Anthropology 730 (ANTH 730), 4 credits

Dates: June 2-June 27 (excluding weekends)

Instructor: Dr. Brad Logan

The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Kansas State University invites students to participate in the Kansas Archaeological Field School. The program will focus on the Kramer sites, multi-component occupations in Nine Mile Creek Valley, Leavenworth County, northeastern Kansas.

The coeducational field school provides students with basic and advanced training in archaeological excavation, as well as archaeological survey and basic laboratory techniques as time permits. Students participate in a problem-oriented research project designed to provide significant new information on the archaeology of the Central Plains. During the field school, students will devote full time (five days a week) to field school activities. All students enrolled in the course must participate for the duration of the field school. No prior archaeological field or laboratory experience is necessary.

Members of the KAFS-2006 at the New-McGraw site, a Late Woodland camp in Stranger Creek Valley.

The Kramer Sites

Investigations at the Kramer sites will evaluate their potential significance and eligibility for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The two sites, a short distance apart on the same terrace in Nine Mile Creek valley, ~3 miles south of McClouth and ~9 miles north of Lawrence, have yielded evidence of occupation during the Middle Archaic (~5000-3000 BC), Late Archaic (~3000-500 BC), Woodland (~500 BC-AD 1000), and Late Prehistoric (AD 1000-1500) periods. Surveys have found many chipped stone tools, ground stone tools, pottery, and other artifacts.  Participants in the field school will document the extent, depth, and nature of the sites and determine whether they contain intact deposits, including house remains and features, such as hearths and storage pits.  The sites may provide significant information about culture change and continuity in northeastern Kansas.

The KAFS-2008 project is a continuation of an on-going investigation of Native American sites in the Stranger Creek watershed, the last major tributary of the Kansas River before to its confluence with the Missouri River at Kansas City.  Surveys by the field school director in this greater drainage, which includes Nine Mile Creek, have documented more than 150 prehistoric sites.  Excavations at four of these (Evans, Scott, Caenen, and Paul) by the KAFS in 2003 and 2004 resulted in the acquisition of data that led to their listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Late Prehistoric pottery from Kramer indicative of a Steed-Kisker phase occupation.



Archaeological Field Techniques

Participants in the KAFS-2008 will receive instruction in a variety of archaeological and ancillary field techniques, including:

• Pedestrian survey
• Controlled surface collection
• Test excavation (including unit placement, set-up, screening, and documentation such as profiling, unit/level form completion, plan mapping, photography, etc.)
• Use of an Electronic Distance Measure (EDM; or “laser transit”) for site mapping
• Use of a Global Positioning Receiver (GPR)
• Completion of site registration forms
• Interpretation of U.S.G.S. topographic quadrangle maps
• Demonstration of geoarchaeological techniques, such as extraction of soil cores, magnetic sampling, and interpretation of the soil/sediment context of the site
• Lectures in regional prehistory, field methods, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Science.

Other Activities

Field trips are planned to other archaeological sites in the vicinity of the field school.


Members of the KAFS-2004 uncover pottery on the floor of a Late Prehistoric house occupied by people of the Pomona culture, contemporaries of the Steed-Kisker culture.

Woodland period projectile points from the New-McGraw site.

Accommodations

Participants in the field school course will be housed in quarters located less than one mile from the sites. Students will be expected to share quarters and meals on weekdays during each week of the field school. These quarters will include a field laboratory in which participants will devote a portion of the field school to preparation of recovered artifacts for cataloging, curation, and analysis.

Transportation

Students are responsible for transportation to and from the field school quarters each week. For those who do not have a vehicle for this purpose, other arrangements will be made.

Field School Costs

The tuition and fees for the field school are $750 for resident undergraduates, $2,048 for non-resident undergraduates, $1,018 for resident graduates, and $2,342 for non-resident graduates. There is also a fee of $400 to cover room, board, and laboratory expenses.

Application

Before enrolling in the course, students must apply directly to the Instructor. Applications can be obtained online ( click here ) or from the instructor. For application forms or other information, contact  Dr. Brad Logan (phone: 785-532-2419; email: blogan@ksu.edu ).

Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work  
Kansas State University  
204 Waters Hall  
Manhattan, KS  66506