Archaeological internship

Training programme

The internship holder will be provided with a programme of practical training in multiple aspects of post-excavation analysis relevant to the processing and recording of artefacts and ecofacts. Taken as a whole, the programme will provide skills enabling the internship holder to:

• Work safely as a member of the team within a laboratory setting
• Work ethically and responsibly as a member of a registered organisation of CIfA
• Carry out routine artefact processing with supervision, including washing, basic identification and marking
• Carry out routine ecofact processing with supervision, including flotation and residue sorting
• Carry out basic recording and data entry with supervision, to submit to relevant specialists and support archive completion

In addition, the internship holder will gain a broad understanding of how these processes contribute to the overall project results and what makes a successful commercial post-excavation project.

Training progress will be monitored internally within ULAS via the CIfA supported Archaeology Skills Passport.

At the end of the training programme, an evaluation of the internship holder and the training programme will be carried out internally within ULAS via a work placement performance appraisal and a training evaluation form in order to ensure the ongoing quality of the training programme and that learning outcomes are being met.

Timetable

The internship will be for 8 weeks, providing at least 21 training hours, after allowing for bank holidays, University closure days, leave and sickness.

The suggested time spent in each training area will be:

Outcomes

As a result of the training programme, the internship holder will have gained sufficient understanding of archaeological post-excavation analysis associated with commercial development to assist with career progression along any of the following routes:

• Continued academic study e.g. completion of a degree level course in archaeology
• Working towards CIfA Practitioner level employee within any commercial archaeology unit
• Many types of trainee and assistant roles within the heritage sector
• Completing a minimum of 20 hours leads to HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report) accreditation. Former holders of these internships have gone on to employment in ULAS and other commercial units.

The training will start developing the internship holder to PCIfA accreditation.

ULAS will further develop its understanding of how to integrate staff from a wider range of academic and socioeconomic backgrounds into the organisation.

• Archaeological internship (PDF, 380KB)