2017 Year in Review

I know what you’re thinking.  “But Lisa, it’s only December 18th, 2017 isn’t over yet!”  And while that’s true, here at MSU finals week is over and the winter break has begun.  That means CAP fellows are taking much needed break and regular weekly blogging will be on hiatus until Tuesday January 9th.  2017 has been an exceptionally busy year here at CAP and here are a few of the highlights.

Upcoming CAP director change:

As I’m sure you’ve read, our fearless leader Dr. Lynne Goldstein will be retiring this spring.  Fortunately the department was able to hire her replacement, Dr. Stacey Camp with a year of overlap.  Dr. Camp will take over as CAP director in May 2018.

Food Reconstruction Project:

CAP fellows Autumn Painter and Susan Kooiman worked on our 1860s meal reconstruction project – Capturing Campus Cuisine.  This project has helped inform us on early food procurement, cooking choices, and food systems during early campus years.  The first phase of the project culminated in the interactive website and with the help of MSU food services and the MSU bakery, we hosted a meal reconstruction event last April.

Outreach Events:

This year we’ve participated in outreach events including:

• Bennett Woods Elementary School Science Fair
• MSU Sciencefest (Expo Day, Historic Walking Tour, Cafe Night)
• Michigan Archaeology Day
• Annual Apparitions & Archaeology Tour

2017 CAP Field School:

From May 30th – June 30th CAP hosted it’s biannual on campus field school.  This year students excavated at the site of Station Terrace. Students excavated six 2×2 meter units that included areas outside of the building, and inside of the foundation.  Check out the recap blog post to learn more about each of the units.

Summer field crew excavations:

In anticipation of the Wilson road realignment, the CAP field crew excavated over 300 test pits! Although they excavated in several other locations around campus, the larger area impacted by the upcoming road realignment meant that much of the summer was spent investigating areas surrounding Wilson road.

These are just some of the larger projects we’ve completed over the past year.  This doesn’t include all of the hard work our individual CAP fellows and undergrad interns have put into their ongoing projects.  We’ve got some really exciting projects and events lined up for 2018 so stay tuned!