Field Experience

CFI Educational Programs


CFI Program
One-Day Field Experience in Archaeology
Program Length 1 full school day (normally 8:30-2:15)
Program Location remote field location
Program Format supervised field and labwork
Grade Level grades 6-12
Maximum Audience 1 class (up to 25 including teacher)
Prerequisite Introduction to Northwest Georgia Archaeology

This hands-on field and lab program provides students with the opportunity to experience real archaeological fieldwork on a site currently being investigated by the Coosawattee Foundation, followed by an opportunity to wash and examine the day's finds.

Bus or other transportation should be arranged by the school, and classes should plan to meet CFI archaeologists at the field location by 9:00 a.m., where students will be given an overview of archaeological field techniques and etiquette, and will then be supervised in actual excavation and screening of soil for artifacts.   Around 12:00, students will eat lunch alongside the Coosawattee River, followed by additional fieldwork and a laboratory session in which they will wash the artifacts found that day, and learn about basic artifact sorting and analysis. Classes will be finished for return to school by 2:15.

During this field and lab program, students will learn, practice, and observeskills such as...

  • ...using flat shovels and trowels carefully to excavate testpits in controlled layers.
  • ...sifting excavated soil through 1/4-inch hardware cloth screens to recover artifacts such as pottery, flint flakes and tools, bone fragments, etc.
  • ...bagging and labeling artifacts from each layer in each testpit.
  • ...observing and recording soil color and texture changes in the floors and walls (profiles) of testpits.
  • ...washing and drying artifacts recovered in each bag.
  • ...examining pottery and stone artifacts for characteristics used in sorting them into specific categories and time periods.


SPECIAL NOTE: All students will need to have their parents sign individual release agreements prior to their arrival on the site. Students should come prepared for dirt and mud, sun and rain, and insects. Old clothes, hats, sunscreen, bug repellent, and liquids such as water, Gatorade, Powerade, etc. are strongly recommended, and each student should bring a lunch.

Since all field and labwork is part of ongoing archaeological research being conducted by the Coosawattee Foundation on privately-owned land, all artifacts found will remain in the possession of CFI, Inc. for future analysis and study. Each artifact is important and irreplaceable, since it represents one small piece of a much bigger puzzle.

To schedule any CFI program, or to find out more information, please call the Foundation office at (404) 285-2001, or send an email to [email protected].



 

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last updated: December 5, 2002 - Site Map