1. Amanzi Springs Field School: Acheulian to Middle Stone Age (South Africa): Nov 7 – Dec 1st 2018
Each year the Archaeology Department at La Trobe University (Prof Andy I.R. Herries & Dr Matt Meredith Williams) in conjunction with the University of the Witwatersrand (Dr Matt Caruana) and the University of Cape Town run excavations at the Acheulian to Middle Stone Age spring site of Amanzi Springs in the Eastern Cape (near Port Elizabeth) of South Africa. The site has yielded Acheulian to early Middle Stone Age archaeology in rare stratified context as well as associated wood. The occurrence of wood with Acheulian archaeology is extremely rare globally and makes Amanzi Springs an internationally significant site.
2. Drimolen Field School in Palaeoanthropology & Geoarchaeology (South Africa): June 8 – July 29th 2019
Each year the Archaeology Department at La Trobe University (Prof Andy I.R. Herries) in collaboration with the Centre for Anthropological Research at the University of Johannesburg (Ms Stephanie Baker) and Washington University in St Louis (Prof David Strait) run a field school in paleoanthropology & geoarchaeology at the Drimolen early hominin bearing palaeocave in South Africa. Drimolen is one of the richest richest hominin bearing deposit in South Africa and has yielded fossils of Paranthropus robustus, early Homo and a wealth of other species, including a vast collection of non-human primates. The site has also yielded evidence for early bone tool use and Oldowan stone tools. Dated to between 2.6 and 1.4 million years ago (Ma) the Drimolen Palaeocave System contains two cave infills, the older ~2.6 Ma Drimolen Makondo (DMK), and the younger hominin bearing Drimolen Main Quarry (QMQ).
The 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 field school excavations were a tremendous success and have yielded hominin remains every year. Since 2015 this has included a number of new hominin crania. The field school has a focus on Hominin Palaeobiology, Quaternary African palaeontology and Archaeology, how to survey and excavate bone as well as karst geology and geoarchaeological applications. The field school includes visits to other fossils sites such as Sterkfontein and Swartkrans, learning cave geology at Wonder Cave, visiting all the original hominin fossils, as well as a safari to Pilanesberg National Park. Costs apply and for information about attending the field school please e-mail Prof Herries at a.herries@latrobe.edu.au or see the WUSTL website for details of how to apply in the US.