Field Schools and Scheduled Excavations by Region - 2008

Field Schools and Scheduled Excavations in the Eastern USA

Catawba Nassaw Town (South Carolina)
May 13-June 13, 2008. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Archaeological investigations of the 18th century Nassaw Town site, political center of the Catawba Indian Nation.

Chesapeake Slavery and Landscape (Virginia)
June 2-July 11, 2008. Monticello's Department of Archaeology and the University of Virginia. Our fieldwork addresses changing patterns of land use and settlement on Thomas Jefferson's, Monticello Plantation from about 1750 to 1860.

Deerfield (Massachusetts)
July 15-August 16, 2008. University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Historic Pocumtuck Native American site, investigating evidence of Queen Anne's War.

Delaware Valley (Experimental Archaeology, New Jersey)
TBA 2008. Temple University. The Experimental Archaeology field school will take place in a variety of outdoor classroom settings in the Delaware Valley including an introduction to experimental archaeology and excavation of a reconstructed Middle Woodland fish processing station.

Fort Ancient (Ohio)
June 17-August 08, 2008. Wright State University. Fort Ancient is a large Middle Woodland period enclosure, and a National Landmark site operated by the Ohio Historical Society. The 2007 season will continue exploration of a burned feature at the center of Moorhead Circle.

Jamestown (Virginia)
June 2-July 11, 2008. APVA, the University of Virginia, and the National Park Service . Excavations on Jamestown Island, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America. Focus of the excavations will be on uncovering the recently discovered remains of the 1607 James Fort and the adjoining 1608 James Town.

Mohegan Reservation (Connecticut)
June 23-August 01, 2008. Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University. Thirteenth season investigating archaeological and historical resources on the Mohegan Reservation in Connecticut.

Mount Vernon (Virginia)
Ongoing year round. George Washington's Mount Vernon. Volunteers and interns have helped Mount Vernon's archaeologists since 1987 donating more than 50,000 hours towards researching and restoring the estate.

Northwest Florida/Southwest Georgia
May 11-June 23, 2008. University of South Florida. Several projects are included. Test excavation will be conducted at Yon Mound and Village site, a late prehistoric temple mound site in the Apalachicola River valley, and at the famous Woodland mound complex of Kolomoki, in the lower Chattahoochee Valley.

Poplar Forest (Virginia)
June 1-July 4, 2008. Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and the University of Virginia. Field school participants will excavate an early nineteenth-century building complex, believed to be associated with plantation work spaces and possibly slave quarters, adjacent to Jefferson's ornamental grounds.

The Berry Site (North Carolina)
TBA 2008. Warren Wilson College. In 1566, Juan Pardo left the Spanish town of St. Elena on the South Carolina coast and traveled into North Carolina in search of an overland route to Mexico. Archaeological investigations at the Berry site (31BK22), north of Morganton in Burke County, provide evidence for Pardo's expeditions through the Catawba River valley.

Field Schools and Scheduled Excavations in the Middle USA

Field schools listed below with dates older than the current year may indicate an ongoing project that has not yet established dates for this season.

Angel Mounds (Indiana)
May 6-June 12, 2008. Indiana University (Glenn Black Laboratory). An archaeological field school at the Angel Mounds State Historic Site near Evansville Indiana. This project will focus on the excavation of prehistoric domestic features in order to gain insight on social and ecological change in the Ohio River Valley 600-1000 years ago

Crescent Bay Hunt Club (Wisconsin)
Summer, 2008. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Excavations at this large Oneota village site have been running since 1998. The AD 1250-1350 palisaded site has yielded at least one house, hundreds of features, and unique ceramic, lithic, and copper tools. The director (Robert Jeske) will be assisted by three Ph.D. students as TAs.

Field Methods in Rock Art (Texas)
May 12-19, 2008. Shumla School. A three-week field school in rock art recording offered through the Department of Extension Studies at Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, in partnership with Shumla.

