This summer UC Davis Anthropology continues archaeological investigations in northwestern California and invites students to apply for the 2005 Archaeolgical Field School. Fieldwork will be split between sites in the King Range National Conservation Area in Southern Humboldt County and sites on the Smith River in Del Norte County near Redwood National and State Parks.

Field School Crews from 2003 (left) and 2004 (right)

Field School will consist of six weeks of intensive instruction in the methods and techniques of archaeological field work. Strategies and field logistics of site survey and excavation will be taught along with other techniques including mapping, data recording methods, laboratory techniques, identification of cultural materials and field cataloging and analysis. This work will be enhanced by informal lectures given by instructors and guest speakers on topics such as the culture history, ethnography and native beliefs of the region. Students will be enrolled through UC Davis in Anthropology 181 for 9 summer session units.

 

The fieldwork is part of a two larger projects: The First (Smith River) is investigating the importance of the Pacific salmon fishery in the development of complex hunter-gatherers on a broad scale while focusing on existing frameworks that model change in the prehistoric record of northwestern California. The data generated from these sites will provide a more comprehensive picture of the settlement patterns in Tolowa ancestral territory. This research is being carried out by Shannon Tushingham. The second (King Range) investigating human predation of marine mammals on the california coast prehistorically, human-prey population dynamics and the relative value of coastal vs. interior resources to prehistoric peoples of the area. This work will contribute to the doctoral research of Adie Whitaker.

 

 

 

This project is made possible by a partnership between the Tolowa people, Bear River Rancheria, Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP), Six Rivers National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management and UC Davis Anthropology.

For more information, please contact:
Adie Whitaker
Department of Anthropology
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
arwhitaker@ucdavis.edu