挖掘火博体育的考古历史

这是凯尔比·维滕伯格在萨拉托加斯普林斯的第一个夏天. 这位明尼苏达人 人类学专业 is dividing most days between an active on-campus dig and a 实验室oratory.

他的使命? To help color the story of the land long before it was 火博体育大学’s 并利用这些信息提供帮助 人类学副教授西沃恩·哈特 develop course materials and plans for the upcoming year.   
 
我们询问了他的经历.  

今年夏天你在做什么研究? 

I’m conducting an excavation and artifact analysis on the Denton home网站, a multi-generational family farm and estate that dates back to the Revolutionary War. 地点在火博体育 北部森林.  

哦，哇，就在校园里? 历史上有哪些值得我们关注的亮点 知道?  

Beginning in 1775, the area was home to Preston Denton (a Revolutionary War veteran), 他的妻子埃丝特·德约·丹顿和他们的六个孩子.  

A century later, Henry Hilton bought the Denton land and adjacent parcels, investing his recently acquired wealth in the creation of the park-like Woodlawn Estate. In addition to the mansion-like “cottages,” stables, miles of tree-lined carriage roads, and a racetrack at the estate’s core, Hilton had several structures built on the former Denton farmstead, including the Overlook Mansion, a sheepfold, and a shepherd’s cottage.  

你在现场具体做什么?  

For the first portion of the summer, I was out in the field conducting ground surveys, metal detection, and ground-penetrating radar, and was also excavating test units. Currently, I am processing all the artifacts we uncovered and cataloging them in the 实验室.  

你为什么选择参与这个项目? 

我是一个 人类学专业, and one of the ways we can apply anthropology is by participating in archaeology excavations to uncover material culture left behind by people before us.  

I had taken Professor Hart's AN 202R class, Archaeological Field Methods, last fall and really enjoyed it, so when the opportunity to excavate a new 网站 this summer 通过 火博体育暑期体验基金 出现时，我知道我必须参与其中. (另外两名学生也在与 哈特教授这个夏天的一部分 Skidmore的夏季合作研究项目.)

This is our first time being at the 网站, so not only am I helping conduct the research this summer, but I also will work with Professor Hart as a teaching assistant for 今年秋天的AN 202R级. 我们要回丹顿家了，所以 有趣的是，看到这一切是如何回到原点的. 

到目前为止你学到了什么? 

Undoubtedly, I am coming away from this experience with a greater understanding and 考古鉴赏.  

At lot of what we do in the field is very precise and predetermined, so executing our excavation plan and artifact analysis takes quite a bit of time. 我也一直 able to hone my skills in the field by using ground-penetrating radar and metal detectors, 在实验室里小心地清洗人工制品.  

有什么让你吃惊的吗?? 

There are a lot of surprises in archaeology, because when you start digging, you only 对你可能会发现什么有一个粗略的想法——如果是这样的话. 把整块砖或一块块砖拉出来 of glass and ceramic feels like a surprise every time you do it. 在我们的网站上 is a good chance that material hasn't been touched by anyone else in many decades 甚至更久. 

As I mentioned earlier, I took Professor Hart's AN 202R class, so I had a rough idea 论如何开展质量考古. 现在我已经在更专业的地方做过了 level, it is surprising just how much data collection goes on for something as seemingly 就像挖个洞一样简单. That’s because once you've disturbed that provenience (the place where the artifact is found), there is no way of ever getting it back, so you 必须非常小心.  

这个夏天剩下的时间你有什么计划? 

这是我在这里的第一个夏天 萨拉托加温泉市, so having all the people in town for the racing season and having more time to do things in the Saratoga area than I usually have during a semester has given me a greater 感谢我上学的地方. 

For the next few weeks, I will continue processing artifacts. 同时，我将 be getting the Denton home网站 ready for class in the fall by doing things like clearing a path for students to walk into the forest and marking out where their test units 将. 

对未来的思考? 

I am so glad I was given this chance to work with Professor Hart. 我们不仅有 interesting conversations while working together, but outside of work the research group will go out to dinner or for ice cream or go for a nature walk in Schuylerville.  

I am excited that I will help her with teaching AN 202R this fall. 在一月份，我们 将 presenting our work at a historical archaeology conference in Philadelphia. Even further in the future, during the fall of 2022, Professor Hart is thinking about teaching a Scribner Seminar for first-year students, which I would very much enjoy 协助.