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This summer, Lillia McEnaney ’17 split her time excavating a Greek island and making three-dimensional models of stone inscriptions in Macedonia.  McEnaney was a field volunteer at Despotiko, a late archaic to early classical sanctuary to the Greek God Apollo in the middle of the Cycladic islands. She then participated in a field school at a Balkan Heritage Foundation course in Macedonia.

This summer, a group of nine students, including five Hamilton students Lindsay Buff, Anna Arnn, Petra Elfström, Mariah Walzer, and Grace Berg spent six weeks in the picturesque Slocan Valley, British Columbia, as participants in Hamilton’s archaeology field school led by Nathan Goodale, associate professor of anthropology, and Alissa Nauman.

Anna Arnn ’17 is taking her studies in archaeology into the field this summer as part of a program through the University of Montana Missoula. Through the project Arnn will be working with UMM graduate student Matt Walsh, performing faunal analysis, or the study of animal remains in the context of archaeology.

Although archaeology is often associated with dinosaur fossils and sarcophagi, museums only hold a small portion of the artifacts unearthed over the past few centuries. For Max Lopez ’15, who’s currently working as a teaching assistant at a summer field school in British Columbia, “it’s the day-to-day kind of stuff that really gets [him] going, the smaller stuff that tells a story everyone can relate to.” It is these types of discoveries he hopes to make, leading him to pursue a Masters of Archaeology at Cambridge University beginning in the fall.

Lots of “oohs” and “ahhs” and a couple shrieks were heard in the Taylor Science Center during spring break when two groups of local third-grade students visited for some hands-on science learning with the help of Hamilton’s science faculty. For more than 20 years, Professor of Biology Dave Gapp has organized “Science Exploration Days” which bring classes of elementary school students to Hamilton for guided tours and short lessons in various areas of science.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale is an editor with Washington State University Professor William Andrefsky, Jr., of a new book. Lithic Technological Systems and Evolutionary Theory was published this month by Cambridge University Press.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale’s “Archaeology of Hamilton’s Founding” (Arch 110) class is excavating the property at 60 College Hill Road, looking for evidence that would link the structure back to its possible construction date of 1793 (per the plaque above the door). Investigations of several architectural features are indicative of the 18th century, making this possibly the oldest structure still on its original foundation on campus. 

Although many people might not find archaeology as exciting as it’s portrayed in the Indiana Jones franchise, Morgan Biggs ’16 does. Biggs, an archaeology major, is working with Assistant Professor of Archaeology Nathan Goodale to analyze artifacts from the Slocan Narrows Archaeological Project (SNAP). Last summer, Biggs attended Hamilton’s field school, led by Goodale, and excavated artifacts from the Slocan Narrows Pithouse Village in southeastern British Columbia, Canada.

Adriana Fracchia ’14 spent last summer in Pachio Amos, Greece, assisting in an archaeological excavation and producing topographical maps of the site, an ancient village on the island of Crete. While in Greece, her interest was piqued in the Golden Dawn, a controversial political group. This summer she's researching the rising power of the Golden Dawn.

Assistant Professor of Anthropology Nathan Goodale and Visiting Instructor Alissa Nauman presented “Digging into First Nations history in the Columbia Valley: Lessons from an archaeological dig near Lemon Creek” at Revelstoke Museum in Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada, on Monday, July 29.