Application Status

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You will receive an email within 10 days after the application about your acceptance to the program

Credit

You will get a certificate for the number of hours worked in the field and laboratory (100h total). We offer 4 academic credits through our academic partner.

Welcome to our field school

Participants will camp on the site during excavation and on the weekends they will live in the project house in Huari. The house is equipped with a lab, running water, hot showers, electricity, flush toilets, small garden, full kitchen, and lending library; students sleep in bunk beds in doubles, triples, or quads. The project will provide you with a mattress and sheet, but you must bring your sleeping bags.

When camping in the field, the project will provide tents (2-4 persons) and mattresses; if you want to bring your own tent you are welcome to do so. There are many spaces to place the tent, we will have access to running water, and a latrine but no electricity. The camp has, a very basic house mainly for cooking and eating that is located about 100 meters from the excavations. The excavation site is located at about 15 minutes driving distance and 25 minutes hiking. It has a wonderful view of the valley and the mountains around, at night is possible to do bonfires.

Meals: All meals will be grouped, and we will provide plenty of nutritious but basic food in the tradition of local cuisine. While in the house or camping, there will be 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Peruvian highland cuisine is heavily based on rice, corn, potatoes, legumes and animal protein such as eggs, beef, and chicken. If you are a vegetarian or have some allergies, you must inform us ahead of time so that the right kind of food is prepared. No group meals served on Saturdays (diner) and Sundays (day off), however, you can have breakfast in the house or cook if you want.

Cost

​​​Application Form

1. Download, fill out and email the application form.
2. Along with the application send us your resume and an unofficial transcript

Margarita Brikyte Project Coordinator
archaeology_huari.ancash@yahoo.com

Download here

Lic. Oscar Loyola Azáldegui

Licentiate from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima (2013).  Oscar is a Forensic Anthropologist and a member of EPAF (Equipo Peruano de Arqueologia Forense) who participates in projects around the globe, from Nepal to Africa. Oscar is our Physical Anthropologist for the field; he joined the project in 2012. 

Components

Bach. Carlos Escobar Silva

BA from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos 2003. Carlos is one of the project starting members from 2005. He is a specialist in archaeological record and excavations. Carlos has participated in numerous archaeological projects in Peru (Research and CRM). He will be in charge of everything related to the archaeology part in the field.

The cost of participation is $2,500 it
Includes:
1. Instructional costs.
2. Transport Miraflores –Bus Station
3. Bus Tickets: Lima – Huari - Lima.
4. Accommodations and meals in Huari.
5. Excavation materials.
6. Transportation to excavations.
7. Entrance fees and transportation to

Chavin de Huantar and its Museum.

Does not include:
1. Airfare to Peru.
2. Meals and stay in Lima.
3. Personal expenses.
4. Alcoholic beverages.
5. Health insurance (required).
6. Meals in Huari on Sundays.
7. Meals in Chavín de Huántar.

Huari-Ancash Bio-Archaeological Research Project

Bach. Margarita Brikyte

BA in Anthropology from CSULB.  She joined the team in 2008 and oversees communication with participants during the application process.

Payment 

Send a $250 deposit within 10 days after you are notified of your acceptance.

The remaining amount should be pay  4 weeks before the project starts.  

The time of this field school is well organized so that participants engage in different aspects of the project: excavation, survey, ceramics lab and bone analyses. We lecture a lot during the first few days and cover a lot of ground even for those who have no previous experience in excavation (especially working with human remains). This makes our field school a bit different perhaps; students do get a rich theoretical background before the excavations start as well as during the excavations so that theory and practice blends into a whole thus making sure the participants get connected with the work and the area and have a wholesome understanding of the research.
It is important to keep in mind and, hopefully, to look forward to, that that the project takes place in a very rural area. You may travel to Peru and never really get the taste of life in deep provincial areas which truly are a world to themselves. Huari is such a town. It is surrounded by mountains, it is deep in the mountains. Life is simple, and time passes by very differently here. There still a lot of authenticities and lots of sightseeing. People are friendly, and they love visitors, and we on our end expect the participants to respect what is new and VERY foreign to them.
The field conditions are different than those you experience in your home or university. Archaeology in the Andes is a hard, cold, physically exhausting, dirty, and demanding activity. When deciding to work in this part of the world it is important to understand that learning to deal with very different circumstances at hand is a crucial part of participation in the project and to make the best of a given situation with the tools available. This is not a summer vacation although we promise you will have a great time. And on our end, we expect all members of our project to be patient, upbeat, flexible and prepared.
We hope you are up for the challenge to learn and discover and look forward to meeting you this coming summer.

