Applied Archaeology Updates by and for the American West

Andrew Reinhard (Princeton, New Jersey) gladly suffers for science in the Badlands of western North Dakota. He’s pretty much a punk archaeological editor without borders. Photo by and for Reinhard.

The Bismarck Tribune reported today on Adventure Science‘s latest project in the Badlands of western North Dakota (the link to the article is here), a cross-disciplinary study that brought together a variety of hard and social scientists, humanities folk, and what I endearingly called Mutants — much in the sci-fi X-Men vein — the types that get a kick out of running through the Badlands in rain, sleet or snow in the day, and camping in mud at night. I had a chance to provide basecamp support for Adventure Science’s first week (some of that linked to here and here). This team was also recognized by The Explorers Club (New York City) for pushing the boundaries of human knowledge in otherwise unwelcoming environs. The team will gather today, this afternoon, Friday, May 3, 2013, at the Bismarck Public Library (in Bismarck, ND) for a press conference.

In other archaeological news, in the last week I received an update from the PaleoCultural Research Group. It is a great outfit (here is a link to some Fort Clark historic archaeology from last summer), and if you haven’t already, you should consider joining. If you’re interested in putting your archaeological volunteering skills to work throughout the American West this summer, below is a list of three projects Mark Mitchell is coordinating. Give him a shout if you’re interested. He’s great to work with, is perpetually optimistic (but not in an annoying or delusional way), and he has been known to wear a cowboy hat while excavating. Here is a link to one of his latest works that considers the political economic history of the Mandan-Hidatsa and the Heart River (which empties into the upper Missouri River just south of Bismarck-Mandan, North Dakota) out of University of Arizona Press. Below, the summer’s schedule.