Excavation-Based Bioarchaeology and Archaeology Field School in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands 2015

We are now accepting applications for the second field season of our bioarchaeological and archaeological field school at the Aklis site, a prehistoric shell midden, habitation, and cemetery site, which is located on the beach in Frederiksted, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The field school is run by the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures and the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University. The Aklis site is endangered by rising sea levels, and our second field season will focus on documentation and removal of multiple human burials and further mitigation of the site. Students will gain hands on experience in excavation methods, mapping, artifact identification and classification, skeletal excavation, and osteological data recording. Students will learn about the ecology, history, and culture history of St. Croix through visits to local museums and national parks, such as Buck Island Reef National Monument, Estate Whim Museum and Plantation, a paleoethnobotanical tour of the local rainforest, activities with the National Park Service and United States Fish and Wildlife Services on St. Croix, and interactions with scholars and experts on St. Croix. The field school will run from June 14, 2015 to July 18, 2015.

Please see our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ExcavationbasedfieldschoolonStCroix2014) for more information.