Lic. John Cruz Quiñones

B.A Universidad Santiago Antunez de Mayolo. Huaraz. John joined our team in 2011. He is a specialist in archaeological record,  excavations and Lithic Analysis. John  has participated in numerous archaeological projects in Peru (Research and CRM). He will be in charge of Archaeological Lab.

The hike to the base camp starts at Ampas (3423 m of altitude); we follow a steep path of 0.43 miles until we arrive; the base camp is located at 3664 m of altitude. This looks easy. However, the altitude makes it hard.  

We use donkeys to carry the backpacks up to the base camp. However, most likely, you will need to carry it down when returning to Huari. 

Breakfast is from 7 to 8 PM. Lunch from 12 to 2 PM and dinner 5-6 PM.

The excavation is located 0.2 miles from the camp base at 3610 m of altitude.

Instructors

Eden Washburn PhD.

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​Graduated at  University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 2020.  Eden is a  Physical Anthropologist, a specialist in Isotopes and Chemical analysis,  joined the project in 2016. She has performed Isotopes Analysis (Carbon 13, Nitrogen 15 and Strontium 86/87)  on human remains from different parts of the valley. Also, she has built the baseline of strontium ratios in the region of Ancash and in collaboration with Dr. Lars Fehren-Schmitz (UCSC) are doing the aDNA analysis of remains recovered by our project.

Pablo Mateos

BA in Archaeology from Universite de Paris, joined the project in 2012 and has been to each and every survey and excavation mission since then, Pablo assists in all parts of the research.  

Lic. Jordi Benites Segura

B.A Universidad  Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. LIma. Jordi joined  our team in 2018. Field archaeologist, has participated in numerous archaeological projects in Peru (Research and CRM). 

How to apply

Jason Nesbitt PhD

Graduated at Yale University in 2012 and is our specialist in ceramic analysis with over 15 years of experience in Andean Archaeology. Dr. Nesbitt has published several articles on formative Period in Peru and is directing Chavín Inland - a collaborative project with Huari-Ancash Bioarchaeological Project since 2013, sharing the facilities in Huari. Currently is Associated Professor at the Department of Anthropology,  Tulane University.

Accommodation

Life in the Field

Bebel Ibarra

Director of the program. Licentiate from Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, PhD at Tulane University in 2021. Started Huari-Ancash Bioarchaeological Project in 1997 and is organizing the field school part of it since 2005. Has diverse publications on Archaeology of Ancash, including several edited volumes, book chapters, andpeer-reviewedarticles. Presently a teacher assistant in the Department of Anthropology, Tulane University.

The Field School is focused on three aspects of research and we follow different techniques in the field and lab:

Archaeology: This part of the program involves archaeological excavations in different types of context; our goal for the student is to learn to identify stratigraphic layers, be able to set up and fully fill out an excavation form and improve archaeological drawing and recording. It will also include surveys of sites around the valley. We will examine different material recovered during the present and past seasons (e.g. pottery, lithics).

Bio-archaeology: This part consists of mapping and excavating funeral structures located in Ampas (and the sites in the surrounding area). This part includes drawing/mapping of funeral structures/caves, techniques of bone recovering, and identification of taphonomy process in human remains. No previous experience is required.

Lab: analysis of human remains from Marcajirca site and sites surveyed. The bone analyses are performed to obtain biological data from the remains recovered by students themselves during the current season or from previous excavations. At least 2 days or 16 hours of the full lab will be provided with a dedicated instructor. All the participants in the team will rotate between different parts of research so that everyone gets to try everything.