..

The Cynthia Mitchell Research Fund was established using gifts from the estate of Mrs Cynthia Mitchell, mother of long-standing member of the South African Archaeological Society, Prof. Peter Mitchell, in memory of her enjoyment of holidays in South Africa, including a visit to Elands Bay Cave in 1992.

The gifts have been invested by the Society and the interest generated from the fund is distributed periodically, at the discretion of the Council, to support the costs of fieldwork and/or laboratory research undertaken by graduate students registered for a degree in archaeology in either the Republic of South Africa or the Kingdom of Lesotho.

The Society invites applications annually for awards from the Research Fund. Applicants are requested to read the following guidelines and instructions carefully before completing the application form. For 2026, the maximum amount available from the fund is R30,000.

GUIDELINES

-The work must be conducted in South Africa or Lesotho.
-Awards are restricted to graduate students registered for a degree in archaeology at a university in either South Africa or Lesotho. 
-Projects must involve either fieldwork and/or laboratory research concerning the archaeology of past Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer populations in either Lesotho and/or South Africa. This may include excavation, rock art recording, site recording, artefact or faunal analysis, identification of plant or animal remains, dating, surveys, physical anthropology, analysis of archaeological collections in museums, or experimental archaeology.
-The fund does not support university registration fees, per diem payments to applicants, or living expenses incurred during the writing of reports or publications.
-The fund will not support fieldwork costs associated with archaeological contracts or other heritage impact assessments.
-The fund will not contribute to the purchase of expensive equipment such as cameras, microscopes or laptops for analytical purposes. 
-Successful applicants must provide a digital copy of a full report on the work completed to the Council of the Archaeological Society. Council also strongly encourages the publication of research in the South African Archaeological Bulletin or The Digging Stick. 

Completed applications must be submitted before 31 May of each year. All applications will be refereed by specialists. The successful applicant/s will be notified by 1 July of each year. 

To apply, please download the application form by clicking on this link.