The identification and preservation of historical sites and relics is critical to the development of any nation. Second-year archaeology major students in the Department of History and Archaeology in the Faculty of Humanities & Education at Mona participate in a Field School during which they spend time in the field and learn surveying and excavating techniques as well as the identification of artefacts. The Field School which is conducted jointly by the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (DAACS) based in the United States of America and The UWI, Mona takes place on the grounds of the Mona campus, which more than two centuries ago, in the 1700s, was the venue of two thriving sugar estates, the Mona Estate and the Papine Estate. These two estates are being investigated so as to further the understanding of slave villages located on plantation sites and to explore the settlement patterns and lifeways of the enslaved people of the period.

The programme provides students with the opportunity to appreciate the practical aspects of archaeology at the level where data is meticulously collected, and subsequently on their return to the lecture rooms to understand how to analyse and interpret this data within established theoretical frameworks.