This year we are going to have a bit bigger crew than usual, but still relatively small compared to some archaeological excavations. There are a couple of reasons for that. First, the site itself, while one of the richest sites on the island, is contained in a relatively small area and having a bigger crew would create difficulties, particularly since there are few places to camp at the site. Also, because the site produces so many artifacts, relatively small, controlled excavations provides substantial collections that need to be analyzed and catalogued, which takes more even more time than digging them out of the ground. We also want to minimize destruction of the site, and potential erosion. It is part of our professional ethics in archaeology to only disturb those parts of the site that will contribute to answering the questions we are pursuing. In that way, we preserve as much of the site as we can for future questions to be asked.

The field crew this year will include: the co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Don Holly and Dr. Chris Wolff; two graduate students from the University at Albany, Jessica Watson and Jessica Vavrasek; an undergraduate student from Eastern Illinois University, Brian Sparr, and other part-time visitors and assistants.

While in the field, we are largely unconnected to the internet, so updates will be sporadic throughout the summer, but we will try to keep everyone up to date about what we are finding out.