APPLETON, WIS. — Ashlan Falletta-Cowden isn’t looking forward to having to take her final exams a week earlier than her Lawrence University classmates. But such is the price for a six-week summer fellowship to conduct field research in Cyprus.
Cowden was one of 10 students nationally recently awarded a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) scholarship to Davidson College’s Archaeology Field School in Cyprus.
The scholarship, worth up to $6,100, will support Falletta-Cowden’s work with the Athienou Archaeological Project, a multidisciplinary project in south-central Cyprus focusing on the site of Athienou-Malloura and the surrounding valley. The site was used for nearly 2,500 years and encompasses the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods in the island’s history.
Falletta-Cowden, a sophomore from Petaluma, Calif., pursuing a double major in art history and anthropology, leaves June 2 for Cyprus, where she will assist with an excavation of an ancient temple site in the archaeologically rich Malloura valley. In addition to learning research methods through her fieldwork, Falletta-Cowden will design her own individualized research project as part of the program.
“This will certainly be a unique experience,” said Falletta-Cowden, whose mother is an archaeologist. “Cyprus is such a fascinating, diverse place, with many different influences.”
Working in teams of four or five students with a supervisor, daily field excavations will start at 6:30 in the morning and run until mid-afternoon. Beyond the field exercise, Falletta-Cowden will attend lectures by specialists on such topics as archaeological reconnaissance, topographical surveying and dating methods. The program also includes a comprehensive survey of Cypriote history, art and archaeology from the Neolithic period to the Modern era as well as visits to other archaeological sites and museums.
“This should be such a powerful experience,” Falletta-Cowden said. “It fuses my majors so beautifully. It will be a great way to explore my interests in both art history and archaeology. I’m looking forward to working with the specialists and actually handling artifacts that haven’t been touched since ancient times.”
The Athienou Archaeological Project was established by Davidson College in 1990. Since its founding, more than 300 undergraduate and graduate students as well as specialists or professional archaeologists representing more than 45 North American and European institutions, have participated in the project as trainees or staff members.
