About
Our ability to locate buried features without digging has grown steadily, but so has the technological learning curve. NCPTT’s Prospection in Depth 2009 will be held August 4-8, 2009 in response to the emergent need for advanced technological training. The workshop will be held in partnership with the Presidio Trust at the site of El Presidio de San Francisco, in California. This is a five-day workshop with multiple instructors that will bring participants up to date on geophysical prospection skills. The precise curriculum is under development, but it will feature ground penetrating radar, gradiometry, electrical conductivity, and electrical resistivity.
The cost is $499. This fee covers tuition, and lodging will be provided for free, while space lasts, at the Presidio’s historic barracks, although participants will have to provide bedding (i.e., sleeping bag). A variety of alternate housing (hotels and motels) is available nearby, at your expense. Registration is available online. Up to 30 applicants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so reserve your place quickly!
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Unique Approach
Like other typical geophysics training, Prospection in Depth teaches the underlying principles and advanced applications of geophysical technologies through hands-on data collection in the field. NCPTT’s course is novel in the field of post-graduate professional development because it uses partnerships, like that with the Presidio Trust, to incorporate ground-truthing select results into the curriculum. Consequently, instruction extends to contextualized interpretation and learning, and this creates a constructivist pedagogy that is unique in post-university geophysical instruction.
Typically geophysics courses are teacher-centered because students do not posses the experiential knowledge necessary to interpret geophysical anomalies and make the inferential leaps from anomaly to archaeological correlate. By incorporating instrument- and excavation-based instruction, students actively interact with data, teachers, and each other to create meaning and forge new knowledge. Learning motivations are internal, discovery based, and grounded in an egalitarian learning structure.
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Audience
Prospection in Depth 2009 is open to archaeologists from all career tracks, as well as resource managers and other professionals with experience in cultural resources. Archaeological contract firms, in particular, are targeted for instruction because of the paucity of post-university professional development opportunities in archaeology in general.
Participants from the prior three years of courses have represented:
- 10 private sector enterprises
- 12 academic institutions
- 6 governmental agencies
- 4 non-profits, trusts, or similar organizations
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The $499 registration fee covers tuition. Lodging will be provided for free, while space lasts, at the Presidio's historic barracks, although participants will have to provide bedding (i.e., sleeping bag).