Home » Explore » Archaeology » Come Dig at Montpelier! » Field Schools & Internships

University Field Schools

Two annual archaeological field schools were first established in 1987 (JMU) and in 2002 (SUNY Potsdam) and have allowed for a significant set of discoveries to be made at all of the major sites on the property. Each summer between 25 and 40 students come out to Montpelier for an intensive two-month course on archaeological excavation techniques. Students are housed on the property and experience an in-depth immersion into Montpelier's history and archaeological discoveries. For more information on any of these field schools or the intern program, please contact the Director of Archaeology, Dr Matthew Reeves on +1 540-672-2728x160, or alternatively use our contact form for the Department of Archaeology.

James Madison University Field School

The JMU field school is held from mid May through to mid June. The students from JMU represent a wide mix of backgrounds from accounting to history majors. Generally, students stay at Montpelier during the working week and head home for the weekend (as most are local to the area). The advantages to the JMU field school are cooler temperatures for the months of May and June. To find out more information on the James Madison University field school, please see JMU Anthropology - field school.

The State University of New York at Potsdam

The SUNY Potsdam 2006 Archaeology Fieldschool and Montpelier Archaeology Department staff.

The SUNY Potsdam 2006 Archaeology field school and Montpelier Archaeology Department staff standing outside the front of the mansion after a month of excavation and learning.

The SUNY Potsdam field school is held the entire month of July. Students from SUNY Potsdam are generally all anthropology/archaeology majors. As folks are coming down from upstate New York, students stay for the entire week in the housing with the weekends free for travel. With students being out of state, we take the extended week as an opportunity to take students on field trips of archaeological interest (Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Monticello).

Summer Intern Program

The Montpelier Archaeology Department also sponsors summer interns. Housing is available free of charge along with a modest stipend. Students interns usually work on a more specialized project or help with the field schools. Student projects that have been accomplished in the past summers have amongst others included:

  1. Analysis of ceramic vessels (crossmending and identification).
  2. Analysis of architectural material from the mansion.
  3. Identification of floral material with a consultant enthnobotanist.
  4. Analyzing waterscreen sediments