During the summer session, UB Anthropology offers an exciting, hands-on 6-week field school experience at sites in western New York.
Credit: 6.0 Hours
Led by Dr. Douglas Perrelli, the field school provides an
intensive and rewarding archaeological field and lab experience for
undergraduate and graduate students interested in archaeology as an
academic major, and as a career option in the field of Cultural
Resource Management (CRM). Field school is geared towards students
with interests in North American Archaeology or related fields
including history, geology, geography, soil science and the natural
sciences.
The goal is to introduce students to the techniques of
archaeological site location, artifact identification, excavation,
mapping, and material analysis in a fun but rigorous academic and
applied setting. Students will learn
The UB Anthropology Field School welcomes all UB and non-UB students to take part.
Location 1
Phase 1 and 2 Instruction
Spaulding Green Site 21 and 22
Town of Clarence, Erie County, NY
Location 2
Location 2
Phase 2 and 3 Instruction
STAMP Project Area
Town of Alabama, Genesee County, NY
Transportation will be provided each day to the field site locations.
The field school runs Monday to Friday for the 6-week session.
A typical day will begin at 9:00AM with a short team meeting with the Laboratory Director to address the day’s goals, assign tasks, and answer any questions about the laboratory methodology or paperwork and readings.
Students will notice an emphasis on fieldwork, but must understand that we need to record, process and report on what we find. Students may be broken up into smaller groups to divide the lab work and provide a variety of student experiences including artifact processing and analysis, flint-knapping, record keeping and clerical work relating to site documentation, historic research, textbook and article reading, and the development of project proposals and budgets common to CRM archaeology.
Indoor classes will typically include a formal lecture or presentation of some kind.
Students will end the day by 4:00PM.
1. Textbook
Burke, H., C. Smith, and L. Zimmerman (2009) The Archaeologist’s Field Handbook. North American Edition. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.: New York.
2. Daily journal (composition book)
3. Pencils with erasers
4. Marshalltown trowel
5. Compass with mirror
6. Water bottle
7. Sensible shoes, preferably good digging boots
8. Sensible clothing
9. Portable lunch on field days
Week 1: Topics
Course introduction; NYS regulations and Cultural Resource Management; landscape navigation, orienteering, mapping, site survey; location and field documentation; basic excavation skills; GPS mapping.
Week 2: Topics
Artifact classification, identification and analysis; stone tools and flint-knapping; ceramic analysis.
Week 3: Topics
Culture resource, cultural heritage and museum management; artifact and information storage; Indian Tribes and Nations in New York and beyond.
Week 4: Topics
Presenting the Evidence; mapping and reporting for clients and academia.
Week 5: Topics
Flotation; maps and map making.
Week 6: Topics
Project clean-up.
If you are a current UB undergraduate student, please register for the course using your Student HUB.
Visiting students may register for the field school (APY 338)
through the UB This Summer program.
