Archaeological Field School in Plymouth, Massachusetts
This field school is collaboration between the Department of Anthropology and the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research at UMass Boston.
The Program
The field class will take place at a series of sites in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This summer’s work will help launch “Project 400: The Plymouth Colony Archaeological Survey,” a broad project of site survey and excavation leading up the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Colony in 2020. In 2013 the focus will be on surface reconnaissance and mapping of a series of sites, shallow geophysical remote sensing, and test excavations in downtown Plymouth. Through daily archaeological fieldwork and laboratory analysis students will learn the process of field recording, mapping, excavation, sample collection, and basic artifact analysis in historical archaeology. The course includes a special emphasis on shallow geophysics for mapping subsurface deposits, and students will learn how remote sensing techniques are applied to site analysis, excavation, and interpretation.
This project will be directed by Professor David Landon and run in collaboration with Professor John Steinberg of UMass Boston and Karin Goldstein, PhD, at Plimoth Plantation. During the class we will be working out of Plimoth Plantation’s facilities and collaborating on site interpretation and public outreach with the museum staff.
Credits
Successful participants will be awarded 6 credits in ANTH 485/685, Field Research in Archaeology.
About the Fiske Center
The Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research supports interdisciplinary, archaeological research that examines the historical roots of many of the world’s contemporary cultural and environmental issues.