Fort Joseph (Michigan)
June 30-August 20, 2008. Western Michigan University. Fort St. Joseph is a mission-garrison-trading post complex established on the St. Joseph river near Niles, Michigan in 1691 and occupied by the French and English until its abandonment in 1781.

Jake Bluff Site (Oklahoma)
July 1-July 30, 2008. Oklahoma Archeological Survey and the University of Oklahoma. Third season at this 11,000 year old paleoindian bison kill site.

Jones Mill Site (Arkansas)
June 13-June 29, 2008. Arkansas Archeological Survey & Arkansas Archeological Society. Investigation of Archaic Period novaculite stone tool manufacture and exchange in Hot Spring County, Arkansas. The site may have served as a home base during Middle and Late Archaic periods for local groups of hunter-gatherers who worked novaculite from nearby quarries.

Kampsville (Illinois)
Annually. Center for American Archaeology. Field schools are scheduled for middle school (ages 12-14) and high school (ages 15-17) students, adults (over 18) and a special course for adults over age 50. Various times and places in southern Illinois.

Kansas State Historical Society (Kansas)
May 31-June 15, 2008. Kansas State Historical Society and Kansas Anthropological Association. Location to be announced.

Michilimackinac (Michigan)
mid-June to late August, 2008. Mackinac State Historic Parks. Several ongoing excavations around the island to visit.

New Orleans (Louisiana)
January 2-18, 2008 (2 concurrent courses). University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Both courses will offer a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary exploration of U.S. ethnic and racial identities and experiences, with special attention focused on the cultural history of New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

New-McGraw Site (Kansas)
Fieldschool 2008 TBA. Kansas State University. The 2006 excavations focused on the New-McGraw site, a newly discovered Plains Woodland occupation in Leavenworth County, northeastern Kansas.

Field Schools and Scheduled Excavations in the Western USA

Field schools listed below with dates older than the current year may indicate an ongoing project that has not yet established dates for this season.

Crow Canyon Archaeology Adventures (Colorado)
June to September (annually). The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center continues its on-going research on ancient Pueblo Indian communities with weekly dig programs for adults, teens, families, and other groups.

Idaho State University
TBA 2008. Idaho State University. Course to be announced

Holcomb Valley (California)
July 21-August 22, 2008. San Bernardino National Forest/ Cal State Dominguez Hills. Survey in the Holcomb Valley area north of Big Bear Lake. Holcomb Valley was occupied prehistorically by the Serrano Indians, and during the historic period was a focal area of timber production and mining in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Homol'ovi (Arizona)
June 6-July 18, 2008. NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) and University of Michigan. Students will participate in on-going investigations of an archaeological site and conduct independent research projects that will be integrated into public outreach programs at the Homolovi Ruins State Park, located near Winslow, Arizona.

Lubbock Lake (Texas)
June 2-August 24, 2008. (several sessions). Texas Tech University. Current excavations at the Landmark focus on a Ceramic period (A.D. 1200-1450) plant processing area along the valley rim that features numerous overlapping hearth pits choked with hearthstones and use of bison bone as fuel.

Rancho de Taos (New Mexico)
May 11-August 18, 2008 (three sessions). Southern Methodist University. Instruction includes a rigorous four-field Anthropological approach to archaeological methodologies that is focused on ecological and cultural resources survey, Archaic through Historic period rock art recording, and historic excavations on the historic Ranchos de Taos plaza in Taos New Mexico.

Range Creek Canyon (Utah)
June 2-July 23, 2008 (four sessions). University of Utah. The field school will continue identifying and recording sites in the canyon.

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Starting May 28, 2007 you could be part of excavations at York in Great Britain! Until 2012, archaeologists will be working to uncover this city’s rich past, from recent history back to the Viking Age and the Romans. Take a tour, attend a workshop, or visit the nearby Jorvik Viking Center or DIG, an interactive exhibition with a familiar name. Visit www.dighungate.com for more information.