Hannah photographing limestone features at the 830 Simpson Site (Sarah taking notes).

ANTH 3130: Excavating Hamline History is a course that combines public history, community archaeology, and student-based collaborative research through the archaeological investigation of historic sites on Hamline campus and in our surrounding neighborhood. Students interested in registering for this course for fall 2022 will need to comment on this blog post and describe their interests and potential contributions. Before commenting, first read the past couple of blog posts that describe the class and our 830 Simpson project. As you will see in these posts, the course is intended to include students from a variety of majors, backgrounds, and interests. The intention is to put together an interdisciplinary team of students who can bring different skill sets and knowledge to the larger project goals.

For the fall of 2022, I am particularly interested in finding students that can help with public history/community archaeology, research on historical context, and research on archaeological materials. Students do not need to have specific majors or backgrounds in these areas, just some enthusiasm for the work and some willingness to creatively tackle the course objectives.

One challenge is figuring out how to successfully run a community archaeology project during a pandemic. How do we involve people from around the Hamline neighborhood and beyond in our work? Or how can we use the Hamline History project to meet some of the needs of communities? In the past, a major focus of our community archaeology has been to bring Hancock/Hamline elementary students to our dig site so they can learn about archaeology through hands-on experience.

Can we do archaeology during a pandemic? Can we work “in the field” as a team while maintaining social distancing? How do we do lab work where we normally sit four to a table? How do we collaborate on research and share our results with the Hamline community if we are all isolated? I have a lot of questions about next fall’s ANTH 3130: Excavating Hamline History class. Like most of you, I am staying at home to do my part to “bend the curve” and pondering about what is coming under the “new normal”. 

I don’t have answers, but I do have a lot of ideas. I have been doing archaeology fieldwork for over 35 years now. One thing I have learned is that no project ever goes according to plan. Weather is unpredictable, rivers flood, equipment breaks, vehicles get stuck, and now – pandemics happen. In archaeology, as in almost everything in life, you must be prepared to adapt. So if you ask me, can we do archaeology during a pandemic my answer is “Yes. We’ll just have to adapt”.

Profiling our excavation in a snowstorm was not my plan (Kenzie measuring and Rikka recording on 11/22/2016)

We are once again preparing for my fall class – ANTH 3130: Excavating Hamline History. I teach this course every two years. The course involves Hamline students from a variety majors and backgrounds engaged in a community archaeology and public history project. Archaeology is our focus. We will spend much of the semester excavating a site on campus or in the neighborhood. Students in the class participate in all stages of the work from site mapping to digging and screening to lab work and presenting our results. Each student also adds their own skills and knowledge to help us reach our broader goals. Archaeology students might work with GPS data to produce maps and illustrations. DMA students might build a website or app to help share our work with the public. History majors can comb the archives to find the stories behind the sites we dig. Chemistry majors can analyze our brick samples with the department’s portable XRF to help us understand the material sources. The fact is, every Hamline student would be able to offer something of value to this interdisciplinary and collaborative endeavor. Check out this video link to hear some of my past students explain how the class works.

Students excavating the 830 Simpson Avenue Site in 2016.

As you can tell, I don’t keep up with this blog, but it does have useful posts on our past excavations. Just click on the “Hamline History” category on the right panel to find these old posts.

Students interested in getting “instructor’s permission” to register for my Fall 2018 class need to add a comment on this blog post. Your comment should include a little about your background (major, year, interests, skills), why you would like to take this class, and what ideas you have for contributing to the project goals. I’m looking for a mix of disciplines and skill sets to help with the interdisciplinary and collaborative aspects of the class. Most important to me, is finding students that are enthusiastic, ready to work hard, and eager for a non-traditional educational experience.

Registration note: I recommend that everyone sign-up for a back-up class if your turn to register comes up before I have decided which of you to accept into this class. That way you can be sure to get into a course that you want.

Excavating the Hall of Science site, 2013.

It’s time for students to start registering for my next ANTH 3130: Excavating Hamline History class. This is by far my favorite class to teach and I’m excited about the plans for this fall’s excavations and research.

This class offers a unique opportunity to participate on an archaeological excavation as part of an interdisciplinary and collaborative project. It’s an interdisciplinary class because of the students. I ask each of you to contribute to the overall project goals based on either your major studies or other areas of interest and expertise that you have.

