Canada: Fort Vermillion

Location: La Crete, CA

Season: July 22, 2017 to August 19, 2017

Application Deadline: July 20, 2017

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: http://ifrglobal.org/program/canada-fort-vermilion/

Program Type:
Field school

RPA Certified:
no

Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge, Royal Alberta Museum, Institute for Field Research, UCLA

Project Director:
Dr. Shawn Bubel, University of Lethbridge, Dr. Heinz Pyszczyk, University of Lethbridge, and Bob Dawe, Royal Alberta Museum

Project Description:

This field school is located in northern Alberta, a terrain that is stunningly beautiful. Here students will be investigating Fort Vermilion (1798 – 1830) and other settlements. These studies will examine the establishment of the Canadian based North West Company (NWC), which created trade posts from Lake Athabasca up the Peace River to today’s Fort St. John, British Columbia. Fort Vermilion is an ideal site to investigate the geopolitical, social, and cultural dynamics of the fur trade. The site still promises much to be uncovered, as minimal research campaigns have been carried out at the site since its discovery in 1998. These excavations revealed stratified layers of occupation, making it one of the first stratified fur trade sites ever identified in Alberta. By applying insights gained through archaeological, anthropological, and historical research, the current expedition is shedding new light on the people that lived and traded there.

Period(s) of Occupation: Historical Archaeology

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: No experience required.

Room and Board Arrangements:
During the field school the students and staff live at the campsite about 3 km south of the field site, on the opposite side the Peace River. Students must bring their own sleeping bag, air mattress, towels, and other personal items (shampoo, soap, etc.), and a tent. Shared tents are available for students that do not have a tent. A shower facility, kitchen, lecture room, a lab building, and outhouses will be constructed at the campsite. Lights and electricity are run through a generator that is turned on at 6:00 am and shut down at 11:00 pm. There is no internet or cell phone reception at basecamp. Students are able to access these resources a few miles down the road. Students and staff will take turns cleaning and caring for the campsite. Coin laundry is available in the town of La Crete and a nearby gas station. The field school team prepares well-balanced, nutritious meals twice a day (breakfast and dinner) in the kitchen building. Since these are group meals, individual dietary needs cannot be accommodated, although there are a number of meat or dairy, vegetable, and starch (rice, potatoes, bread, etc.) choices. Lunches are packed in the morning and are taken to the site along with water containers. Cost: All room and board costs are included in tuition.

Academic Credit:
12 UCLA credit units credits offered by UCLA. Tuition is $4,000.