Archaeological Field School Research Articles

Identification of a Palaeoindian occupation in compressed stratigraphy: A case study from Ahai Mneh (FiPp-33)

The 2010 University of Alberta Institute of Prairie Archaeology field school produced thousands of artifacts including diagnostic projectile points that provide evidence of multiple occupations spanning a 10,000 year period. As is typical of archaeological sites with limited surface deposition, a lack of visible stratigraphy makes it difficult to associate the assemblage with these temporal and cultural diagnostics, or assess changing occupation patterns over time. The authors present here a method reliant upon diligent attention to three-point proveniencing and analysis using low-cost, easily accessible software to complement the otherwise weak stratigraphic record; the resulting empirically segretated data show multiple components, the earliest of which correlates with an Agate Basin/Hell Gap complex occupation.

Reflections on the Pedagogy of Archaeological Field Schools within Indigenous Community Archaeology Programmes in Australia

In this paper we investigate the pedagogy of archaeological field schools. Specifically, we explore the combination of tertiary level field schools and Indigenous community (or community-based) archaeology. Using a detailed case study of a rock art field school in Arnhem Land, Australia, we explore the processes and outcomes of combining archaeological field training with the ideas and methods of community archaeology. We discuss the relationship and unique challenges faced by such community archaeology field schools, particularly that of balancing the priorities of competing stakeholders. Our discussion illustrates the complexities of training students to work in an environment where cultural belief systems are still strongly linked to sites and landscapes. While the challenges are numerous, the outcomes, particularly for students, provide an unparalleled educational experience, one that cannot be obtained in any other learning format.

So that their graves overlooked the sea: Student experience of the Philippines International Archaeological Field School

So that their graves overlooked the sea: Student experience of the Philippines International Archaeological Field School

The Need for a Multivocal Approach to Researching and Managing Guam's World War II Underwater Cultural Heritage

Since 2006, four maritime archaeology field schools, desktop and field surveys have been carried out in Guam. In 2012 a site associated with the United States Navy's Construction Battalion (US Seabees) was investigated. This paper summarizes the historical background of Guam and the known sites of maritime archaeological interest, particularly those dating to World War II. The problems of public interpretation of the cultural material of colonial powers are considered, and, using the Seabee site as an example, ways in which Guam's indigenous Chamorro people can be included in this history are presented.

Re-Presenting the Past: A New Archaeological Outreach Strategy for the Canadian Territory of Nunavut

AbstractIn 2013, an Arctic-based organization known as the Inuit Heritage Trust spearheaded a new campaign to increase archaeological awareness in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. While Nunavut remains an Inuit-centered territory—founded on the knowledge and values that have long sustained its predominantly Inuit population—the rules and regulations surrounding archaeological resources are largely grounded in more scientific, and distinctly non-Inuit, valuations of the past. For multiple reasons, Inuit and non-Inuit traditions for understanding and preserving heritage resources have proved difficult to reconcile, despite numerous attempts at community outreach programs and the regular hosting of archaeological fieldschools. For many Inuit, the methodological and impersonal approach to history endorsed by incoming archaeologists remains a foreign concept. This paper will present a series of community resources developed as part of the Inuit Heritage Trust’s new archaeological awareness campaign, produced in partnership with archaeologists Brendan Griebel and Tim Rast. These resources seek to address the question of how to educate about Nunavut’s past through a framework that aligns with the interests and realities of both professional archaeologists and Inuit populations. To date, this campaign has produced two unique resources: the first, a guidebook series that explores archaeology’s relevance to community members, students and heritage workers in Nunavut, and the second, a portable excavation and experimental archaeology kit. While the campaign does not intend to change the way that either Inuit or archaeologists value the past, it does attempt to create a mutual awareness of differing worldview so that both groups might better navigate the complex landscape of regulation and interaction ascribed to Nunavut’s heritage resources.

