Working in the field you get many questions from those passing by. Mostly, they relate to the site itself or pertain to the history of the campus. At times however, these questions turn personal, and ask simply, “Why Archaeology?” Generally speaking, my response is a short blurb about my interest in hands on experience with [...]
After weeks of survey, getting used to working together, learning the note taking process, and getting to know the space, our field school students were ready to begin the next step of archaeological methods: opening up full scale excavation units. We opened up six units at in three spots to the west of Beaumont Tower [...]
Shortly after shovel testing began west of Beaumont Tower, I felt convinced that not much would be unearthed if we decided to begin our excavations in this area. Only a few significant artifacts had been found, such as an intact glass bottle, small pieces of glass, brick, steak bone and shell. Although one shovel test [...]
Trash seems like a weird thing to want to find, and most people would go out of their way to not find it. However for archeologists, trash is treasure: we can learn all kinds of things from what people left behind. Being a part of the Campus Archeology Program, we’ve been digging next to College Hall, the [...]
After closing out excavation units 5 and 6 our team moved over to the old Botany building to do some survey work. The purpose of this survey was that construction workers were digging a trench on the North side of the building and we needed to see if there were any cultural materials present. Starting [...]
Well the day started off cool and my cold was showing no signs of getting any better. I was tired and had almost no energy to start excavating level one on my groups’ unit. Despite how I felt, I knew I had a job to do and as the day pressed on the sun beamed [...]
This post was co-authored by Chelsea Kemppainen, Evan Levine, and Lindsay Wancour. Archaeology can be a tedious process, from mapping and surveying to the careful uncovering of a buried artifact, it’s nothing like the adventures of Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. Yet we still find ourselves looking forward to each new day on the dig, [...]
On Friday, June 18th, Duane Quates, an MSU graduate student and archaeologist at the Fort Drum Cultural Resource Program, who was in from New York talked to all of us during lunch. He gave us a little taste of what his job involves as a civilian employed by the army as a historical archaeologist. His [...]
When you think of activities that require patience, what comes to mind? I think of things like training a dog and fishing. What about archaeology? That one may not have crossed your mind, but I assure you archaeology requires a massive amount of patience. Archaeology is not you and your friends trying to dig to [...]
There is never a definitive answer in archaeology. What we do is piece together the facts and hypothesize about what we believe happened or is happening. It is an interesting way to learn about the past without an actual historical account. Even with historical records a lot can be learned from what is in the [...]
