Archaeology Field School in the Basque Country

Roman activity, medieval burials along an ancient byway in northern Spain: archaeologists Drs David Griffiths and Olaf Bayer have been busy lately.

David Griffiths (Director of Studies in Archaeology, OUDCE) and Olaf Bayer (Project Officer, East Oxford Archaeology project) spent six days teaching at an archaeology field school in the Basque Country in mid-July 2013.

The field school is run by Fran Valle, a graduate of our MSc in Applied Landscape Archaeology (2009-11). Fran is one of the leading archaeologists in the area, based at Ubide, near Bilbao. His company, Aditu Servicios Arqeologicos, is developing a series of projects in landscape and mortuary archaeology, and the field school takes international students from a number of countries including the UK, Canada and USA. aditufieldschool.wordpress.com/mortuary-archaeology/

The current field school location is a 12th century monastery at Zamartze, Navarra, just west of Pamplona in northern Spain. The students were excavating a series of medieval burials, including of pilgrims and priests, outside the east end of the church.

They are also examining Roman activity at the site, having found numerous coins and other Roman and post-Roman artefacts. The monastery is located on an ancient road which has Roman origins, and is part of the network of paths forming the Camino de Santiago - the road to Santiago de Compostela.

Fran took David and Olaf to see a range of local sites, including the spectacular monastery of Roncesvalles in the Pyrenees, where they were entertained to dinner in a very grand dining hall by the Prior and his canons.

David and Olaf were delighted to be able to contribute lectures and field instruction, assisting Fran and his team in creating an improved scientific and internationalised basis for archaeology and heritage in this important and very beautiful European region. The experience of Basque hospitality and culture was unforgettable!

Olaf (L) and Fran at a Roman site just outside Guernica.

Sister Guadalupe of the monastery of Zamartze examining a prehistoric dolmen tomb on the hillside nearby (Fran Valle in background)

Published 6 August 2013