Field School Archaeology the Mohegan Way: Reflections on Twenty Years of Community-Based Research and Teaching

In this essay we consider recent developments within the Mohegan Archaeological Field School, a 20-year-old indigenous collaborative archaeology project that runs annually on the Mohegan Reservation in Uncasville, Connecticut, U.S.A. We focus on the impacts of three major transformations: (1) the forging of a new and ever-evolving collaborative relationship between the Tribe and an academic archaeologist (the first author); (2) the appointment of the first Mohegan Tribal Historical Preservation Officer (the second author); and (3) the diversification of student cohorts, which relates directly to the field school's association with a British university. Each of these changes helped to foster a diverse ‘community’ archaeology project that stands to make substantive contributions to the Tribe, to archaeological pedagogy, and to academic archaeology. We frame our discussion in terms of the broader implications of these changes and new directions for indigenous, collaborative, and community archaeologies in general.

Larry Zimmerman: A Collaborative Anthropologist at the Trowel’s Edge

Larry ZimmermanA Collaborative Anthropologist at the Trowel’s Edge Alyssa Boge (bio) At the end of this academic year Dr. Larry Zimmerman will retire from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (iupui) after thirteen years as professor of anthropology and Museum Studies and Public Scholar of Native American Representation, a position shared with the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. His career has spanned more than forty years, has taken him to various states and countries, and has affected many people (including this author). Although he never imagined the direction his career would take, his work has always revolved around collaborative anthropology. During a Skype interview I conducted recently with Dr. Zimmerman, I learned more about what he and his colleagues have referred to as “a random walk to public scholarship” (Holzman et al. 2014). Long before Zimmerman earned his PhD he was a kid growing up on a farm in Iowa, collecting arrowheads. As he explained, I had no idea what was going on except that they were pretty and they had to do with Indians… then we moved and I forgot about it all. I went off to college and took my first Intro to Cultural Anthropology class. I mentioned the arrowhead collecting to my professor who said, “Go down to the state archaeologist’s office and talk with them; you should do some archaeological field school stuff,” which I did, and I was hooked. He worked on some very interesting excavations and began to realize how many people are involved in the process of archaeology, including [End Page 114] landowners, collectors, and the public. He realized that he also enjoyed working with people. In his senior year of college Zimmerman did fieldwork in post-contact Aztec sites around Teotihuacan. It was there that he developed his social conscience. He was working with a very different group of people than those with whom he had worked before, and he saw the power differentials between the undergraduate students and the Mexican workers. Although the Mexican workers had done archaeological fieldwork longer and were better at it than the students, they had no real agency. As Zimmerman explained it to me, “It got to be the kind of thing that told me I wanted to be doing something else with archaeology.” During his fieldwork he had another experience that would foreshadow much of his later work: We took our workers to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City where none of them had been before. I remember finding one of them—Alejandro—standing, crying, in front of the big Aztec calendar stone. I went over to him and said, “Alejandro, what’s going on? Is something wrong?” and he said, “No, I just never realized how great my people really were.” That was an important moment in my life, when I began to understand how important archaeology is to the people you’re studying. It got to be more interesting than just dealing with old stones, faunal materials, and the like. You begin to understand that the kinds of things archaeologists find are not just mere curiosities. They’re things that are really important to people. Sometimes they don’t even understand how important it is to them, so you can be the person who can interpret it for them a bit and help them make the connections between their present and their own past. That’s kind of exciting when that happens. However, it was not until later that his collaborative work would begin. Few anthropologists during the late 1960s were working with communities as partners or on issues of repatriation. Zimmerman was no different. He recalled working on a project in Iowa. Remains from an 1860s pioneer period cemetery needed to be moved for a new highway. The remains of white people were reburied right away in a local cemetery, but the remains of an Indian woman were taken to the lab of the state archaeologist for study. Maria Pearson, an Inhanktonwan (Yankton Sioux) woman found out about it and went to the governor demanding that the [End Page 115] Native American and white remains should be treated equally. Although Zimmerman understood her argument, he would...

Prehistoric Plant Use at Beaver Creek Rock Shelter, Southwestern Montana, U.S.A.