Your contribution may be in a research area – where you apply your research skills to questions about the sites, or the artifacts, or the historical background. Over the years I’ve had a Chemistry major analyze brick mortar, an English major collecting oral history stories from people who grew up in the neighborhood, and a Business major studying the financial records from the University archives. Not all students collaborate through research. Our project incorporates the goals of public history and neighborhood archaeology – meaning that we seek to involve the entire Hamline-Midway community. I’ve had a Communications Study major develop a social media campaign to improve the public participation in our project, an Art major create a participatory art work that was particularly popular with families attending our public digs, and an Education major bring Hancock/Hamline Elementary students to join our dig. The point is, you can pursue just about any idea you want – from art to women’s studies. What you need is an ability to collaborate on the project’s goals, an enthusiasm for interdisciplinary methodology, and a willingness to connect with the community in the exploration of our neighborhood’s public history.

It’s been a year since my last post. No real excuse for not blogging, just busy like everyone. I realize though that it is hard to have followers if I don’t write, so here goes. I just finished nine weeks of fieldwork on three different projects and am ready to start reporting on our discoveries.

I began my 2014 field season on Kiska Island in Alaska working with an interdisciplinary team of nine students and scientists. I’ll be able to blog about National Science Foundation funded work once we get a field report done.

Steve, Hans and Megan excavating in a house pit on Kiska Island (Kiska 2014).

A week after returning from Alaska, I joined a group of students and colleagues working on the Red Rock Ridge survey in western Minnesota. This survey is part of our Jeffers Archaeology Project. We have a Minnesota Legacy grant to look at rock art and habitation sites in the vicinity of the Jeffers Petroglyph site. I’m very excited about the results of this work. We walked a lot of prairie and found a number of sites. There’s even more work planned for this fall – we have been invited by a local farmer to survey their 300 acres along the Cottonwood River. The landowners showed us their artifact collection, so we know there are sites to be documented on this parcel. It should be fun.

Chelsea and Kevin shovel testing at the ‘Slough site’. (Red Rock Survey, 2014)

My third project was with James Myster of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. We just completed our second field season investigating a mid 19th century lighthouse on Plum Island in Lake Michigan. The combination of dedicated students, great scenery, fascinating archaeology, and welcoming ‘islanders’ combined to make this a particularly enjoyable field project – almost a vacation on the lake. I’m looking forward to posting on all these projects, but at the moment I’m late for the lab.

Crew excavating the south wall of the ‘kitchen’ at the Plum Island lighthouse site. (Plum Island 2014)

Field school students with James Myster on Plum Island.

My field school moved from the prairie of western Minnesota to an island in the Great Lakes for our second project of the summer. We are collaborating with James Myster of the US Fish and Wildlife Service on his investigation of a lighthouse ruin on Plum Island just off the tip of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula.

Plum Island is on the infamous Porte des Morts passage or ‘Death’s Door’ – a waterway linking Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Ships traveling around the Door Peninsula preferred the short-cut south of Plum Island, but too frequently encountered dangerous conditions. More shipwrecks are found in and around Death’s Door than any other freshwater route in the world (Hoffmann 2003).

The U.S. Lighthouse board decided the passage needed a light. They acquired Plum Island in 1848 with construction of a lighthouse completed in 1849 (Foss n.d.). The first lighthouse keeper, William Riggins, lived in the lighthouse with his wife and three children until 1857. The Port des Morts light, however, was placed too far west. Navigators complained and a new lighthouse was built in 1858 on nearby Pilot Island. Once abandoned, the Plum Island light quickly fell into ruins, with its roof collapsing by 1863. A postcard of the ruin dated to around 1907 shows tall walls of rough limestone blocks with openings for windows. The walls were mostly collapsed piles of rubble by the time we arrived on the site.

Post Card of Old Plum Island Lighthouse (a note written on the post card was dated to 1907).

Old Plum Island Lighthouse Ruins in 2013. View of the northwest corner.

First of the field school day – starting to excavate the trench through Feature 2 at the Gruenig Site.

My 2013 archaeology field school has begun. We spent our first week in southwestern Minnesota where we are working with Tom Sanders and Chuck Broste on the Jeffers archaeology project.

Our Monday morning start was slowed by the missing Hamline van. It was off for maintenance and no one knew when it would be ready. Fortunately we were only delayed a few hours, leaving us enough to time to get to Jeffers by early evening. I like this time of day best because the low angle of the sun makes the petroglyphs really pop. We were lucky to be able to see the site with Tom Sanders as our tour guide. He always gives the students a great introduction to our project.

Rock art at Jeffers. The two squares in the lower left are atlatl images.

Tom Sanders, MHS site manager, offering his insight on the rock art.

2011 Class Excavating at Old Main

This post is for Hamline students interested in registering for my fall class ANTH 3130: Excavating Hamline History.

