Message #260:
From: AzTeC SW Archaeology SIG
To:   "'Matthias Giessler'" 
Subject: Raven Site As An Accredited Field School?
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 19:15:04 -0700


[ Anyone have advice on accredited archaeological field schools and how
they attain such status?  As archaeology is not a 'professional' science
(e.g., no license required as in engineering), and as there is little
regulation of archaeological sites on private property (except for the AZ
Burial Law), I suspect nearly anyone can open and run an 'archaeological
field school.'  Please cross-post this message: Perhaps SASIG members can
send inquires to colleagues at various institutions around the US to find
out which field schools in the American Southwest do offer accredited
training.  If anyone has such a list, please let us know  -- SASIG Ed. ]

From: Deb Dosh

In a recent post you indicated that you would like information about the
use of the Raven Site as an accredited field school.  This subject has
worried me for three years now.  I discovered that they were using the site
as a field school while I was interviewing a person for a field tech
position on the Apache-Sitgreaves about three years ago.  The field tech
had evidently been attending a "field school" at the site for the summer.
If I recall, he said that the guy who runs/owns the Raven site hires MA
students from schools in the east and they actually run the excavations and
train other students from other eastern schools in excavation techniques.

The guy did not get any real training (e.g. how to use a transit, alidade
or how to take notes, do profiles, etc.) and instruction on Southwestern
archaeology was evidently not part of the program.  He was basically used
as grunt labor to clear more rooms for interpretive exhibits at the site
and was trained to do a minor amount of stabilization.  He paid to stay in
a dorm-style housing situation and they prepared all meals (he paid for
this too).  I don't recall which school he was attending, but he had not
graduated with a degree yet.  I think he went to work for Todd Howell at
ASU in Payson after he left my firm.  I don't know where he is now or I
would ask if he ever received the credit he paid for.

Also...I think I saw the Raven Site advertised in Archaeology Magazine
(along side Crow Canyon).  I'll look and see if I can find the advertisment.

I think that someone should check into this.  Is it legal for them to offer
a field school without a principal investigator to do the work?  How do
they become accredited?  Is there a regulatory agency controlling this type
of educational facility in Arizona?  I know the site is on private
property, but it seems that if it is being used as a school someone must
know something.

Deb Dosh