The Field School and Its Staff

Students in the 2017 Catawba Archaeological Field School will recover artifacts and reveal traces of houses and other features that document an early 18th-century Catawba Indian community and provide important evidence about the emergence and endurance of the modern Catawba Nation. Participants in the field school will earn six hours of college credit that fulfill the experiential education requirement and also fulfill a requirement of UNC's Major in Archaeology!

Field school students will learn the basic techniques of archaeological excavation, as well as mapping, surveying, photography, and artifact identification. Although some classroom and laboratory instruction will be given, most of the students' time will be spent actually excavating.

Some of the skills students will learn include:

• Excavation and recovery of artifacts by dry screening and waterscreening
• Recovery of paleobotanical samples using flotation
• Identification of Catawba material culture and associated European trade artifacts
• Data recording and conventional mapping of archaeological contexts
• Photogrammetric mapping and creation of 3D models of excavated surfaces and contexts
• Survey techniques using a total station and high-precision GPS
• Metal-detector survey
• Geophysical exploration using a gradiometer

The course will be taught by Dr. Stephen Davis, with additional instruction from graduate assistants and other staff of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology.

Students who successfully complete the course will be prepared for a variety of future research and employment opportunities, including paid positions on other archaeological projects.