Our Program

Field school will consist of six weeks of intensive instruction in the methods and techniques of archaeological field work during UC Davis’s first summer session (June 27- August 5, 2005).

Our program provides extensive hands-on research experience involving a broad range of field and laboratory techniques. Strategies and field logistics of site survey and excavation will be taught along with other techniques including:

· data recording methods
· identification of cultural materials
· field cataloging and analysis
· laboratory techniques
· mapping
· global positioning systems (GPS)

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.

Geologist Vicki Ozaki (left) and Soils Scientist Joe Seney giving talks in the field

The Smith River fieldwork is part of a larger project 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. The King Range research is part of a larger project investigating human-prey population dynamics on the north coast of California and the relative importance of coastal vs. interior resources in the seasonal scheduling of native California subsistence pursuits

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

UC Davis Archaeologists with the Junior Rangers at Jed Smith State Park

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