TITLE:
A Five-Stage Framework for Interdisciplinary Scientific Education: Integrating Archaeology, Geospatial Technologies, and Evidence-Based Research—Lessons from Two Decades of Multidisciplinary Archaeological Investigation
AUTHORS:
Sam Osmanagich
KEYWORDS:
Interdisciplinary Education, Research-Based Learning, Archaeological Methodology, Geospatial Technologies, Scientific Reasoning, Field Schools
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.17 No.11,
November
10,
2026
ABSTRACT: Students in archaeology and the geosciences learn many methods but rarely learn how to combine them into one defensible argument. This paper proposes a five-stage framework that can serve as both a research protocol and a teaching model. The stages are: 1) formulation of a testable hypothesis; 2) organization of a legally authorized, institutionally continuous research program; 3) multidisciplinary investigation across four evidence streams (archaeology and laboratory analyses; geodesy, GIS and remote sensing; geophysics and environmental measurement; spatial statistics and archaeoastronomy); 4) international scientific evaluation; and 5) peer-reviewed publication. A single rule runs through every stage: no finding receives interpretive weight until it has been compared with an explicit benchmark, such as a natural control, a reference standard or a null model. Each stage pairs an educational function with defined learning outcomes, teaching activities, and assessment methods. The paper then outlines applications in university courses, field schools, and early-career research training; a one-semester curriculum with an integrated field module; and a design for future empirical evaluation. The framework draws on about twenty years of multidisciplinary investigation in the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids. The case is used here as teaching material, including its contested interpretation. The educational model is a proposal. Its effect on learning has not yet been tested and should be evaluated independently.