This year\u2019s class includes 10 undergraduate anthropology<\/a> students, one of whom serves as a student supervisor.<\/p>\n \u201cThis site is probably the location of the fort,\u201d said Lance Greene, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology. \u201cThe Shawnee built this three-sided, palisaded fort to defend against the Americans, and the Americans burned it to the ground. So we\u2019re looking for evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Piqua, also known as Peckuwe or Picawey, was a Shawnee village of about 2,000 established in the mid-1700s near where the students are digging. The village and British-style stockade were attacked by a Kentucky militia of 1,100 led by George Rogers Clark on Aug. 8, 1780.<\/p>\n The militia reported killing about 40 Shawnee, burning all of the houses to the ground and destroying 800 acres of corn. The heart of the battlefield is a grassy, 30-acre meadow.<\/p>\n Lance Greene, associate professor of anthropology, right, and undergraduate anthropology students in Field School in Archaeology are searching for evidence of a Shawnee fort at George Rogers Clark Park. (Video by Kris Sproles)<\/p><\/div>\n Tiny orange and yellow pennants mark the perimeter of this year\u2019s excavation site, which is being probed by digging small holes to look for artifact clusters. The students shovel dirt into plastic buckets and pour the contents into wood-framed sifters, which reveal any artifacts and fragments as the soil is hand-shaken through the screen.<\/p>\n If a promising artifact is found in this exploratory process, the digging expands. Artifacts are bagged and tagged with location numbers before being returned to the lab for analysis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re out here doing cultural work and we\u2019re contributing to a larger historical narrative,\u201d said Ethan Clark, of Greenville.<\/p>\n Clark said he is interested in a career in cultural resource management, the preservation of cultural resources that include archeological sites.<\/p>\n Greene created the Field School in Archaeology to investigate the archaeology and history of Shawnee settlements in Ohio. The school is in its fourth year after missing last year\u2019s session due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to be back here. It\u2019s been two years since we did the Field School,\u201d said Greene. \u201cThe shutdown with COVID has been really difficult. So both with being outside and working with students face to face has been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Previous classes looked for evidence of the Shawnee village, evidence of the battle of 1780 and evidence of white settlers, who began arriving in the 1820s.<\/p>\n The students have discovered musket balls, gunflints and everyday artifacts like pieces of cast iron pots, ceramics, glassware and nails.<\/p>\n Greene said the Field School gives students excavation skills, promotes teamwork and fosters bonding.<\/p>\n \u201cIf students are interested in becoming an archaeologist, then they have to get this experience to be a professional,\u201d he said. \u201cSome are specifically interested in becoming archaeologists. Others are curious about archaeology or want to get field experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Julie Roseberry, of Greenville, said she was initially interested in mortuary science but decide to pursue anthropology instead.<\/p>\n \u201cThat way I still get to work with death, but I change the narrative from me and modern people to those who can no longer tell their story,\u201d she said. \u201cI would rather work with the dead to help the living better understand them.\u201d<\/p>\n Students in the Field School in Archaeology discovered musket balls, gunflints and everyday artifacts like pieces of cast iron pots, ceramics, glassware and nails.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Undergraduate anthropology students receive hands-on training at excavating during Wright State’s Field School in Archaeology. Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2021\/06\/Field-School-in-Archaeology-57043_067-1-508x339.jpg\")
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