Summer Archaeological Field School
The summer 2009 field methods in archaeology course offered by the Anthropology department will be a site-based, active learning opportunity for UM undergraduates and others. This 4-week course is located in central Minnesota (Wadena County), investigating a multi-component site that may include a significant French colonial period fur trade location. Students have the opportunity to learn field archaeology methods of survey, mapping, excavation and material recovery, and how they relate to research design and broader anthropological and historical questions.
Background: The Little Round Hill site is located in Old Wadena County Park, at the confluence of the Partridge and Crow Wing Rivers. The site has potential significant remains of both prehistoric and historic occupants from the outset simply because the Crow Wing was a heavily traveled waterway for centuries is not longer. It is the historic period which is the focus of this excavation, however. Orally reported events at the site were documented in 1852 by William Warren, a gentleman of mixed French and Ojibway heritage who made it his mission to record Ojibway oral histories. According to one who had been present as a child, this location was the site of a winter encampment of an independent French trader with several coureur-des-bois associates, and ten Ojibway hunters and their families. The encampment included separate households, which were fortified with heavy logs and brush against the threat of the Dakota, with whom the Ojibway were in constant conflict over the rights to the land for hunting. According to this story, the caution was merited, for the encampment was attacked by a group of approximately 200 Dakota, and was defended by the firearms of the smaller group. The report’s significance lies not only in recording contexts of colonial encounter between French and Ojibway, but also in demonstrating the intersecting interests of the Dakota, who in some senses considered the Ojibway to also be invading colonists.
Summer field experience: The Little Round Hill site will be the focus of survey and excavation this coming summer. The objectives for this initial work are to locate and excavate a portion of the archaeological remains (such as structural elements, hearths, boundary defenses, and waste disposal) that may be found at the site. Questions to be addressed: are there intact structural remains at the site? Can separate households be discerned? Are there other types of associated deposits, such as trash pits or defensive structures?
Students will learn how the research objectives are tied to field data collection through the following techniques:
- Topographi survey: Using computer-based laser transits to collect 3-dimentional spatial data, used to create a detailed topographic map of the site and its subsurface features. Students will learn to set up the instrument, backsight to a known point, create a site grid, and acquire exact local data for unknown points.
- Geochemical survey: using a Niton XL3t x-ray fluorescent element analyzer, measure varying concentrations of chemical elements that are suggestive of sub surface remains, such as hearths or organic deposits. Based on the results of this survey plotted in a 3-D map, students will learn to identify areas of high potential to excavate. This method is also used for a practical demonstration of why and how we sample – the site is approximately 4500 m2 and we anticipate being able to excavate only 1% of that area.
- Archaeological excavation: students will learn to conduct controlled excavations, recognize stratigraphic changes, document all variations in subsurface features both vertically and horizontally, recover all types of cultural material remains, and collect environmental samples for laboratory analysis.
- Field conservation of sensitive materials: students will learn to identify different types of artifact materials, and their relative fragility. For those materials which are particularly sensitive that will learn how to apply appropriate conservation measures.
- Public outreach and engagement: one of the best methods of instilling a sense of stewardship for heritage resources, such as archaeological sites, is to interact with the multiple interested publics. At several points during the field course, our work will be open to these publics, and students will have the opportunity to both communicate our findings and how archaeology works, but also to find out how many people have connections with the past which we are studying in varied and often very personal ways.
What: Anth 3221 and Anth 8220 (6 credits)
When: June 15-July 10 (travel may be necessary day before and day after)
How: Permission of PI is required, please contact Kat Hayes (kathayes@umn.edu)
How much: This program has been granted some cost wavers, the remainder should be approx. $1,450. This covers housing transportation, equipment and instruction.