Into the West(ern Plains): Results of the 2017 Bighorn Archaeology Field School, Park and Fremont Counties, Wyoming

Summary

This presentation highlights several aspects of archaeological research and training undertaken by the Indiana University Bighorn Archaeology field school in its thirteenth year. Areas of study include documentation of Native residential campsites (stone circles) at the Heart Mountain Nature Conservancy; research at the Heart Mountain WWII Japanese American Confinement Site; photogrammetry of stone architecture (stone circles and cairns) and rock art around the Bighorn Basin; comparative rock art research at Legend Rock, Ten Sleep Nature Preserve, and the Oregon Basin; and post-fire inventory and site monitoring in the Washakie Wilderness of the Shoshone National Forest. Staff and students also engage with the public through traditional means and social media. Using different methodologies, Bighorn Archaeology's overarching research goals remain focused on exploring historical and social landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and to communicate our results to professional audiences and the public. Through additional readings on the region's history and culture, we teach students to understand the West from multiple perspectives and to apply them to their personal interactions and experiences. Discussion of unfamiliar concepts communicated through familiar channels allows students more quickly to grasp complexities of the West and to think about them critically, especially in rural conservative American communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22626