7th July 2009, 03:29 PM
As the person who puts together Past Horizons I can confirm that there is a distinct difference between paying to go on a field school and volunteering on a project which costs money to participate.
If you attend a field school you will expect to be taught to a certain level where you will obtain educational credits at the end of it. It has to be said though that the quality of teaching will vary greatly so it is best to check exactly what you will be getting. There are not many academics who will be able to teach the ways of commercial archaeology for example.
If you pay to volunteer you can usually expect to be taught the basics but often no more than that. An American relative of mine has volunteered on a few Earthwatch digs and he is quite happy to pay for something he sees as a good cause and the great experience that it brings him but he is not expecting to obtain university credits.
I don't think that anyone is pretending that by paying to volunteer you are going to learn vast amounts about archaeology but then again that depends on you as a person, the project you go on and what you want out of it. It might in fact be the best investment you ever made.
Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi
If you attend a field school you will expect to be taught to a certain level where you will obtain educational credits at the end of it. It has to be said though that the quality of teaching will vary greatly so it is best to check exactly what you will be getting. There are not many academics who will be able to teach the ways of commercial archaeology for example.
If you pay to volunteer you can usually expect to be taught the basics but often no more than that. An American relative of mine has volunteered on a few Earthwatch digs and he is quite happy to pay for something he sees as a good cause and the great experience that it brings him but he is not expecting to obtain university credits.
I don't think that anyone is pretending that by paying to volunteer you are going to learn vast amounts about archaeology but then again that depends on you as a person, the project you go on and what you want out of it. It might in fact be the best investment you ever made.
Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
Mohandas Gandhi