This class offers a unique opportunity to participate on an archaeological excavation as part of an interdisciplinary and collaborative project. It’s an interdisciplinary class because of the students. I ask each of you to contribute to the overall project goals based on either your major studies or other areas of interest and expertise that you have.

Your contribution may be in a research area – where you apply your research skills to questions about the site, or the artifacts, or the historical background. The first time I taught this course we excavated Hamline University’s original Hall of Science, a three story brick building constructed in 1887. A chemistry major in the class analyzed the chemical composition of the building’s bricks, a history major collected oral history accounts from alumni and faculty, an economics major analyzed 125 year-old bills and receipts from the building’s construction, and an archaeology student analyzed the distribution of glass artifacts recovered in our excavations.

Other students contributed by presenting and interpreting our project in various media including designing a web site, filming a video, writing a play, printing posters, and putting together an exhibit. We also had an education major that brought over Hancock 6th graders so they could experience archaeology first hand. Our philosophy major examined the ethics of archaeology. And our environmental studies major looked at the intersection of environmental protection and cultural resource management laws.

Max and Mike excavating at Old Main.

One other area that students can contribute is by making the project more connected to the Hamline neighborhood and Hamline University communities. The Hamline History Project, at its heart, is a community archaeology project. One of the goals of our class is to provide opportunity for community involvement in our excavations. We work closely with the Hamline-Midway History Corp to define research questions and identify sites for excavation. We also have Saturday open digs so that anyone can participate in the excavations. I particularly like to see parents and their kids exploring first hand the archaeology of their community. Students have contributed to the public history component of our project

Meaghan (in red shirt) and her public art project (Fall 2011).

through their work in community and University organizations and in media relations. The last time I taught the class, an art student created a participatory art project – where people could help paint a picture of University Hall (the predecessor to Old Main) while we dug the site.

The point is, you can pursue just about any idea you want – from art to women’s studies. What you need is an ability to collaborate on other people’s projects, an enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research, and a willingness to connect with the community in the exploration of our neighborhood’s public history.

Our muddy trench at the 2009 Church site dig.

In addition to your own projects, you will be expected to participate in the fieldwork – which means you’ll be working outside on a sunny afternoon in September (which is a lot of fun), but you’ll also be working outside on a snowy day in November (which can be a little cold and muddy). Each student is also expected to help with our community outreach. You will need to be available for at least one Saturday during September and October.

I don’t yet know what sites we’ll be digging this fall. I’d like to continue our excavations of the Territorial Road. I’d also like to do some more ‘backyard’ sites. The vacant lot north of Hewitt on the east end of campus used to have several houses – so there’s a lot of backyard to dig just on campus. Other campus sites we might dig include a fire station located near the Drew Fine Arts building, Old Main, and (if we can find it), the farmstead that pre-dated the Hamline campus.

If this sounds interesting then write a brief comment to this post outlining what ways you could contribute to this fall’s class. Also tell me a little bit about yourself (including your major and year). Finally, I would like to know why you are interested in joining the class and what you hope to gain from your participation. You may want to look at posts tagged as “Hamline History” to get a better idea of what this class is all about. You can find these posts by clicking “Hamline History” under Categories on the right side of this blog. In particular, you may want to check out what students wrote when I offered the class in 2009 and 2011.

If you take this class be prepared for a challenge, some fun, and a non-traditional educational experience.

Registration note: I recommend that everyone sign-up for a back-up class if your turn to register comes up before I have decided which of you to accept into this class.

Field school students working with Jim Jones and Tom Ross on the Lake Roosevelt excavations.

Our first week of field school was spent learning how archaeology is practiced in the world of cultural resource management. For our second week we learned a little about archaeology and communities – archaeology and museums – archaeology and the public. The highlight of the second week was all the different people that we met.

Forest Survey with DNR archaeologist Mike Magner.

Recycled KRF Point from Orwell Reservoir (photo by Forest Seaberg-Wood)

Last fall, my students and I helped Garrett Knudsen of Summit Envirosolutions with a small survey project along the Orwell Reservoir near Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Garrett found a nicely made Knife River Flint point in a road track. This find has got me thinking about recycling of lithics in prehistory.

The point is broken at the tip and base. It’s hard to identify it to a formal type given that the base is missing, but it was either stemmed, side-notched, or more likely corner-notched. What makes this artifact particularly interesting is the heavy patina that covers much of its surface. This white coat is the result of ‘silica dissolution’ and is a kind of weathering common on KRF artifacts (VanNest 1985). The patina on this point tells a very interesting story – a story about old breaks and new breaks, of resharpening and recycling. Click below for the story and a bit of reminiscence of a Yup’ik elder.