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Exploring the Ancient Roman City of Talabriga

Located on a mountain top on the northern coast of Portugal lies what remains of the ancient Roman city of Talabriga, surrounded by two rivers and shrouded by a forest of eucalyptus. It sits above the prehistoric remains of an indigenous village from the Iron Age, and was founded in 138 B.C. by Decimus Junius Brutus, consul of Hispania Ulterior, who led a great military campaign aimed to control the territories of current day Portugal. Talabriga became the capital city of its region.

In the Spring of 2009, Directors Tatiana Valente, Fernando Contreras Rodrigo and Regina Muller will be conducting a field school that will explore this fascinating settlement and offer an intensive hands-on learning experience in the principles and techniques of archaeological field research. It includes an introduction to basic aspects of field excavation techniques, which are applied during the excavation time. In the laboratory, students will classify and study excavated material. Participants will also attend lectures on Roman archaeology. In addition to the daily excavation and laboratory work, students will further learn about the history of indigenous settlements in Portugal during lectures and organized excursions. The course includes 7 hours of class per day, distributed in 4.5 hours of excavation and 2.5 hours of lab work, exercises, lectures and excursions. There will be one excursion day and one free day per session. Courses will be offered in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Does this sound like something right down your archaeological alley? If so, go to the website at www.ecomuseodecavalleria.com and find out more about the project and how to apply. But be careful.......once you've been on the dig, you'll want to go back for more!

Labels: field school in roman archaeology, roman archaeological excavation