Binghamton University and the NYSDOT: A Focus on Research and Outreach

Summary

For over 40 years, the Public Archaeology Facility, Binghamton University (SUNY) has benefited from an uninterrupted relationship with the New York Department of Transportation through projects administered by the NYS Education Department & New York State Museum. This started out as a non-competitive partnership with some SUNY campuses but became a competitive bidding situation about 20 years ago. The underlying principles of the contract call for a research focus that makes archaeological results widely available and maintains that information within an accessible public domain. PAF is strongly committed to these principles and implements them for our DOT projects. Sites found within narrow rights-of-way become potential field school sites; field school sites become research projects for community outreach programs; community outreach fosters public education and an empathy for historic preservation. Our DOT projects have also provided hands-on training and thesis data for graduate students, the future practitioners of CRM. This paper will explore our decades long relationship with NYSDOT and how this contributes to the advancement of knowledge about the past through academic research, student training, and community outreach.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Public Agencies and Universities: Partnerships for the Past

Keywords

Spatial Coverage