Field School Opportunities
Anthropology Field Schools
Field schools are opportunities for undergraduates to participate in guided research in different subfields of anthropology, acquiring skills in a range of research methods through active fieldwork.
While field schools are excellent opportunities for all our students, field experience is required for archaeology-track students who intend either to pursue a career in CRM/survey archaeology upon graduation or to attend graduate school in archaeology.
Agua Blanca, Ecuador
About
In three separate field seasons, Dr. Smith has taken students to Ecuador to assist a coastal indigenous community in several applied community-based research projects involving sustainable organic agriculture, health outreach, applied community theatre, place-based education, and the compilation of materials for a local archive, including community-directed video as well as folktales, interviews with elders, and organizing of historical documents.
Areas of Interest
Cultural anthropology, applied anthropology, applied community theatre, medical anthropology, visual anthropology
For more information
Contact Dr. Kimbra Smith
Boggsville
About
Archaeology field school - 1994, 1995, 1997
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn
Coral Bluffs Open Space
About
The 2017 archaeology field school was held at Corral Bluffs - a City of Colorado Springs Open Space property. This property is located approximately 4 miles east of Powers Blvd., and is rich in archaeological resources. This unique habitat of high bluffs, grassland, stream beds, and springs has drawn people for at least 5,000 years. Though the property was purchased in 2009 by the City of Colorado Springs, it has not yet been opened to the public due to the rich archaeological and paleontological resources that must first be studied and mitigated before it is opened. Previously documented sites include pre-contact buffalo butchering and processing activities, lithic scatters, and camp sites, as well as Historic-era ranching/cowboy activity as recent as the 1940s.
Areas of Interest
Archaeological survey and excavation.
For more information
Contact City Archaeologist Anna Cordova
Crow's Roost
About
Archaeology field school (1985 - Whitamore Ranch, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990)
Selected Publications
Wynn, Thomas, T. Huber, and R. McDonald 1993 "Late Holocene climate history in eastern El Paso County, Colorado." Southwestern Lore 59:6-15.
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn
Davis Rockshelter
About
Archaeology field school
Davis Rockshelter with Pikes Peak Chapter of CAS. Dwelis.
Publications
S., T. Wynn, and M. Kraus 1996 "Preliminary report on Davis Rockshelter (5EP986)." Southwestern Lore 62:4:1-19.
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn
Garden of the Gods
About
Anth 3190 - Practicum in Applied Archaeology - field school at the turn-of-the-century Fatty Rice curio shop which stood at the entrance to what is now Garden of the Gods. Contact Dr. Karin Larkin klarkin@uccs.com or Dr. Minette Church mchurch@uccs.edu for details.
Archaeology field school - 1996
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn
Heller Center
About
Heller Center for the Arts and Humanities Archaeological Testing
Heller Center Field School site: 2009
Jackson Creek, Douglas County
About
Archaeology field school (1981, 1982)
Publications
Wynn, Thomas, R. McDonald and T. Huber 1985 "Early Woodland occupation at Jackson Creek." Southwestern Lore 51:3-13.
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn
The Lopez Family Homestead
About
The 2003 UCCS field school took place on the United States Forest Service's Comanche National Grassland, along the Purgatoire River, south of La Junta, CO. The goal of the excavations was to investigate the homestead of the Lopez family, who settled in the area originally during the 1870's. The accompanying documentary record of and by the site's occupants is unusually rich, but is only one of several data sources with potential to tell us about their lives. Research questions revolve around market participation and the construction and manipulation of ethnic and gender identities. The site consists of the foundations and remnants of adobe walls of several buildings, including what may be the family home and an enclosed plaza. Excavations in 2003 focused on the area around the plaza and an attached block of rooms. A significant number of artifacts were recovered including two coins, a number of brass shell casings, a decorative bakelite woman's hair comb, and farm equipment. The canyons in this area are full of both prehistoric and historical archaeological sites, including spectacular rock art, to which we take field trips in the evenings. The Lopez site will be the location of the 2005 field school, as we continue research there.
North Cheyenne Cañon
About
Archaeological survey of cultural remains at North Cheyenne Cañon. Points of contact include Dr. Minette Church mchurch@uccs.edu and City of Colorado Springs Lead Archaeologist Anna Cordova, a former UCCS student.
Northern New Mexico
About
ANTH 4400 - Advanced Topics in Cultural Anthropology: Religiosity and Folk Art of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico
3 Credit Hours - An intensive study of the cultural forces that influenced religiosity and religious art in the region. Some on-campus coursework is required. Students travel five (5) days, four (4) nights, to Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico ($375 travel fee in addition to tuition).
REQUIRED TEXTS (UCCS Bookstore): Drain, Thomas A., David Wakely, and N. Scott Momaday. A Sense of Mission: Historic Churches of the Southwest. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994 or latest. (ISBN: 978-0811843140) ($20 new)Farwell Gavin, Robin. Traditional Arts of Spanish New Mexico: The Hispanic Heritage Wing at the Museum of International Folk Art. Museum of NM Press, 1994. (ISBN: 978-0890132586) ($15 new)Moleskin Ruled Journal - 5 x 8: ISBN-10: 8883701127 or ISBN-13: 978-8883701122 (INSTRUCTOR WILL PROVIDE-INCLUDED IN COURSE FEE)
OPTIONAL TEXTS: Torres, Eliseo "Cheo", and Timothy L. Sawyer. Curandero: A Life in Mexican Folk Healing. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005. (ISBN-0-8263-3640-x) ($15 new)
Areas of Interest
Cultural anthropology, religion, art
For more information
Contact Dr. Glenda Carne
Philippines
About
The purpose of this project was to study new mothers' and fathers' social adjustment to lives as new parents. Students worked with medical staff at St. Paul's Hospital in Iloilo, Philippines to recruit participants. Participants completed an interview, survey, anthropometric measurements, and an audio- and photo-based task.
Areas of Interest
Biological anthropology, medical anthropology
For more information
Contact Dr. Michelle Escasa-Dorne
Stanton Road
About
Archaeology field school
USAFA
About
Archaeology field school
Burgess Cabin and Cathedral Rock, 1993
For more information
Contact Dr. Thomas Wynn