Vancouver Archaeological Field School With Dr. Colin Grier

In June and July 2023, the Anthropology Department completed its archaeological field school. The field school is based out of the Vancouver campus and has been offered for many years running in collaboration with Portland State University (PSU) and the National Parks Service (NPS). In 2023, students received training in excavation at the NeCus’ village site in Cannon Beach, OR, a long-standing Clatsop-Nehalem village visited by Lewis and Clark in 1806. The students were trained in survey methods on NPS property behind the Middle Village site along the north shore of the Columbia River near Chinook, WA. They also received instruction in ground penetrating radar survey at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark’s overwintering fort just south of Astoria, OR.

It was a busy summer with our field camp situated on NPS’s Yeon property at Sunset Beach, which amply accommodated a crew of over 30 students, instructors, and assistants. We look forward to offering the field school again next summer, likely in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, and we invite interested students to look for information on this next offering in early 2024.