APY 338LAB—Field Research Archaeology

Field Research Archaeology provides an intensive and rewarding archaeological field and lab experience for graduate and undergraduate students interested in archaeology. Field school is geared towards college students with some interest in North American Archaeology. The goal is to introduce college students to the techniques of archaeological site location, artifact identification, excavation, mapping, and material analysis in a fun but rigorous academic setting. Students will locate, excavate, document and interpret a major archaeological site in western New York while learning professional techniques and using the latest technology available including a laser transit and total station. This exciting six week experience includes hands-on instruction and active participation by all students and instructors. Students will take away the skills of site survey, mapping, excavation, soil sampling, artifact processing, artifact identification and analysis, and in the interpretation of a Native American archaeological site. Secondary goals of the course include discovering how people made and used stone tools and some of the earliest pottery in western New York. The team will reconstruct ancient artifacts and life ways while exploring what kinds of foods were collected and processed at the site, and try to answer how and why people came to live at certain locations. Participants will learn to present archaeological information through multimedia platforms including video and web-based applications. The experience is made more comprehensive through a series of guest lectures regarding the current state of western New York archaeology, and of archaeology around the world.