Field Archaeology

On their first day in the field in May 2007, Cornell students in Intro to Archaeological Field Methods uncovered a projectile point at least 3,000 years old. The discovery helped confirm the presesence of people from the Late Archaic (3000-1000 B.C.) at a location less than 10 miles south of campus.

Led by Iowa State Archaeologist John Doershuk and archaeologist Mark Anderson, 11 students spent several full days excavating more than 70 sample sites at four locations. In the process, they learned basic skills of the trade: dividing the site along measured transects, sampling in 10cm layers, filtering soil for artifacts, and carefully recording their findings.

The group discovered additional chert flakes, as well as remnants of more recent inhabitants: stoneware fragments, glass, metal, charcoal, etc. While no additional findings matched that of the first day, the cumulative results gave them a longer view of the history of the site and pointed the way towards future research in the area.

Anderson and Doershuk reported on the results from the class in the Winter 2007 edition of the Newsletter of the Iowa Archaeological Society.