Student Josephine Curtis in Palm Beach County

I had a priceless experience interning for Palm Beach County Archaeologist Christian Davenport in summer 2011. I gained valuable experience in the lab working with column samples and artifacts. In the lab, I worked on the fine sort of a column sample that Mr. Davenport, his interns, and volunteers excavated the previous summer at Dubios Park. While there I learned to process a column sample for a finer sort later and establish a chain of custody of artifacts. I also trained a new volunteer to process the column sample.  Mr. Davenport was not doing much fieldwork while I was there, so he sent me to volunteer with another archaeologist so that I would gain field experience and learn more about the cultural resource management side of archaeology. My experience also went beyond the lab, as I had the opportunity to attend outreach talks, sit in on a historical resource review board meeting,and more. On several occasions, I helped the Belle Glade Historical Society inventory and organize its collection of artifacts. Every day, until my last day spent working on the historical documentation of buildings to go on record in the Florida State Office, was a new lesson on a different aspect of archaeology.

Josie on a survey.

Student Lizzie Bloemer featured in article on field school in the Florida Keys

Click here for an article in KeysWeekly.com reporting on the underwater archaeology projects sponsored by the PAST Foundation.  Senior Lizzie Bloemer is shown cataloguing artifacts recovered from the shipwreck remains of the Slobodna, a 19th century Austrian sailing ship.  Senior Megan Anderson participated in this project in summer 2010; click here for more information about her experiences at the Slobodna Underwater Archaeology Field School.

Alumnus Profile: Andrew M. ('06) in Tallahassee

After graduating from UE in the spring of 2006, I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to earn an MA in Anthropology, specializing in Professional Archaeology. I chose to attend UNL so that I could learn more about conflict (battlefield) archaeology and gain some experience in that subfield. I did my master’s thesis on an artillery shell scatter from a frontier military post site in western Nebraska dating to the mid-1860s. As part of my thesis data collection, I also assisted my thesis advisor and a member of my thesis committee in the survey of several other battlefield or military associated sites dating to the same period in western Nebraska. While I was at Nebraska I also worked part-time as a teaching assistant for two semesters and as an archaeological technician with the National Park Service’s Midwest Archeological Center for a year. During that year, I assisted in the excavation of test units at several prehistoric sites at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to help determine their eligibility for the National Register and also completed several site assessments. When I was not in the field, I was working in the MWAC lab cleaning, identifying, labeling, and storing artifacts that we collected.

After graduating from UNL in December of 2008, I took some time off and worked on co-authoring an article with a member of my thesis committee regarding the history and projected future of conflict archaeology. I also married a fellow UE alum, Hillary C. (’07), during this time. In October of 2009, I started working for R. Christopher Goodwin and Assoc. out of New Orleans as a second tier archaeologist doing archaeology across the southeast. I am currently nearing the end of my first year with this company and have worked in Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida completing all phases of archaeological work on both historic and prehistoric sites that will be affected by construction.

Alumna Profile: Hillary C. ('07) at Florida State University

After graduating from UE in 2007, I was admitted to the Ph.D. program in Classics at Florida State University. I am currently in my fourth year of the program and intend to start on my dissertation on the Roman economy, trade goods, and cultural identity soon. Additionally, I hold a graduate assistantship which allows me to teach a course on Classical Mythology. Though challenging, this opportunity enables me to gain teaching experience at the college level while pursuing my degree. While at FSU, I have also been fortunate to intern at the National Park Service’s Southeast Archaeological Center where I have received further hands-on training in aspects of excavation as well as the care and storage of prehistoric and historic artifacts from the southeastern United States. This interest in local archaeology, as well as anthropological theory and methodology, was founded in my seminars at UE as well as the field experience I first gained working on Tin City. With the encouragement of the UE faculty, this interest was fostered in my experience with SUNY Geneseo’s excavation at a Hopewell settlement site, Brown’s Bottom (Chillicothe, OH) where in 2006 I received instruction in excavation practices. During the summer of 2007, I was admitted to IPFW’s Archaeological Survey, Research Experience for Undergraduates (Strawtown, IN) where I learned to use various methods of remote sensing and was also able to construct my own research project at a historical cemetery using resistivity and GPR.

