Digging Kazakhstan’s past helps students find themselves

Remote mountains are backdrop for hands-on archaeology experience

WUSTL Video / Tom Malkowicz

Much more than an archaeology course, this six-week summer field practicum on the history of Central Asia offers university students from all disciplines the opportunity to immerse themselves in the past and present culture of Kazakhstan.

Living off-the-grid for weeks in the remote mountain foothills of the former Soviet republic, students get a hands-on crash course in archaeology field work as they dig for signs of the earliest agricultural settlements along the ancient Silk Road.

Offered July 8-Aug. 5 in summer 2015, the for-credit course also includes a look at contemporary Kazakh culture, including tours of museums, shopping bazaars and local sporting events.

Frachetti

Led by Michael Frachetti, PhD, associate professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, the course is open to students from any university. Enrollment in the 2015 program is limited to 10 students and the application deadline is Feb. 15.

For more information, visit the course listing on the Washington University website or contact progam adviser Julie Laveglia at 314-935-9607 or email jdibera@artsci.wustl.edu.