It’s That Time of Year Again….

Last Fall, I embarked on the first of many scheduled educational sabbaticals to train myself in the field of Cognitive Processual Archaeology. Originally, I had planned to experience a Spring Term in April and May of 2019, but the rigorous Iaconagraphy Press publishing schedule didn’t allow for that (please go have a look at the latest publication: Faith Food Family: Hearthmaking, Hygge, & Heirloom Recipes for the Modern Kitchen Witch by Suzanne Hersey; it’s fantastic!). Now, as we enter the month of June, I am entering a Summer Intensive instead of an “easy” Spring Semester, but rather than being stressed about that, I’m actually wicked excited!

My overall course of study focuses on the requirements for a Master’s Degree in Archaeology across a survey of three institutions: Uppsala University in Sweden, Boston University, and Harvard (obviously I’m a “go big or go home” kinda guy!). This combination requires two courses in Logic of Archaeological Inference, two courses in Archaeological Practice (lab courses/”field” study), one course in Comparative Perspectives, two courses in Long-Term History, one course in Topics in Archaeology, and three Elective Courses at the BA level, before moving on to the “big stuff” at the MA (Graduate) level.

Back in the Fall, I completed five courses, complete with all of the “lecture time” (and subsequent note-taking), exams, quizzes, papers, and lab-work that implies:

Principles of Archaeology 101 (using the Archaeology textbook by Renfrew) Final Grade: A (4.0/95.1)

Norse Studies (which consisted of extensive “field” work, including a focus on sites dating from the Neolithic up through the Vendel Period throughout Sweden, all of which were then fully documented in my field notebook, using actual archaeological methods of field notation, and completing the course with a final oral presentation and accompanying paper on the boat graves at Valsgarde) Final Grade: A- (3.7/92.08)

Scandinavian Archaeology (which employed The Viking World by Brink and Price as its textbook, and was based completely, down to the dates and times of doing the coursework, on the syllabus for SASH02 Archaeology: Viking Age Scandinavia, as taught at Lund University in Sweden) Final Grade: A+ (4.0/100)

Cognitive Archaeology (with a focus on cognitive processual archaeology) Final Grade: A+ (4.0/100)

Archaeology of Cult/Religion Final Grade: B (3.0/86)

Fall Semester GPA: 4.0/97.7 (A)

I do have an “academic advisor”, with an extensive background in archaeology (specifically Scandinavian Archaeology) who has been acting as a sort of “in-house professor”, guiding my studies and even grading my work (grades were calculated using typical Swedish grading scales), and correcting me when necessary. So this is definitely not just some guy “playing at school”. I have due dates and all of the other stresses one would expect from a rigorous college-level course of study, including the potentiality of failing (we won’t talk about some of my quiz grades in ARCH 101; let’s just say that I know for certain Environmental Archaeology is the wrong field for me!).

For my Summer Intensive, I hope to complete the next leg of my “BA journey”, before completing those requirements (hopefully) in the Fall:

Further Principles of Archaeology 102 (completing the Archaeology textbook by Renfrew)

Field School: “Excavation” of Lilla Ullevi in Sweden (which will largely consist of “digging up” everything I can possibly find remotely, online, and then applying sound archaeological method to those findings, to arrive at a cognitive processual understanding of those findings, all of which will be recorded in my field notebook using genuine archaeological methods of field notation); constitutes classroom work and “lab” (i.e., hands-on) work, therefore bringing the total of classes technically to five.

Archaeology and Ethnography of the Saami (using Sami Prehistories: The Politics of Archaeology and Identity in Northernmost Europe by Carl-Gosta Ojala as a basic guide for the course of study, as well as Lapps and Labyrinths by Noel D. Broadbent)

Swedish Language (which will include not only “conversational” Swedish, but also the ability to read and translate in Swedish, with a particular emphasis on “academic” Swedish, as it pertains to archaeological terminology. Coursework will include the translation of several academic papers which I have been dying to actually read!)

So, what is my end-goal with all of this? I mean, we’ve all heard “ours is the religion with homework”, but I’m rather taking that to the next level, right? I firmly believe in “walking my talk”; I am never, ever going to claim to be anything that I have not worked hard to become, and that applies to my scholastics as much as it does to my practice as a Vitki and Freyjasgodhi. Plain and simple: I can’t talk archaeology, if I can’t actually do archaeology. All of this hard work is me “walking my talk”. And I look very forward to the rest of my journey….