[VIDEO] Training for a future in archaeology by studying area past
In a lab in the basement of McMaster's Kenneth Taylor Hall, anthropology students work
feverishly to clean, study, document and catalogue their many archaeological finds: arrow
heads, military buttons and pottery shards, some thousands of years old.
Unbeknownst to those walking the halls just outside the room, the third-year students
in the lab are handling some of this area's most important historical artifacts - many of
which were discovered during their own field work.
Anthropology 3CC6: Archaeological Field School allows students the unique
opportunity to move from the classroom to a dig site - in this case a location at nearby
Cootes Paradise, hosted by the Royal Botanical Gardens - where the skills they learn are
invaluable to their future in archaeology.
"It gives them hands-on experience, which is a head start that some students don't
get," said Meghan Burchell, the course's instructor. "But it also forces them to think
critically and to connect to the area they are studying, rather than just the artifacts that
they are working with."
The site currently being excavated by the class of 15 students dates back
approximately 3,000 years and has shown evidence of a connection to the origins of maize
agriculture in the area. While working there the students uncovered a riverbed, thought to
be between 10,000 and 30,000 years old, and a wooden post buried beneath the earth,
along what would have been the bank of the river.
Below, Elyse Pipitone talks about her work while sifting through soil for artifacts.
Elyse Pipitone discovers what may be an arrowhead.
Course instructor Meghan Burchell talks about the discovery of pottery shards which may date back 1500 years.
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