Project Description

Costs

Schedule

How to Enroll

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UPDATES!

THE LOCATION:  The Field School project is a six week archaeological expedition to excavate prehistoric Lucayan indian sites in the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies.  The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Dependent Territory located at the extreme southeastern end of the Bahama Archipelago.  The TCI, as the locals call them, are situated approximately 120 miles north of Hispaniola, and are only a short 1 hour, fifteen minute flight from Miami.  To learn more about the Turks and Caicos Islands, please visit the TCI official tourist web site .

TEAM LEADERS:  Dr. William Keegan is the project's Faculty Sponsor.  Dr. Keegan is curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History and a Professor affiliated with the Department of Anthropology.  He has worked extensively in the Turks and Caicos Islands and throughout the West Indies for more nearly three decades.  For more information about Dr. Keegan's work, please visit the Caribbean Archaeology homepage at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Pete Sinelli is the project's Field Director.  Pete earned his MA in Anthropology from UF in 2001 with his thesis on the early prehistoric colonization of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Bahama archipelago.  He is now a doctoral candidate.  Pete has worked regularly in the Turks and Caicos Islands over the last five years, and has also conducted research in the Dominican Republic.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:  For six weeks this summer, the team will conduct history's first scientific archaeological appraisal of dozens of remote, uninhabited islets and cays in the Turks and Caicos Islands.  During the trip we will excavate several sites and conduct surveys to identify additional cultural resources on other outlying islands.

There is excellent physical and theoretical evidence indicating that small, outlying islands played an important role in the settlement patterns, subsistence industries, and socio-religious structures of local pre-Columbian indigenous societies.  It is necessary to explore a sample of such sites in detail to develop a better comprehension of prehistoric indigenous people's land-use strategies.  The goal of this project is to gather data that can help archaeologists understand how and why such remote and resource-poor islands were so regularly exploited.   To learn more about UF's previous archaeological work in the Turks and Caicos, click here .

We will be staying in comfortable facilities (including several beachfront hotels!) on large, settled islands throughout the trip.  Each morning we will take a boat to the site, returning in the afternoon.  Some days we will stay home and do lab work, and everyone will have at least one free day a week to snorkel or scuba dive , lounge on the beach, explore the islands, or do whatever they please.
 
 

The project fee for the field school is $3,198 per student, WHICH INCLUDES SIX CREDITS OF TUITION!  THESE CREDITS ALSO COUNT TOWARD YOUR SUMMER RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT!

The $3,218 fee includes EVERYTHING you need to do six weeks of cool archaeology in a tropical paradise:  Tuition, Lodging, All Meals, Project Transportation, Boat Rental, Equipment, etc...

...EVERYTHING, THAT IS, EXCEPT AIRFARE, which the University always makes students buy on their own for liability reasons.  I am in the process of negotiating a cheap fare for us, but you can expect to pay around $500 for a round trip from Gainesville Regional Airport to Providenciales (the island with the main international airport in TCI) and a further $250 for inter-island air transport (little island-hopping prop planes).

Of course you'll need extra spending money for your personal needs and recreation (dive and snorkel trips, day tours, scooter rental, etc.) on days off.  Plus if you're over 21 and want to buy any beverages with little umbrellas in them, you'll need to pay for it.  University policy prohibits project funds to be used for alcohol.
 
 

We will depart from Gainesville on Wednesday, May 12 and return Tuesday, June 22.  YOU'LL NEED A VALID PASSPORT, SO GET ONE ASAP IF YOU DO NOT HAVE IT YET!

May 12-16       LOCATION:         Bambarra, Middle Caicos .
                        SITE:                      Pelican Cay
                        LODGING:           Sundial Villa   (The schoolhouse has been trashed.)

May 17-June 2    LOCATION:        Cockburn Harbour, South Caicos . (pronounced CO-burn)
                           SITES:                 Middleton Cay, Plandon Cay, and others.
                           LODGING:           School for Field Studies--Center for Marine Resource Studies

June 3-10            LOCATION:        Cockburn Town, Grand Turk
                           SITES:                  Gibbs Cay, East Cay, Pear Cay, and others.
                           LODGING:           Osprey Beach Hotel

June 11-21          LOCATION:        Salt Cay
                           SITES:                  Salt Cay, Cotton Cay
                           LODGING:           Split between the Tradewinds Guest Suites and the Mount Pleasant Guesthouse .
 
 

The UF International Center, located in 123 Grinter Hall, is coordinating the project.  Here's how it works:

1.  You complete the Study Abroad application found at http://www.ufic.ufl.edu/forms/oss/StudyAbroadApplicationForm.pdf
Turn in the completed application form along with a $250 deposit at the International Center.

2.  Pick up a special Academic Advising form for this project at the International Center.  You will need to complete it and have it signed by Dr. William Keegan at the Florida Museum of Natural History, who will return it to the International Center on your behalf.  The International Center and Anthropology Department will then handle your registration.

3.  The International Center will then bill you for the balance of the Project Fee.  If you are on Financial Aid, your fees will be deferred until aid pays out.

IF YOU ARE NOT A UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT, NO PROBLEM!   You are still welcome to apply and receive credit that can transfer to your own institution!  Here's the procedure:

1.  You complete the application found at http://www.ufic.ufl.edu/forms/oss/NONUFSASApplication.pdf
You will need to mail your completed application and $250 deposit to the address shown on the form.

2.  You must then submit a Non-Degree form, found at http://www.reg.ufl.edu/pdf/nondegree-reg.pdf to the International Center, who will then register you for the course.

3.  You will also need to submit a Transcript Request form to order the transcript you'll need to transfer the credit to your institution.  This form is found at h ttp://www.reg.ufl.edu/pdf/transcript-request.pdf.
 
 

Have an enrollment question or issue?  Want to know more or just bounce a few things off me?  Send a message to psinelli@msn.com (If clicking on my e-mail address does not launch your e-mail function, then you have to cut and paste my address into your e-mail message. Sorry.)

Prospective students are also welcome to call Pete at his home with questions: 813-643-0501.  Please no calls after 9:00 pm.