Archaeology Lab
What is Archaeology?
Summer 2011 Field School at Mount Harmon Plantation
Archaeology is the study of past human cultures, focusing on the ways in which people and their societies have changed over time around the world. It focuses on the material remains of culture—artifacts, buildings and other physical manifestations of culture—to understand the past and explain the present.
In the News
"Try Foraging For Your Thanksgiving Meal," Prof. Bill Schindler on NPR
Field School
Summer 2012 Study Abroad Experiences
Interpreting the Past: The Ethical, Political, & Economic Factors Influencing How History Is Portrayed
Interactive Presentation
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Application
Course Description
Itinerary
Important Dates
Application Deadline: November 30, 2011
Deposit: $500.00 (non-refundable) December 15, 2011
June 19-July 3, 2012
The Southwest Summer Seminar offers an unparalleled cultural experience from the ancient Anasazi Ruins of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde to the living American Indian Reservations of the Navajo, Hopi and Havasupai. Along the way students will raft the whitewaters of the San Juan River to explore nearly inaccessible Anasazi cliff dwellings and examine ancient rock art on the river. They will take the famous "Narrow Gauge Railroad" through back-country mountain passes at 14,000 feet from Durango to Silverton, Colorado, where they will learn about the history of mining in the West. Accompanied by Navajo medicinal plant experts, they will ride horseback to remote American Indian plant-hunting grounds to collect wild edible and medicinal plants and make a "wild foods lunch." Students will ride donkeys to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and live near the Havasupai Indian waterfalls as they learn about cultural survival. And they will experience the religion, foodways and lifeways of Navajo, Hopi and Pueblo Indians as they make their way to Santa Fe to learn about the history of northern New Mexico and its Native American Peoples.
Washington College's Field School in Archaeology is an eight-credit course designed to give students practical experience in all phases of archaeological fieldwork, from site preparation through lab analysis. We do this by rotating students through various activities such as surveying methods (with compass, transit and GPS), site reconnaissance and remote sensing technologies, excavation, recording, drawing, photography, and laboratory processing. We begin each of these activities with lectures, supplemented by readings and a field manual written specifically for the Field School.
In addition to the practical aspects of the course, students learn a great deal about regional and local history. Depending on the specific site chosen for the Field School, students may be exposed to other topics, such as architectural analysis and the archaeology of plantations, African-Americans, and Maryland's Upper Eastern Shore. Although the primary focus of our field sessions is on land, beginning in 2003 students also will have the option of participating in maritime or underwater archaeology surveys in the region.
2001/2002 - The Harriet Tubman Birth Site, Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland
2000 - The Custom House/Hynson Ringgold House, Chestertown, Maryland
1999 - The Hermitage Slave Quarters, Queen Anne's County, Maryland
1998 - The Cray House, Queen Anne's County, Maryland