Czech-American Bioarchaeological Field School

Hello all! 

Well, it's happened. At the behest of friends and family who've insisted that it's occasionally ok to ask for financial help... I've opened a fundraising page.

For those of you who don't know, I was recently accepted on to assist with an excavation in the Czech Republic (right near the Austrian Border) this summer. Even better, I will be working under a bioarchaeologist to help uncover both artifacts and human remains at an excavation site in the southeastern corner of the Czech Republic. Located near Breclav, just one km north of the Austrian border, 65 km southeast of Brno, and approximately 80 km northwest of Bratislava, Slovak Republic, Pohansko (the site) straddles major communication and transportation routes into Moravia and hence access to the Baltic. This route, known in earlier times as the Amber Road, served as a main avenue of communication and trade from the classical world to Germanic and Slavic peoples of the north.

Pohansko itself is a two-kilometer earthen enclosure once faced with stone (exterior) and wooden ramparts (interior). Dating to the 9th century AD, this site was a major center of Great Moravia and appears in Carolingian, Byzantine, and Germanic references. Saints Cyril (aka Constantine the Scholar) and Methodius are both known to have visited the site and historical records document at least five major military campaigns launched by the Germanic kingdoms against their Great Moravian rivals at Pohansko.

This field school is a huge, huge step towards accomplishing my career goals, and if I might be sappy for a moment, it's a chance for me to pursue my passion. 

The downside to this is, it's going to cost me between $3-$5k in tuition, prep supplies, and airfare to get there, and I am scheduled to depart in the last week of May. That leaves me very little time to come up with a pretty substantial sum of money. 

I am certainly not asking any of you to give if you cannot, but every dollar absolutely counts. So. If you have some spare change lying around your house and would be willing to throw it into my last-minute Czech trip, I would be eternally grateful. 

To those who've already chipped in, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it!

To anyone who would like more information about where I am going, what I am doing, and what the money will go towards, please feel free to reach out to me personally :-) 

Best wishes to all!

-Edwards-