Endless excavation and excursions! The Indonesian Archaeology Fieldschool program held every two years is now back again. The collaboration between Universitas Gadjah Mada and Australian National University supported by National Geography, BRIN, and New Colombo Plan offers students from UGM, ANU, and Unud who are interested in prehistoric archaeology to join a 3 week archaeology program in Praya, Central Lombok, from 30th of June until 19th of July, 2025. The programme includes workshops, such as introduction to Indonesian archaeology, physical anthropology and human remains, history of Indonesian archaeology, pottery, lithics, invertebrates and vertebrates, excavation methods, to excavation recording and report writing, carried out in the Department of Archaeology, Universitas Gadjah Mada. Alongside all the serious matters, the ANU students get to taste the rich Javanese history and culture through excursions to the Anthropology Museum (UGM), Sambisari Temple, Plaosan Temple, and Tinjon site, closed with a tour to the infamous Sangiran.
The team arrived at Lombok on 6th of July to begin the excavation project. Continuous learning and fun times were decorating every corner of the cave site. Making new friends, trying new experiences of archaeological excavation, and getting in touch with Lombok’s culture are in this year’s fieldschool agenda. A day playing on white sanded beaches and walking through the villages in Lombok is quite refreshing after a week full of fieldworks. The participants went to Ende customary village where they encountered traditional Lombok architecture and customs and stopped by the pottery making village as well as the tenun village to try on the traditional Lombok attire. As a part of community service, the field school program conducts socialization to introduce the archaeological remains in Lombok Tengah to the local villagers. To further add to the excitement, they also invited SMA Negeri Mataram students and its history teachers to visit the site and take a closer look at how archaeological research works. A few more days to go and the participants couldn’t bear leaving the fun programme behind.
