Field School Experiences

By Meredith Anderson

This summer I am spending six weeks as a Teaching Assistant for Boston University’s Field School in Menorca, Spain. As many AIA members are either interested in participating in a field school, have attended a field school, or run field schools we thought it would be interesting to share the experiences of one field school through the eyes of its participants. In the next few weeks you will see articles on all different aspects of BU’s Field School in Menorca from the students and staff.

Boston University’s Field School in Menorca started ten years ago and runs for six weeks from May through July every summer. For the last eight years they have been excavating at the site of Torre d’en Galmès—the largest prehistoric settlement on the island.


To give you a little background, any introduction to the archaeology of Menorca must include a discussion of Talayots and Taulas. Menorca and the neighboring larger island in the Mediterranean, Mallorca, are known for the unique prehistoric Talayotic culture that inhabited both islands (beginning around 1000BC). They were named for the watchtower-like megalithic structures scattered among their settlements. In Menorca the Talayotic people also built large T-shaped monuments called Taulas that, in conjunction with their surrounding horseshoe shaped buildings, are thought to have a religious function.

Menorca, with its strategic location in the Western Mediterranean and natural deep harbors, has been a strategic center for millennia and saw early trade relations with groups on the Iberian Peninsula, Greeks, and Carthaginians and was later controlled by the Romans, Muslims, Spaniards, British, French, and finally the Spaniards. The Talayotic house that BU is excavating at the site of Torre d’en Galmès was built by the Talayotic people shows clear Carthaginian and Roman influence, and after a period of abandonment was partially reoccupied when the Menorcan population surged in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries as Islamic control on the Iberian Peninsula waned. This year, BU is finishing up excavation at the Talayotic house and hopes to move on to a new area at the same site in Menorca next year.

I hope you enjoy the next set of articles—whether you are learning about field school life for the first time or reliving your own experiences. Menorca—with its varying and yet tangible landscape, relatively limited development (Menorca is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve), and rich history—is a wonderful place to have a field school and I am glad to have the opportunity to share it with you.

Meredith is the AIA's Site Preservation Program Coordinator.

Welcome to the new AIA Programs Blog!

This blog will be maintained by our Programs Staff to keep you informed about what’s going on at the AIA. We also hope to use this as a resource for our members, for students, and for those interested in learning more about archaeology.

First, I would like to introduce you to the AIA’s Programs Department staff members who will be working on this blog and recruiting articles.

Ben Thomas
Director of Programs

Ben has a PhD in Archaeology from Boston University and wrote his dissertation on ancient Maya settlement patterns along the Sibun River in Belize. Ben became the Director of Programs in 2009 after four years with the AIA and oversees the National Lecture Program, Outreach and Education Programs, the Site Preservation Program, and much more. Ben is also an Assistant Professor in the Liberal Arts program at Berklee College of Music.

Laurel Nielsen Sparks
Lectures and Fellowships Coordinator

Laurel studied Anglo-Saxon Archaeology at the Universities of York and Durham in England, and wrote her thesis on the regional patterning of sites on the Yorkshire Wolds. She joined the AIA in 2007, and coordinates the nearly 300 lectures the AIA sends to its 108 local societies annually, along with the AIA's fellowships and scholarships. Laurel is an avid gardener and is always on the lookout for the next great AIA lecturer.

Deanna Baker
Outreach and Education Coordinator

Deanna has a B.A. in Archaeology from Boston University. She was a work-study student for the AIA as an undergraduate and joined full time in 2009. Deanna coordinates correspondence with the AIA's 108 local Societies and administers the AIA's annual Awards. She is particularly interested in Aegean Prehistory and has excavated for several field seasons in Greece.

Meredith Anderson
Site Preservation Program Coordinator

Meredith has a B.A. in Archaeology and History from Boston University and joined the AIA in 2009. Meredith administers the Site Preservation Grants and Awards, organizes AIA Advocacy efforts, and coordinates site preservation related outreach and education activities. Meredith is also a Teaching Assistant at Boston University’s Field School in Menorca, Spain and enjoys coaching ice skating in her free time.

We plan to use this blog to better inform our readers of the many AIA Programs for our members and the public as well as to share our passion for archaeology through articles on the field, web resources, and interesting pieces of literature.

We hope you enjoy our new blog!