The 2011 Carroll College Archaeological Field School conducted an exploratory excavation within the Beaver Creek Rock Shelter in southwestern Montana, U.S.A. The excavation exposed four cultural occupation layers dat-ing to over 2,500 years ago. Pollen retrieved from the pa-leoenvironmental record included a wide variety of plants. Seven plant families were found in three of the occupa-tion layers and in only one natural layer. This research reviewed the traditional Native American ethnobotanical uses of those seven plant families. They were used pri-marily for medicinal purposes. Although archaeologists have traditionally viewed botanical remains as evidence of prehistoric subsistence, this research demonstrates ar-chaeologists’ need to use caution in assuming plant re-mains in the archaeological record are predominately tied to subsistence.

Do Good, Do Research: The Impact of Archaeological Field Schools on Local Economies

The economic development of archaeological sites usually refers to tourism. The economic role of actual research is frequently ignored. This paper critically examines the benefits that field research yields, especially at the community level and particularly in the developing world. Its focus is on the economic impact of archaeology field school programmes populated by US-based students. Although most funding for field research is directed towards projects in developed countries, a significant portion is available — and directly supports — projects in developing countries. This paper presents data on archaeological field schools collected in the past five years from four different data sources — the Archaeological Institute of America, the Institute for Field Research, University of California Los Angeles Field Programs, and the Institute of International Education — and summarizes trends at the global scale.

Event Review: Introduction to Paleoamerican Lithic Technology at the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School

Introduction to Paleoamerican Lithic Technology at the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School.

Knowledge about archaeological field schools in Africa: the Tanzanian experience

Despite the increase number of African professionals in archaeology over the last three decades, knowledge about the history and state of contemporary archaeological field schools and how Africans are trained in the discipline is poor. This paper argues that close examination and open discussion of past and current archaeological field schools are a must if transformations of archaeological practices in Africa are expected to take place. Using the Tanzanian experience, it presents the history and current state of archaeological field training. The paper focuses on the ethics of training Africans in archaeology introduced in the 1980s and the changes that occurred between then and now, concluding with the successes and issues that arise from these pedagogies.

Report on the participation of the Eötvös Loránd University at the Wielbark Archaeological Field School in Malbork-Wielbark, Poland

PhD, MA and BA students of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences (Eötvös Loránd University) took part in the Erasmus Archaeological Summer Field School in Malbork-Wielbark, Poland (Fig. 1) in 2012 and 2013. The coordinator of the three years planned Erasmus intensive program is Dr. habil. Jörg Kleemann (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) with the partnership of the universities of Poland (Uniwersytet Marie Curie-Skłodowskiej Lublin; Uniwersytet Szczeciński), Germany (Ruhr-Universität, Bochum), the Czech Republic (Univerzita Hradec Králové), Spain (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and Hungary (Eötvös Loránd University). News and results of the excavation are available at http://ipwafs.hu-berlin.de.

Late Holocene Climate Change at Beaver Creek Rocksheiter, Southwestern Montana

The 2011 Carroll College Archaeological Field School conducted an exploratory excavation within the Beaver Creek Rockshelter (24LC1993/2186) in southwestern Montana. Excavations revealed four cultural occupation layers dating to 1280±50 B.P., 1730±40 B.P., 1980±50 B.P., and between 1980±50 B.P. and 2470±30 B.P. Each occupation layer exposed limited lithics, faunal materials, and features. Valuable paleoenvironmental data were also collected. Our research revealed a connection between the visible changes in late Holocene faunal assemblages, vegetation, siltation, and charcoal content. All of these point to the possibility of climate change or a large fire event nearly 2,000 years ago.

Irish-Catholic Immigrant Life In South Bend, Indiana: Refined Earthenwares and the 19th-Century Social Worlds of the Midwest

When Father Edward Sorin established the University of Notre Dame in the 1840s, he sought Catholic laborers to assist him in the enterprise. He purchased land south of campus and created a residential neighborhood for Catholic immigrants, many of whom were Irish displaced by an Gorta Mor the Great Hunger. An archaeological field school in 2007 investigated the homelots that comprised this residential enclave. Analyses of the refined earthenwares from the Fogarty family were coupled with other historical and material evidence to elucidate the ways in which Irish-Catholic families negotiated the complex cultural landscapes of their new city.

