> Archaeology Digs> Africa

Cradle of Humankind, South Africa
On hiatus 2008. Duke University offers a six-week intensive summer program in human paleontology and paleoanthropology, archeological and paleontological field methods and Southern African ecology. Students will also visit the fossil vaults at the University of the Witswatersrand and Transvaal Museuem and important fossil sites such as Sterkfontein and Gladysvale.

De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa)
Annually January-April and September-December. Arizona State University and University of Bergen. De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 200 km east of Cape Town, is the main location for the field school

DK, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
May - September 2008 (several sessions). Earthwatch Institute. Following in the Leakeys’ footsteps to work in this legendary, arid gorge, you will help survey for evidence of hominid activity and dig 4 x 2 m trenches and sieve dirt for smaller artifacts and fossils associated with this 1.75-million-year-old site.

Elmina (Ghana)
July 1-July 14, 2007. Syracuse University. The fortress of Elmina was established as a trading post by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century and played a significant role in trade between West Africa and Europe through the nineteenth century.

Kimilili Village (Kenya)
May 20-June 20, 2007. Northern Illinois University. Ethnographic surveys and interviews with people from many areas and ethnic groups. We will also be conducting archaeological surveys and excavations. Both aspects of our project are aimed at understanding the history of ethnicity and ethnic interaction in the area.

Koobi Fora, Kenya
June 16-July 25, 2008. Rutgers University and the National Museums of Kenya. This session includes four weeks at Koobi Fora in northern Kenya, the site made famous by Richard Leakey and his colleagues in the 1970's for finds of ancient hominids and archaeology bearing on our understanding of human origins.

Limpopo River Valley Field School
July 18-August 15, 2007. University of Witswatersrand. Seminars on the hominid sites and on the Earlier and Middle Stone Age at our camps in the Cradle and the Limpopo. Introduction to lithic analysis, taphonomic analysis and site formation processes; breccia preparation; excavation techniques, data recording, and use of the total station EDM for on-site recording.

Primate Field School, Kenya
August 1-27, 2008. Rutgers University and the National Museums of Kenya. This field school will give participants the opportunity to experience the diverse habitats of Kenya, and to gain understanding about biodiversity by using primate field studies as the entry point.

Swahili Culture, Coastal Kenya
August 1-27, 2008. Rutgers University and National Museum of Kenya. The Field School offers a unique opportunity for students to learn about Swahili culture, history and language as well as study the peoples living along the coast of Kenya today.