WASHINGTON — Volunteers and students with an interest in archaeology will have multiple opportunities to gain hands-on experience this summer, when field schools coordinated by the N.H. Division of Historical Resources’ State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program (SCRAP), will take place in Durham, Livermore Hollow and Washington, N.H.
Field school participants will document specific activities associated with the sites being investigated and will learn a variety of skills performed by professional archaeologists, including data recovery techniques, shovel test excavation and documentation, and artifact identification.
Sessions in Durham will take place weekdays June 3-14, June 17-28 and July 1-12 and will focus on 17th-century historic sites. Registration must be completed by May 19. The Durham field school is coordinated by SCRAP and Great Bay Archaeological Survey and is directed by Meghan Howey of the University of New Hampshire.
SCRAP’s Livermore Hollow session takes place weekdays July 8-19 and will focus on pre-contact deposits and features, with opportunities to investigate post-contact deposits as well. SCRAP’S final summer session, at Pillsbury State Park in Washington, N.H., takes place weekdays July 22-Aug. 2. Canoes will be used to access that survey area, where pre-contact deposits are potentially located.
Pre-contact and post-contact are terms used by archaeologists to distinguish between the times before and after Europeans arrived at a particular location in the Americas.
Thee Livermore Hollow and Washington field schools will be directed by Mark Doperalski and David Trubey from the NHDHR; registration for those sessions closes on May 31. Participants may register as SCRAP volunteers or for undergraduate or graduate credit through Plymouth State University. Volunteers receive the same instruction as credit students.
For more information about each field school, including how to register, visit nh.gov/nhdhr/SCRAP.htm and click on “Upcoming Events & Opportunities” or contact the NHDHR at 603-271-6433.
New Hampshire’s Division of Historical Resources, the “State Historic Preservation Office,” was established in 1974. The historical, archaeological, architectural and cultural resources of New Hampshire are among its most important environmental assets. Historic preservation promotes the use, understanding and conservation of such resources for the education, inspiration, pleasure and enrichment of New Hampshire’s citizens. For more information, visit nh.gov/nhdhr or call 603-271-3483.
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