A HIGH STATUS BURIAL FROM GRASSHOPPER RUIN, ARIZONA

During the 1966 session of the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School an elaborate burial was excavated. The grave goods were placed in two layers. Layer 1 was approximately 90 cm. above Layer 2, which was associated with the body. Layer 1 may have been deposited some time after the grave was originally filled. Included in the two areas were 36 ceramic vessels, 128 projectile points, an incised bone wand, and many other items. The implication that Burial 140 may represent a high status burial within a socially stratified society is discussed.

México: from the 19th to the 21st century in three decades

Introduction Donald D. Brand once said to me: anyone wants to know what New Mexico was like 50 years ago they should go to Chihuahua. That conversation took place sometime after I joined department Don founded and, of course, before his death--sometime between 1981 and 1984--almost 30 years ago. Don knew Chihuahua and New Mexico perhaps better than anyone else at that time. He conducted field research for his doctoral dissertation in Chihuahua during late 1920s and early 1930s before joining faculty of University in New Mexico a few years later. There, in addition to teaching geography, he taught history and directed university's archaeological field school in Chaco Canyon. He also knew Sonora, having worked there with Carl O. Sauer in 1920s (West 1979, pp. 46-61). Sonora is where I began my career doing field work in 1977. Brand's assessment may have been correct 30 years ago, but it isn't today. On contrary, it is probably not much of an exaggeration to say: If anyone wants to know what Chihuahua is like today they should go to New Mexico. Indeed, for Mexico as a whole, famous quote by 19th century French writer and critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1849): ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, (the more things change, more they remain same), does not hold true. Things in Mexico may have been more or less constant for a long time, but they changed markedly during past three decades; they are no longer same. Picking up where Brand left off, so to speak, this article is a reflection on changes I have witnessed in Mexico, what I think brought them about, and what I think of them. Philosophical background I remember well returning to Sonora in 1980. I worked in remote eastern part of state, in foothill valleys of Sierra Madre Occidental in 1977 and 1978 but not in 1979. Upon my arrival, I commented to my friend Ricardo that some things had clearly changed during my two year absence. I was stunned at his response. Yeah, Billy, they're getting better. I didn't want things to I liked everything as it was, the last remnant of Colonial New Spain (Dunbier 1969, p. 279). I am a historical geographer. I like old landscapes. How dare they change? How dare anyone want them to change? Then, after only a moment's reflection and introspection, I realized I was being selfish. Ricardo's words struck two very different and conflicting chords with me almost simultaneously: cultural preservation and economic development. I wanted this area to remain an outdoor museum (Tyler 2000). I wanted what was best for its residents, my friends (Todoro and Smith 2009). I could not have both. I was long aware that change is inevitable. Many times I quoted ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: only constant is change. But, I had been fooling myself. Talk is cheap, and I had been spending like crazy. In my heart I did not want change, but looking at Ricardo, I had a change of heart. Cultures They are ways of life that although learned from previous generations are adaptive and therefore cannot remain constant (Denevan 1983). What we look back on fondly, romantically, and unchangingly is heritage (Alberts and Hazen 2010). Mexico has a rich heritage, and a dynamic culture. As a country, it has come out of 19th and into 21st century during three decades I have been working there. Down road Being adjacent to United States, Mexico is easily accessible by car. While driving in Mexico one sees and experiences a multitude of traits of material culture on landscape. My first experience in Mexico involved driving across border at Nogales, Arizona/Sonora. This town did not appear to be anything special to me. I grew up in Texas and was familiar with border towns. The big surprise was drive from Nogales to Hermosillo. The road, classified as a highway and a misnomer if ever there was one, was like one in movie The Night of Iguana. …

The Fighting Irish: Historical Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Catholic Immigrant Experiences in South Bend, Indiana

Father Edward Sorin purchased land south of the University of Notre Dame in north central Indiana in the 1850s and created a residential neighborhood for Catholic immigrants, many of whom were Irish. The university’s 2007 archaeological field school began investigating the homelots that comprised this immigrant enclave, known as Sorinsville. Specifically, this study seeks to understand how affiliation with the university shaped use of the spatial and material worlds of late-19th- and early-20th-century Irish immigrants to the city. The archaeological and historical evidence from South Bend illuminates a complex picture that suggests Irish immigrants experienced both alienation from, and incorporation into their new social and cultural milieus. For the immigrants south of Notre Dame’s campus, being Catholic was as important to their identities and lived experiences as being Irish.

