Adding another pile of achievement as Department of Archaeology, University of the Punjab in person welcomed the collaboration from The McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, Cambridge University in a 4-day training session entitled “Introduction to Digital Recording and Field Survey of Heritage Sites” held in the Departmental Conference Room from January 30 to February 2, 2023. All the students from different academic levels BS - MPhil showed their keen interest in learning new insights along with Chairman Dr. Hameed and his faculty and staff members. The foreign trainers were well acquainted with their knowledge as research associates and developed the field survey framework. The session constituted an overall view of the history of exploration and approaches used in South Asia from Colonial times till post-partition. Detailed presentation slides were made by the trainers to develop the level of understanding before proceeding to its practicality in the true field. Different sampling methodologies and systematic survey conduction, use of transects, and preparation and adoption of a certain strategy with regard to recent technological advancements in the survey were discussed. A hand on pre-training was held on the premises of the university in which digital recording and documentation in the newly proposed application by Cambridge (ODK) were made to learn. The informal collaboration enabled the trainers to interact and use their intuition in suggesting new ideas for the betterment of digital archaeology which they empirically witnessed in the field. Noteworthy was the proceeding threats overlooked in the site assessment and how many of them are now encroached that once were present in the historic maps. In addition, a formal meeting of the core team with Dean, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Professor Dr. Amra Raza who welcomed the delegates and appreciated the joint efforts by awarding them certificates.
The survey and documentation as a part of field training in the context of applied research are still continued by the department of Archaeology at different sites of Punjab.