Archaeology Field School

Triple-tier waterfall in the middle of a lush green forest with large stone pillars on the left side

Built in the early nineteenth century, remains of John Stoddart's gristmill still stand alongside the Great Falls of the Lehigh River in northeast Pennsylvania.

Kutztown University regularly offers an archaeology field school in the summer, providing opportunities for students to get their hands dirty as they uncover traces of the lives of those who lived in eastern Pennsylvania hundreds or thousands of years ago. Previous field seasons have focused on Stoddartsville, best known as the site of an early-nineteenth-century milling village in northeast Pennsylvania, Joanna Furnace, a nineteenth-century ironworks in southeast Pennsylvania, and the KU Site, a prehistoric site on the campus of Kutztown University.

Fieldwork conducted by the Kutztown University Archaeology Field School (KUAFS) has included mapping historic and prehistoric features (e.g., historic grave markers), pedestrian survey, geophysical survey (with Dr. Laura Sherrod), and archaeological excavation. Analysis of the artifacts recovered from Stoddartsville, Joanna Furnace, and the KU Site is ongoing. Students regularly present the results of their fieldwork and artifact analyses at local, regional, and national conferences.

In Summer 2025, the field school will return to Stoddartsville. The field school will be offered as 2 two-week sessions run back-to-back during Summer Session I:

     Archaeological Field Methods (ANTH 263):                          June 2 - June 13, 2025

     Advanced Archaeological Field Methods (ANTH 264):       June 16 - June 27, 2025

Students can enroll in one or both sessions. The field school is open to all students. There are no course prerequisites, although courses in archaeology and allied social and natural sciences will be useful. During the field season, students will stay in housing near the site. Lodging and meals will be paid for by the project; you need only pay tuition (financial aid is available).

Student collecting soil from a taped-off area and depositing it in a bright yellow bucket

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Uncovering evidence of the Stoddartsville General Store

Three students standing around a wheelbarrow full of dirt, sticking their hands in and smiling at the camera

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Looking for evidence of the millhands who worked at Stoddartsville

Group of students digging in a taped-off area.

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Excavating in the Stoddart Mansion

Two female students gather specimen from a dig site while two male students take notes on the ground above

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Excavating in the Stoddart Mansion

Student in the foreground takes pictures of three other students who are examining stones in the background

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Mapping grave markers in the Stoddartsville Cemetery

Student pushing a cart with a scanning computer through a field

Archaeological Fieldwork at Stoddartsville

Conducting geophysical survey in the Stoddartsville Cemetery

Student collecting soil from a taped-off area and depositing it in a bright yellow bucket
Three students standing around a wheelbarrow full of dirt, sticking their hands in and smiling at the camera
Group of students digging in a taped-off area.
Two female students gather specimen from a dig site while two male students take notes on the ground above
Student in the foreground takes pictures of three other students who are examining stones in the background
Student pushing a cart with a scanning computer through a field

For more information about the field school, contact Dr. Khori Newlander (newlander@kutztown.edu, Old Main Room 459) in the Department of Anthropology & Sociology.