Tree-ring analysis of white cedar ( Thuja occidentalis L.) archaeological and historical wood in Québec City (Québec, Canada)

In Québec City, a segment of an old wooden palisade built for protection was found buried in situ. The palisade was excavated by the Laval University archaeology field school in 2004–2005, and 29 posts were recovered and sampled. The palisade enclosed the Intendant's Palace compound, which was the residence of the governor of New France at the end of the 17th century. Tree-ring analysis was performed on wood excavated from the Intendant's Palace archaeological site (PDI) and additional wood from two historical military buildings, the Artillery Park (ART) (early 18th century) and the Québec Citadel (CIT) (17th–19th centuries). Wood identification revealed that white cedar ( Thuja occidentalis L.) was used for wood construction at the three sites. Many trees used for the construction of the PDI palisade were felled after the 1690 growing season, likely in September/October 1690. Posts probably came from trees growing close to the site on the banks of the Saint-Charles River. A white cedar ring-width chronology from the Rimouski area, approximately 300 km northeast of Québec City, along the St. Lawrence River, was used for cross-dating. Archaeological and historical wood samples from two of the three sites (PDI and ART) were first assembled in a 235-year tree-ring chronology, called the Québec chronology, extending from 1489 to 1723. The two master chronologies (Québec and Rimouski) were merged into a single 513-year tree-ring chronology (1489–2001), called the Saint-Laurent chronology.

Mary Ellis(1897-1907): Workhorse of the South Australian Mosquito Fleet

In 2006, as part of the Flinders University Maritime Archaeology Field School, Department of Archaeology staff and students excavated and recorded the remains of the Australian-built ketch Mary Ellis. Colonial-period Australian shipbuilding has, for the past 20 years, been considered one of the most important themes in Australian maritime archaeology. This paper presents a summary of field investigations and a preliminary interpretation of the shipwreck, which adds to the slowly-building dataset on this theme of Australian maritime archaeology. © 2008 The Authors

Pottery-Making in Bonakire, Ghana

| african arts SPRING 2007 B onakire is a predominantly Mo-speaking village located approximately 17km (101⁄2 miles) northwest of the ancient archaeological site of Begho in the Brong-Ahafo region of north-central Ghana.1 In 1979 I conducted a brief ethnographic study of Bonakire’s pottery industry as part of a three-month archaeological fi eld school directed by Dr. Merrick Posnansky at the site of Begho B2.2 Th is study, along with others preceding it, was undertaken to explore how mid to late twentieth century pottery-making compared with the ceramic data collected at Begho (see Crossland 1973, 1989; Goody 1963; Wilks 1961). Th is brief research note does not off er such an analysis but rather describes the distinctive method of making pottery I observed in Bonakire as well as the role of women in the cash economy of this small rural village. Pottery production was the fulltime occupation of nearly all Bonakire women, and daughters typically learned from their mothers and grandmothers by observation and apprenticeship. Pottery-making was also taught in the village school (fig. 1). Every female past the age of about 15 was actively producing pottery during my visit, and each potter was responsible for the production and sale of her own wares. Other than basic household duties, such as fetching water, preparing food, washing utensils and clothing, and caring for children, women spent much of the day engaged in pottery-making and its associated tasks.3 Th ey worked in two, 3–4 hour sessions, one in the morning starting about 9:00–10:00 am and lasting until the preparation of the noon-time meal and a second longer session lasting all aft ernoon until the preparation of the evening meal. Th ree days in the six-day Mo temporal cycle (days 2, 5, and 6) were reserved for the collection of clay and the fi ring of vessels. Male relatives dug the clay from large pits located only about 60m (651⁄2 Pottery-Making in Bonakire, Ghana