Xavier Neal-Carson participates in Pine Lake Archaeological Field School

2017 Jun 23

Xavier Neal-Carson of Albany, NY, is seeing firsthand what it would be like to work as an archaeologist during this summer's Pine Lake Archaeological Field School.

The immersive learning experience takes students to Hartwick College's Pine Lake Environmental Campus in West Davenport, about eight miles from SUNY Oneonta. There, they spend about eight hours a day learning basic methods in field archaeology, including surveying and excavating techniques, mapping and laboratory analysis.

Neal-Carson is majoring in Computer Art & Anthropology at SUNY Oneonta.

While digging, sifting and examining a few small sections of earth at a time, students often discover artifacts, including cooking hearths, fire pits, stone tools and other evidence of ancient hunter-gatherer communities.

“I knew I wanted to do something artistic but I also had an interest in anthropology, so I figured why not just do both at the same time? I would love to do something out in the field like this, or maybe something in a museum.”

The summer program, which is offered every other year, is a collaborative effort of SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick, with SUNY Oneonta providing most of the equipment. Students can earn six credits by taking the summer course.

The area of this year's dig contains artifacts dating back 3,000 to 4,000 years, according to SUNY Oneonta anthropology Professor Renee Walker, who directs the field school along with Cindy Klink, an anthropology lecturer at Hartwick and SUNY Oneonta.

Walker and Klink believe the area was a gathering place for Native American people before the transition from hunting and gathering to plant horticulture and agriculture.

Students at the site last week said it's exhilarating to find an artifact because it's a direct link to the past. Some of the students are dual majors, combining anthropology with another field of interest.

The Field School is a valuable experience, no matter what career students end up choosing, Walker said.

"Not all of them are going to be archaeologists," Walker said, "but no matter where they want to go on in terms of jobs or grad school, we know from this experience whether they can take directions, work in a group, get along well with others and work under varying conditions."

Adjunct lecturer Nicole Weigel, a 2005 graduate of SUNY Oneonta's anthropology program who now works as a field assistant for the school, said she remembers the first time she found an artifact.

"Finding my first projectile point was very exciting," Weigel said. "When I participated in the Field School, I fell in love with it and switched my major that fall to anthropology. This was the turning point as far as helping me decide whether or not this was the career path for me."