STONE TOOL SOURCES OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
FIELD PRACTICE IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PETROLOGY
(ANTH 134A)
Geoarchaeological XRF Lab, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley
Geoarchaeological Science Program
6 semester hours of undergraduate or graduate credit
In field May 31-June 21, 2010
This field school is designed to familiarize students with an archaeological view of quarry (stone procurement) sites and stone tool technology in the North American Southwest, by a field examination of obsidian, chert, and other volcanic sources used for the last 13,000 years. Through in-the-field classroom and field sessions, students will learn field collection strategies, sampling, mapping the secondary distribution of sources, geological and topographical map reading, field portable XRF, and an introduction to the identification of rocks in the field. The course will involve a week or more camping in the Jemez Mountains, northern New Mexico, and Mule Creek in western New Mexico, and other trips from the base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A number of strenuous day-long hikes into stone sources will require good fitness and ability to cope with very warm weather. Housing will be in the dormitory apartments on the campus of the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, as well as tent camping at Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico, and the Jerome Ranch in Mule Creek. Transportation in the field provided. Field visits to Paleoindian and Pueblo period sites, and lectures by earth scientists and archaeologists from the University of Arizona, and the University of New Mexico Paleoindian Field School included. Weekends free to explore the great American Southwest on your own.
Principal Faculty:
Professor M. Steven Shackley, PhD Arizona State University
Geoarchaeological science, analytical chemistry, lithic technology, obsidian studies, preceramic Southwest (
http://www.swxrflab.net/)Graduate Student Instructor:
Celeste Henrickson, MA Washington State University
Doctoral student, UCB, geomorphology, molecular archaeology, northwest Mexico
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or above, Anthro 2 or equivalent, field camping experience required. Instructor approval required (see below). Admission to the course is competitive and limited. There is a $1521 field/lab fee for the course. One text and a course reader. Applications available through Summer Tele-Bears (https://telebears.berkeley.edu/telebears/home), and a form from the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. The form (questionnaire) is required first before enrollment (
http://www.swxrflab.net/questionnaire.doc). Mailing address: Department of Anthropology, 232 Kroeber Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3710 USA. Phone: 510.642.3391; Fax: 510.643.8557Non-UC students enroll through Summer session: http://summer.berkeley.edu/