South Texas Archaeology Field School
Location: Texas, United States
Season dates: June 01, 2010 - July 23, 2010
Session dates: Public invited to participate, contact director for information
Application Deadline: Exact date - May 31, 2010

http://sociology.tamucc.edu/

Program Type
Field School
Volunteer

Affiliation
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History

Project Director
Dr. Robert P. Drolet

Description
The Summer Archaeology Field School offers a high quality educational experience for undergraduate students and interested public. The Lower Nueces River Valley is the area of research. Hunting, gathering, and fishing populations ancestral to the 18th century Aranama and Karankawa Indians occupied this area from Late Archaic to Late Prehistoric times (1150 B.C. to A.D. 1780). Over the past nine years, field school students have identified a network of base-camps, temporary hunting camps, and quarries associated with this long prehistoric hunting/gathering/fishing tradition.

The 2010 season will focus on the Fort Lipantitlán site (NU-54), one of three major Late Prehistoric settlements in the Valley. The site contains both prehistoric and early historic components and extends over 2 hectares of terrace-top land fronting the Nueces River. Survey will be conducted in and around the site to map its overall size and locate nearby hunting camps and quarries affiliated with the prehistoric settlement. Excavations will be conducted to identify domestic features, collect stratigraphic information, and obtain larger artifact collections for laboratory study. Tool manufacturing, pottery use, food preparation, hunting and fishing were important activities in this settlement that need further documentation. In the late 1700s Late Prehistoric occupation ended and was quickly replaced by a Spanish/Mexican colony, evidenced by European and Mexican ceramics, metal items, and military hardware recovered at the site. Continued excavations should reveal more information about the nature and temporal duration of this important transition. Site Ft. Lipantitlán provides exciting research opportunities for students interested in history and archaeology.

Students and volunteers will also be trained in artifact analysis at a field laboratory set up to process and catalogue cultural remains recovered in survey and excavations. Learn about the complexity of prehistoric hunting societies and their environments through this intensive field course. The South Texas Archaeology Field School offers excellent training, hands-on learning, and a life-altering experience.

Period(s) of occupation
Archaic/Late Prehistoric (1150 B.C. to A.D. 1780)/Historic (1780-1850)

Minimum length of stay for volunteers
Students eight weeks

Minimum age
University students and public 12 years and older

Experience required
None

Room and Board arrangements
Students and volunteers camp in tents at the field headquarters, which is a cottage style ranch house with showers, electricity, and laboratory. The headquarters is on a private 100-acre ranch bordering the Nueces River. Food, most equipment, and local transportation are provided. Special field visits to historic sites and on-going archaeological projects in the region will be included.

In addition to tuition, enrolled students pay a $400 field fee that covers their food, equipment, and local transportation during the eight-week course. Cost to volunteers staying for shorter periods is $30 per day. These fees are paid to the Program Director upon arrival.

University students interested in enrolling in the course need to access the syllabus and complete the Field School application at the Texas A&M website: http:/sociology.tamucc.edu. For Volunteers, contact the Director, Dr. Robert Drolet (bobd@cctexas), to set up the desired participation dates.
Cost: Students $400; Volunteers $30 per day

Academic credit
Number of credits: 6
Offered by: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
Tuition: $1,455.30 residents; $3,117.33 nonresidents

Contact information
Dr. Robert P. Drolet
1900 N. Chaparral
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
USA
(361) 826-4662
(361) 884-7392
bobd@cctexas.com

Bibliography
Thomas Hester, R. Harry J. Shafer, and Kenneth L. Feder, Field Methods in Archaeology. 7th edition. Mountain View, 1997.

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