Students in a summer archaeological methods field course and summer science researchers agree that being out in the field digging for artifacts is far preferable to sitting in a classroom. Twelve students, along with anthropology professors Lacey Carpenter, Hannah Lau, and Colin Quinn, are excavating for relics left behind by early European settlers on a property in Clinton.
“There are ephemeral activities that leave a material signature, and we use that signature to move backward and to reconstruct through other means,” Lau said. “The house has been occupied since the early 19th century. We think a lot of what we are finding is mid-19th to early 20th century.”
These excavations are a component of a larger archaeological project: the Historic Households of Central New York Archaeological Project.
