Program Overview
This course is "hands on" and involves student participation in all aspects of an archaeological excavation at Berenike on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. This excavation has been jointly directed by Steven E. Sidebotham of the University of Delaware and Willeke Z. Wendrich of Leiden University (Netherlands)/UCLA since 1994. The port of Berenike was active in the Ptolemaic-Roman periods (third century B.C. - sixth century A.D.) as a conduit for trade passing along the ancient maritime Silk Road between Egypt and the Mediterranean basin on the one hand and the Red Sea-Indian Ocean-Persian Gulf littorals on the other for about 800 years.
All manner of goods and peoples passed through the port as the recovery of numerous ancient human skeletal remains, artifacts, various religious shrines and the presence of at least ten written languages used on the site attest. In addition to being a conduit for long distance "international" trade, Berenike had local and regional economic and cultural ties with other settlements in the area between the Red Sea coast and the Nile valley.
Students will participate in numerous activities including assisting with the actual excavation under the direction of a trained trench supervisor, recording results (paperwork, drawing and photography), working with local Ababda Bedouin workmen in the trenches and assisting specialists studying the various categories of "finds" from the excavations (including the conservation of the site and its artifacts and analysis of pottery, textiles, matting-basketry, cordage, glass, beads, floral and faunal remains, geology, ancient textual finds, metal and coins). Students will also assist in the archaeological survey (discovery, identification, and study) of ancient sites and road systems in the desert near Berenike.
Fieldwork runs six days a week (Sat.-Thurs.) with Fridays off. Work starts each morning at 6am and runs (with one break for a meal) until 2pm. There follows paperwork, studying of finds, photography and other work related to the excavation. Fridays may be used to swim in the Red Sea, go on survey, etc.
This project is an excellent opportunity for students to learn how a modern, multi disciplinary archaeological excavation is conducted from the time the trenches are laid out until the finds are studied. It also exposes students to the lives, culture and language of a Bedouin population in a developing country.
UD students pay all program fee deposits by direct bank transfer via this website: http://www.udel.edu/studyabroadpayments. Non-UD students should send a check, payable to the University of Delaware, to CFIS, Elliott Hall, 26 East Main Street, Newark, DE 19716. Credit card payments are not accepted.
