Profs plan educational trips

Three anthropology professors plan to take students on trips to Mongolia, Belize and Mexico this summer, providing a unique opportunity for participants to study and live in other countries.

Francis Allard plans to take students to Mongolia for an archaeological project, Beverly Chiarulli is participating in an archaeology project in Belize and Victor Garcia is directing an ethnographic field school in Mexico.

Allard said the trip to Mongolia is part of an international collaborative project with the Institute of History of Mongolia.

"We're studying the occupation of the valley from about 1500 B.C. to 500 B.C.," Allard said, indicating that this period is called the "Bronze Age."

"It's an archaeological project that has been going on since the year 2001."

This is Allard's first year at IUP and also the first time IUP students will be able to participate in this project.

Allard said students will be working in the Khanuy River Valley in central Mongolia, which is about two days' travel time west of the capital, UlaanBaatar. Students will meet in Beijing, China, and take a train to UlaanBaatar, where they will prepare for the expedition. They will travel to the site of the project via dirt roads, which will take several days.

"The area is very isolated where we work," Allard said. "There's no electricity and no phone for 40 miles."

Allard said the area is still populated by nomadic pastoralists, who herd and move from place to place. He said they live in round, felt huts called yurts, which they pack up when they travel.

Allard said the project consists of seven assistants, 10 to 12 students and the Mongolian director and his students. The trip will last approximately from June 23 to Aug. 15.

"It's more than just doing archaeology," he said. "We work in an area that's very isolated, so you're exposed to a different culture."

Allard's trip is offered as a class, anthropology special topics ANTH 481.

The trip is open to all students, and previous experience is not necessary. Its total cost is about $3,000 including travel expenses, living expenses, tuition and project contribution. Anyone interested can contact Allard at allard@iup.edu.

Chiarulli's students will excavate the Mayan pyramids in Maax Na, Belize, which borders Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. She said Howard University and the New England Foundation primarily run the program that has welcomed between one and five IUP students a year to Maax Na, a name that means "monkey house," and a nearby site called Bolsa Verde, since 1999.

"This site was built by the Mayans, who lived in Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras from [about] 800 B.C. to the 16th century," she said.

Caves were important in Mayan mythology because they were viewed as passages to the underworld.

"[The city is] interesting because it's built on an escarpment [high ridge] in Belize," Chiarulli said. "The site itself is built where ... there were a lot of caves."

She said the research focuses on why the cities developed and why it was abandoned before 1200 A.D.

The trip to Belize is open to all students and will cost approximately $1,695 plus airfare. Anthropology majors can receive three to nine semester hours of internship credit. Anyone interested can contact Chiarulli at bevc@iup.edu.

Garcia plans to take students to Guanajuato, Mexico. Students will learn to collect information on the rural population of Mexico, where Garcia has been doing research for 12 years.

"The majority of the immigrants and migrants who are in this country ... are from Guanajuato," he said. "[For] someone ... teaching and working in the health field, it's going to be a good experience."

Garcia's research focuses on educational issues of Guanajuato's immigrant population.

He said students who do not speak Spanish will be paired with bilingual students from the University of Guanajuato.

"Students will be free to pursue any interest they have. They won't be researching for me," he said. "They'll basically be learning to collect research with my instruction."

The trip will be offered as an anthropology course, ANTH 460 or Ethnographic Field School.

Garcia said the dates and prices for the trip are not yet finalized, but it will likely cost between $600 and $800. Anyone interested can e-mail him at vgarcia@iup.edu.

IUP also offers a field school in Indiana, which researches Native American culture. Archaeological field school is a requirement for anthropology majors in the archaeology track. It is open to all students and will last for six weeks. There will be no charge for this trip other than six credits of tuition.