Beginning the New Semester and SHA 2013

Welcome back! Whether you are ready or not, a new semester is upon us. That means new undergraduate interns and work begins again on the graduate research fellows projects. With the snow and frozen ground there will be little excavation, but that doesn’t mean we stop working! We will be diligently processing all of the artifacts, doing background research at the archives, and continuing to attend all construction meetings on campus to prepare for Spring and Summer digging.

While we here at MSU are preparing for the new semester, and getting back into our research, many historical archaeologists are attending the Society for Historical Archaeology conference in Leicester, England. You can follow along with the conference on twitter using the hashtag #sha2013. The goal of the conference is to provide a platform for discussion and announcement of developments in the field of historic archaeology.

One of our former Campus Archaeologist’s, Terry Brock, will be presenting and part of a symposium discussing topics in historic archaeology and community engagement. He will also be discussing his PhD work and the development of a digital platform for public engagement with this historic material. Our director Lynne Goldstein will be presenting on digital approaches to community engagement. The talk will use a number of examples of this  based on her experiences directing Campus Archaeology, examining both successes and issues with digital engagement.

Best of luck to everyone at SHA 2013 with their presentations! To everyone else, we’re looking forward to a new semester of research and archaeology on MSU’s historic campus!