2012 Summer Field School in Archaeology and Paleoecology at the Harvard Forest:  Archaeology, Ecology, Sustainability, and Cultural Landscapes

Limit 8 students. 8 credits  

The goal of the field school is to apply archaeological methodologies to research questions concerning historic period land use and forest ecology. The project and its integrated structure offer great educational opportunities at many levels. Students will be housed on the Harvard Forest campus, which will provide them the opportunity to interact with a multitude of summer research interns and take part in a variety of events offered by Harvard Forest’s summer research program. 

This six-week field school will include intensive training in New England Native American history, post European contact archaeology, archaeological survey techniques, excavation, laboratory methods, artifact analysis, and archaeological interpretation, and will be informed by paleoecological and environmental history studies conducted by Harvard researchers. Students will learn how archaeology can help answer questions concerning ancient and historic period land use and forest ecology. The Harvard Forest consists of over 3000 acres of land, and is one of the oldest and most extensively studied forest landscapes in North America. This opportunity is open to all students and may be of special interest to majors in anthropology, history, environmental science, and forestry.

A primary objective of the archaeological investigations is a focus on human impact and land use of the area.  The 2012 field school will build upon the exciting information collected during a 2010 field season at the Sanderson Tannery site, an early 18^th through 19^th century tannery, which consists of foundations of the tannery, the tanner’s residence, and remnants of a bark mill.  In addition, a Native American site that may be approximately 4,000 years old based on previous sites recorded in the general area was discovered just east of the tannery that will be further explored.  Thus, the 2012 field school will seek to address many archaeological questions related to not only the tannery site but also the Native American occupation of the area that came thousands of years before.

For an application and more information go to:
http://www.summer.harvard.edu/courses/anth.jsp
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/undergraduate-students