Field School 2023

The 2023 Lakehead University Archaeological Field School was held on campus from May 1 to 19 along the banks of the McIntyre River. The course instructor was Dr. Jill Taylor-Hollings and the field school was generously supported by Woodland Heritage Northwest (Dr. Dave Norris and Arlene Lahti) and the Niijii Indigenous Mentorship Program. For a three-week period, Anthropology students, faculty and staff, and many Indigenous community members converged along the banks of the river in order to learn fundamental methods in archaeological surveying, excavation, record-keeping, and material culture identification. The sites that we excavated are estimated to be 4000 to 5000 years old and record the daily activities of people living on the ancient shore of Lake Superior. It was an exciting and challenging learning experience that produced a lot of new information and fond memories for participants.