Our NumbersSanisera in numbers
Thirty years of fieldwork, thirty years of students
The excavation of the Roman city of Sanisera began in 1993. In 1996 we admitted the first university students, and between 1996 and 2003 a total of 568 of them trained with us, most of them from Spanish and other European universities.
In 2004 the Institute opened its international field school, taught in English and designed for students from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Since then 3,459 students have taken our courses. The school grew steadily during its first decade, consolidated its regular activity between 2012 and 2019 and, like every field school in the world, closed in 2020.
We reopened in 2021 with reduced groups and in 2022 rebuilt the organisation on a wider base: new courses in Jerez de la Frontera, Murcia, the Pyrenees, Belchite and Egypt alongside the excavations of Sanisera. Enrolment has grown in each of the last three years, from 132 students in 2024 to 148 in 2025 and 159 in 2026, and 2027 will be our twenty-third international season.
Where our students come from
United States 72 % · Canada 8 % · United Kingdom 6 % · Australia 4 % · other countries 10 % (2022-2026). 89 % come from English-speaking countries.
Over the last twelve years we have enrolled students from more than 50 countries on five continents, from Norway to South Africa and from Brazil to Japan, and from 44 of the 50 states of the United States, led by California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts and Florida.
Which universities they come from
Between 2014 and 2026 our students came from more than 250 universities and colleges: large state universities, research universities, Ivy League and liberal arts colleges and community colleges in the United States; the main universities of Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia; and universities in continental Europe and Asia. Most of them are sent by departments of anthropology, followed by archaeology, classics and history, and increasingly by biology, forensic science and geography. Students from more than 40 of these universities have obtained academic credit for our courses.
Who they are
The typical Sanisera student is 22 years old: two out of three are between 18 and 24, one in six is over 30, and a few 16- and 17-year-olds join Course 006 with their parents' permission. Around seven out of ten are women. Most are undergraduates in anthropology, archaeology, classics, history or biology; about one in five is a graduate student or a recent graduate preparing a thesis or a career in archaeology. No previous experience is required for most courses, and some students come back for a second course or a second season.
Figures updated October 2026 (4,027 students between 1996 and 2026: 568 in 1996-2003 and 3,459 in 2004-2026, see chart). We publish them because a university that approves credit for our courses, and a student who invests in a field school, deserve to know exactly who we are.
