Survey North of Beaumont

Over the next three days, Campus Archaeology is going to be doing an archaeological survey of the soil underneath the sidewalks North of Beaumont Tower. As part of the constant campus construction, they are going to be replacing sections of the sidewalks within the Sacred Space throughout the Fall. The cement is removed, and the ground underneath is left untouched for a number of days to allow Campus Archaeology to conduct a survey. Last week we shovel tested under the walks between Linton Hall and the MSU Museum. This week we will be testing the walks North of Beaumont Tower, and in a few weeks we will be just East of the MSU Museum. As said in a post last week, looking under the sidewalks is important because the cement protects anything that is underneath it from being disturbed. This means we have a higher chance of finding something historic, or even prehistoric!

This area in particular is important because it is the front yard of College Hall. We had previously found part of the foundation of College Hall when the sidewalks directly around Beaumont Tower were removed. The area we are working in won’t have any new campus buildings, but we may find a trash site or some of the original sidewalks. It is also quite close to the area where we found the prehistoric site during our 2011 field school.

Come out and say hi!