 Field
Techniques In Archeology
Anthropology 380, 6 credits
Dates: May 24 - July 2, 2010
Instructor: Dr.
Dennis L. Toom
Application Deadline: Friday, April
16, 2010
The Department
of Anthropology, University of North Dakota,
invites students to attend its Archeological
Field School in the summer of 2010. The six-week
field class will cover archeological excavation
techniques and precision mapping. The field
school is scheduled to take place from 24 May
through 2 July 2010. The course is being offered
in cooperation with the National
Park Service.
The 2010 summer field school will be held at
the Elbee and Karishta sites, located within
the Knife
River Indian Villages National Historic Site,
Mercer County, ND (map).
This National Historic Site was established
in 1974 to preserve over 50 archeological sites
located near the mouth of the Knife River in
west-central North Dakota. The most notable
of these sites are the large earthlodge villages
which reflect the culture and hunter-agricultural
lifestyle of Northern Plains Village Indians,
primarily the Hidatsa and Mandan. Circular earthlodge
depressions abound at the larger villages, where
the largest earthlodge depressions reach up
to 40 feet in diameter.
Elbee Site (32ME408)
The Elbee Site is a multi-component site located
along the Knife River. Excavations in 1978 revealed
as many as eight cultural components, the most
prominent being a Plains Village occupation
dating to the period A.D. 1520-1630. Excavations
revealed a circular earthlodge house feature,
cache pits, and a dense accumulation of artifacts,
including native pottery, lithics, and bone.
In 2003 the UND field school was held in the
northern part of the site. These excavations
uncovered two cache pits and a hearth.
In 2010, the UND archeological field school
will return to Elbee to carry out additional
excavations. The site was recently damaged by
high water and ice flows in the Knife River,
which borders the site. River erosion has exposed
features and artifacts along the entire length
of the site. Two archeological features are
presently exposed along the river and will be
excavated in 2010. The goal of the 2010 will
be salvage as much archeological information
as possible, before the features and other parts
of the archeological deposit are lost to future
erosion.
 A
geophysical survey of the Elbee site will occur
before the field school, in advance of the NPS
Midwest Archeological Center's Geophysical/Archeological
Prospection Workshop. Our students will have
the opportunity to observe the workshop and
gain exposure to this ever expanding field of
archeology. Students will receive hands-on training
and experience in the traditional areas of archeological
research: the use of different kinds of field
equipment and techniques for excavation and
artifact recovery, site mapping, documentation,
and record keeping. Use of modern electronic
mapping techniques and instruments will be demonstrated,
including an electronic total station and global
positioning system (GPS) receiver.
Field school students will have
the opportunity to conduct excavations at the
Karishta site (32EM466), a nearby archeological
site within the Knife River Indian Villages
National Historic Site, which has also been
affected by river erosion. If time permits,
students will have the opportunity to do archeological
survey work elsewhere in the Knife River drainages
of western North Dakota.
Field Trips and Other Activities
Field trips are planned to archeological
and other sites of interest in the Northern
Plains. We may visit some or all of the following
places:
Employment After School
UND Anthropology Research anticipates a busy
schedule of archeological fieldwork this summer
after the field school is over. There is a distinct
possibility that we will be able to hire students
to work as professionals on various field research
projects during the rest of the summer.
Field School Credits and Cost
The field school will be offered as a regular
six-week class from May 24th through July 2nd,
2010. Students can enroll for up to six semester
hours of undergraduate credit in Anthropology
380, Field Techniques in Archaeology (one credit
hour per week). The application deadline
is April 16, 2010. Enrollment is limited
so please apply early.
Costs of the field school include:
- a $35.00 admission fee (only applies to
students newly enrolled to UND)
- standard tuition and fees (see table below;
rates subject to change without notice)
| Undergraduate Residency
Category |
Tuition |
|
North Dakota |
|
|
Minnesota (with reciprocity) |
|
|
Contiguous States & Provinces,
Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE),
& Midwestern Higher Education Consortium
(MHEC):
States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, KS, MI,
MO, MT, NE, NV, NM, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY.
Canadian Provinces: Manitoba and Saskatchewan. |
|
|
All Other States and Provinces (Nonresident) |
|
Lodging and food will be provided.
Local transportation, camping equipment (if
needed), and all field equipment are also provided.
Additional information regarding UND tuition
and fees is available from the UND
Student Account Services Office.
Application and Contact Information
For application forms and more information, students
should contact Dr. Dennis L. Toom by phone (701-777-2437)
or email (dennis.toom@und.edu).
The application is available online
as a PDF file for you to print out. Completed
applications should be mailed to:
Dr. Dennis L. Toom
Anthropology Research
Department of Anthropology
University of North Dakota
236 Centennial Drive Stop 7094
Grand Forks, ND 58202-7094
Application forms are also available for general
distribution in the Anthropology Department
main office in Babcock Hall Room 104, on the
UND campus in Grand Forks.
created 8 February 2010
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