Fourteen students and volunteers participated in a collaborative, community-based archaeological project jointly run by NDSU anthropology faculty member John Creese and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office during June and July.
This summer, Kristen Fellows, NDSU assistant professor of anthropology, and John Creese, NDSU associate professor of anthropology, ran field schools.
Field schools provide unique opportunities for research, as well as training students in the methodologies of archaeology.
Six students participated in the inaugural field season of the 4e Farmstead Historical Archaeology project. Fellows guided these students as they learned a variety of field methods including excavation of shovel test pits and test units, mapping techniques and photogrammetry. They also learned how to process and identify artifacts in the lab setting.
Over the course of the three-week field school, 41 shovel test pits and three excavation units were completed, resulting in the recovery of approximately 760 artifacts.
Future areas of interest were identified during the field school and will be the focus of field seasons to come.
The 4e Farmstead Historical Archaeology project focuses on Bonanza Farms and the farming practices that followed. Bonanza farming was an early form of large-scale agriculture and was central to the white settlement and agricultural development of North Dakota.
In addition, fourteen students and volunteers participated in a collaborative, community-based archaeological project jointly run by NDSU anthropology faculty member John Creese and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office during June and July.
The project is supporting Tribal land restoration projects and cultural revitalization programming through an innovative, collaborative approach to the survey and documentation of historic sites on the Red Cliff reservation in northern Wisconsin.
NDSU students received archaeological field credit and participated in service-learning activities at the Red Cliff annual pow wow and language camp.
