The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Sari Krosinsky, 277-5813
Laurie Mellas, 277-5915
December 19, 2005
UNM Summer Field School Explores Ancient Maya City
The lush mountains of western Honduras are home to ruins that have drawn archaeologists , anthropologists, art historians and conservators from all over the world since the nineteenth century—Copán, the most thoroughly excavated city of ancient Maya civilization. 
Despite its wealth of history, art and culture and its designation as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site, the precious artifacts at Copán are in danger of being lost without proper conservation and analysis.
Last summer, Dr. Jennifer Ahlfeldt founded the Copán Field School in Maya Art and Architecture. Students from the United States and Honduras help to bring the site up to UNESCO World Heritage standards while gaining rigorous training in art history, archaeology, conservation and museum studies.
“This is a unique opportunity to gain multi-disciplinary field experience at an internationally renowned site,” said Ahlfeldt, assistant professor in the UNM College of Fine Arts and the School of Architecture and Planning and research associate at UNM's Maxwell Center for Anthropological Research.
Students in the program's second year, scheduled July 1-29, can study for UNM credit with Ahlfeldt, St. Mary's College of Maryland professor Cristin Cash, UNM teaching assistant Elizabeth Olton and visiting experts.
Students live with local families in the safe and friendly rural town of Copán Ruínas. Close interaction with host families broadens students' perspectives beyond the classroom experience. “The students have the opportunity to experience that they are not only U.S. citizens, but world citizens,” Ahlfeldt said.
One of Ahlfeldt's students on the first Copán trip, Jennifer Secrest, presented her research at UNM's Undergraduate Research Symposium this fall. She received a symposium prize for her archeological and art historical analysis of a Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) Maya pottery type called Copador.
The field school is open to college juniors, seniors and graduate students and to non-degree students with a bachelor's degree. Qualified applicants should have an intermediate knowledge of Spanish, as courses are taught in both English and Spanish. Scholarships and financial aid are available for eligible students.
Those interested in participating are invited to attend an information session on Feb. 3, 12:30-1:30 p.m. at the UNM Center for Fine Arts, room 1018. Applications are due by Feb. 24. For more information and application materials, email Meghan Tierney at mtierney@unm.edu or visit http://www.unm.edu/~ahlfeldt.
The Copán Field School is funded by the UNM College of Fine Arts, the Department of Art and Art History, the Office of the Provost, the UNM Summer School, the Latin American and Iberian Institute and the Arts of the Americas Institute.
The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.
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