Assessment

Field Journal

One of the most important aspects of any archaeological fieldwork is keeping a field journal. This is essentially a diary in which you record the day to day details of your fieldwork, from the sites you record or the features you excavate, right down to the weather and light conditions (which, believe it or not, can affect your ability to locate sites or identify artefacts, particularly stone artefacts), the names of the people who participate each day and any problems you encounter. It is also the place where you can record any impressions or interpretations of sites and features as they occur to you. This will be particularly important if you are one of many fieldworkers on a large project and your results are to be analyzed or written up by someone else, but it will also help to jog your memory later on when you come to write up your report. Your field journal will form an invaluable record of your fieldwork and, since you cannot predict what questions may interest future researchers, one day it may even provide new and unforeseen information. As a formal record of your fieldwork, another archaeologist should be able to reconstruct your field program and understand the reasoning behind your decisions just by reading your notes. Remember, the more information you record in your field journal the easier it will be for you or someone else to write up your results in the end. Don't trust your memory, write everything down.

Team Work

Working as a member of a team is a necessary skill for all archaeologists, but especially when doing fieldwork. However, this is a skill which needs to be learnt and practiced. Many of the fieldwork exercises in this topic will involve you working with a team with other students and, of course, we will all be living together as a team. Our assessment of your teamwork will not be confined to how to tackle field exercises but will also take into account your contribution to living together harmoniously as a field team.

Community Project

Your individual community projects will be developed according to your individual interests. Students will be expected to work closely with local Kunwinjku people on their projects. These projects should be produced in plain English and will be collated and distributed to the local community.

See the Fieldschool Report for 2004

See the Fieldschool Report for 2006

Rock Art Recording

Students will be expected to produce several rock art motif recordings, a baseline and offset drawing of one shelter, and at least 2 section diagrams for submission.