How to Deal with Increasing College Tuition and Affording a Field School

The Thrilling Time Traveling Experience of Archaeology Field Schools

Archaeologists typically get their first hands-on research experience through a field school. Field schools, therefore, are crucibles for our profession. Not all field school students eventually become professional archaeologists, but all who participate have formative [...]

March 27th, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on The Thrilling Time Traveling Experience of Archaeology Field Schools

The IFR is Offering These Scholarships For the 2017 Field Season

The IFR announces its multiple 2017 field school scholarships in seven different categories! We would like to highlight our Opportunity Scholarships, covering the full cost of field school tuition and airfare. Students are [...]

December 26th, 2016|Blog|Comments Off on The IFR is Offering These Scholarships For the 2017 Field Season
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