News Release

New archaeology field school leverages strengths of SMU, Mercyhurst College

Business Announcement

Mercyhurst College

Mercyhurst College and Southern Methodist University – home to two of the nation's leading archaeology programs – have joined forces this summer in a collaborative educational and research program at the New Mexico campus of SMU-in-Taos.

Known as the Taos Collaborative Archaeology Program (TCAP), its goal is to unite the respective strengths of SMU in community-based archaeology and Mercyhurst in excavation, documentation and analytical protocols to offer students an unparalleled archaeological training experience. The summer field school includes an inaugural cohort of 16 Mercyhurst undergraduate archaeology students and 12 students from SMU.

"This collaboration will create one of the strongest archaeology field training programs in the nation, if not the world," said SMU-in-Taos executive director Mike Adler. "It leverages the strengths of both institutions."

The field school is situated at Fort Burgwin, a restored, pre-Civil War U.S. Army post nestled in a mountainous area of the Little Rio Grande Valley. A rich archaeological site, Fort Burgwin was established August 16, 1852, as a cantonment to protect Taos-area settlers from roaming Apache and Comanche Indians. It closed in 1860 when U.S. troops were consolidated at nearby Fort Union. For more than 100 years, Fort Burgwin lay buried and forgotten, until 1964, when SMU began acquiring the property to use for educational purposes.

The SMU-in-Taos campus offers summer and fall academic courses in the humanities, natural and social sciences, performing and studio arts, as well as archaeological and anthropological research upon which TCAP builds. SMU anthropology courses offered on-site explore local Native American cultures and the archaeology of the Southwest, focusing on the continuing excavation and examination of Pot Creek Pueblo and historic Fort Burgwin.

"This is a visually arresting, absolutely spectacular environment in which our students will be exposed to an altogether new and exciting hands-on archaeological experience," said Mercyhurst Provost Dr. James Adovasio, who also directs the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute and is at the helm of the new experience. His TCAP counterpart at SMU is Dr. Sunday Eiselt.

This first summer experience is devoted to excavating and recovering data from one of the fort's buildings on the parade ground, and studying and documenting rock art from sacred landscapes, among other endeavors.

"We have a lot to learn from each other," said Mercyhurst's on-site historic archaeologist Judith Thomas. "SMU is very strong in community-based archaeology and they have a top facility at which to study. We provide an intense hands-on field archaeology experience using state-of-the-art technology."

Specifically, the Mercyhurst group has supplied a new remote sensing device known as a gradiometer to detect shallowly buried features and structures. Used in tandem with computer software, the technology makes it possible to generate subsurface maps and better target excavation efforts.

In addition, Mercyhurst has provided a hand-held x-ray fluorescence machine that is used to determine the elemental composition of natural and man-made materials, from glass to coins to ceramics.

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