Preparations

Over the next 3 months, particpants in the 2009 Archaeology Field School in Indonesia will be posting about their experiences on this blog. For some background about this program and previous archaeological research in the Banda Islands, see our project website. I'm the program co-director and I'll start things off.

It is below freezing today in Seattle, there is snow and ice on the ground, and I can't wait to get to warm Indonesia! With just 2 weeks to go before I leave, I'm engulfed in a flurry of last minute preparations: getting our Indonesian visas, finalizing our budget, testing and packing equipment and supplies, making sure everyone has their tickets, hotel reservations, and a million other tasks. I'll be flying to Jakarta on January 1 along with my wife and daughter Charlotte and Isabel, and graduate student assistant Emily. We'll spend about a week in Jakarta finalizing our research permits and meeting old friends. On January 8, we'll fly to Yogyakarta to meet the Indonesian members of the staff, Daud and Bowo. On January 10, the students arrive for three weeks of Indonesian language classes. They are from the US, Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand. After the language classes, we'll be joined by more students from Indonesia, and make the long journey east to the Banda Islands for 5 weeks of archaeological field methods training as we survey and excavate some of the fascinating sites of the Bandas. I wish I was there now!