May 27th - July 3rd6 credit class May 27th - July 3rd
6 credit class
May 27th - July 3rd
The Binghamton University Department of Anthropology will hold its 2009 summer field school again on the property of the Dennis Farm
Charitable Land Trust in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. Dennis Farm is a sprawling 153-acre farmstead settled by one African American family
in the late eighteenth century. The property has remained with descendents of these early settlers since then. As part of a multi-year study,
students will participate in an archaeological investigation of the property. This research will address research themes, such as the role of
free African Americans in community formation on the frontier, the shaping of an agricultural landscape, the place of Dennis Farm in historical
memory, and new perspectives on the African Diaspora. Direct descendents of the Perkins and Dennis families will supplement our
investigations with historical documents, family artifacts, and oral history.
Students will learn basic archaeological techniques of surface and subsurface survey, unit excavation, mapping using a total station and GPS,
field photography, and artifact identification and processing. Instruction will include an overview of the historical settlement of the area,
as well as current issues in the archaeology of the African American experience, including the types of research questions being raised by
archaeologists working in the historic period. Instructors and guest lecturers will introduce the historic preservation process and discuss
career paths in archaeology. The curriculum is designed to give students the basic knowledge and skills necessary to participate in professional excavations and to secure
employment in the field of Cultural Resource Management.