UConn Field School in 17th Century Indigenous and Euro-American Domestic Sites and Battlefield Archaeology

Location: Glastonbury, CT, USA

Season: May 22, 2023 to June 16, 2023

Session Dates: May 22 - JUne 16

Application Deadline: May 10, 2023

Deadline Type: Exact Date

Website: https://anthropology.uconn.edu/

Program Type:
Field School

RPA Certified:
No

Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

Project Director:
Kevin McBride

Project Description:

The University of Connecticut Department of Anthropology and the Connecticut Office of State Archeology will offer a field school in Contact Period & Battlefield Archaeology focused on the John Hollister site in Glastonbury, CT. The Hollister site was occupied between 1651 – 1711 and consists of several English domestic structures that have yielded thousands of seventeenth-century Euro-American and Native artifacts and food remains. Evidence suggests, and hopefully will be confirmed this season, that Natives from the local Wangunk Tribe lived at the site for a period of time. Dozens of impacted musket balls were also recovered from metal detector surveys suggesting the settlement may have been attacked during King Philip’s War (1675-1676). The focus of field excavations during the summer of 2023 will be to investigate several of the English domestic structures, identify the military aspects of the site, and delineate the Native occupation.

The field school is designed as a four-week intensive program in archaeological field methods and laboratory analysis. The short but intensive field school is intended to give students who successfully complete the program an opportunity to obtain employment with local Cultural Resource Management firms who will be seeking field technicians for an anticipated busy field season. The 4-week, 4-credit field school will include training in archaeological field survey and excavation, artifact conservation, cataloguing, identification and analysis of 17th Century Euro-American and Indigenous material culture and analysis of primary sources. Training will also be provided in research and field methods specific to battlefield archaeology including use of military terrain models, metal detecting survey, and GPS/GIS applications. The field school provides a unique opportunity for students to work on a nationally significant collaborative research project, participate in training workshops in laboratory and research methods, metal detecting, Ground Penetrating Radar, and attend guest lectures by experts in the field.

Period(s) of Occupation: mid- to late 17th century (ca. 1640-1700)

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: 4 weeks

Minimum Age: 18

Experience Required: None

Room and Board Arrangements:
Field School Students are responsible for finding their own accomodations. None are available at UConn. Contact Kevin McBride for options.

Academic Credit:
4-credits