In the summer of 2009, I married fellow UE alumn, Andrew M. (’06). This past summer (2010) I traveled to Rome and participated in The Howard Comfort, FAAR’29, Summer Program in Roman Pottery at the American Academy in Rome.  Under the guidance of former AAR Mellon Professor Archer Martin and his assistant Raffaele Palma, I (and eight other students) had the unique opportunity to actively engage with pottery from across the Mediterranean and meet various specialists in the field. By the end of the program we were able to apply our new skills to the pottery from the Domus Tiberiana on the Palatine Hill. Currently, we are collaborating on a publication about the pottery from the program.

I am truly thankful for the strong education in archaeology and classical studies offered by the faculty at UE. Their encouragement and support while at UE and even today, has been invaluable and laid a solid foundation from which I hope to continue my education.

Student Megan Anderson in Key Largo, FL

Photo of Megan Anderson by Dan Ritt with the Slobodna Field School, PAST Foundation, Summer 2010.

Archaeology is already one of the coolest-sounding professions out there; add a wetsuit and an air tank and it probably surpasses those of “spy” and “astronaut.” This summer I was privileged to attend the Slobodna Underwater Archaeology Field School with the PAST Foundation off the coast of Key Largo, FL. The Slobodna was a down-easter composite ship that was carrying cotton when she ran into the reef; a few years later, a hurricane dragged the ship and deposited it in three separate locations. The Mainmast site, where I was working, now lies off the coast of Key Largo 15-30 feet below the surface. This area was littered with pins, hull plating, sections of the keel and mast, and spar rings.

Every morning for two weeks, I got to jump out of a boat with an underwater slate and measuring tape in hand. Doing archaeology underwater is an almost indescribable experience. You have to have a telepathic connection to your team members, as the only sound you hear as you work is the hiss of your regulator and the occasional growl of a damsel fish. It’s like visiting an alien world: everything is dipped in blue light and the artifacts are ghostly things, misshapen by several hundred years of concretions and coral.

The limitations that scuba imposes on underwater archaeology are sometimes frustrating. Sometimes, after only two hours at the site, we would return to the dormitory only to realize that we had forgotten some crucial measurement that would prohibit us from being able to map out an artifact, or we would find that a section of pencil marks had been rubbed off the waterproof mylar. We couldn't just hop back down to the site or extend our time at the site the next day. However, the excitement of finally figuring out what a particular artifact was, or locking in the coordinates of an artifact onto the master site map, made up for these minor inconveniences.

Working underwater is unlike anything I've ever done. Your life depends on your team, and you count on them to get you untangled, share air if something goes wrong, and stop you from brushing up against fire coral with your bare skin. I have found my passion in underwater archaeology, and in the future I plan to study and protect underwater sites as well as present them to the public.

Click here to read about Megan's experiences at the Rio Bravo Field School in Belize this summer.

Alumna Profile: Maureen M. ('05) in South Florida

I am the crew chief of the Tribal Archaeology Section (TAS) in the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) that works for the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The work occurs on the various Seminole reservations that are located throughout South Florida. While the work we do in TAS is similar to CRM (Cultural Resources Management), it is a unique experience since we complete the archaeological surveys specifically for the Seminoles. We conduct these surveys prior to any new construction on the Seminole reservations. Since the TAS is fully responsible for the archaeology, we also produce all the maps related to the surveys using ArcGIS. Once a project is complete, we also write the reports. My job specifically includes determining the archaeological methodology by researching the environmental and cultural factors of an area, editing the archaeological reports, and helping to make NRHP (National Register of Historic Places) determinations of sites. I particularly enjoy working in South Florida because it is a clear example of the environment playing a significant role in people’s settlement choices. While most people throughout the world settle in areas close to water, all of South Florida was once under water, making the need for dry land critical. Most of the sites in South Florida occur on hammocks, which are tiny tree islands that were once completely surrounded by water. The basic sites on these hammocks are temporary extraction camps that consist of faunal middens, and studying these sites has allowed me to enhance my skills in zooarchaeology. Working for the Seminole Tribe is an enjoyable experience that has allowed me to incorporate spatial analyses of environmental and cultural variables with archaeological fieldwork.

Maureen received her MA in Anthropology from Florida State University.