Gearing up for 2015!

Can Jim's eyes get any crazier?

The info sessions have been held and the calls for participants have been posted nationally. We're looking for a few good students to join us on Smiths Island for Field School 4.0 - the best one yet, I hope. What will the rest of Oven Site hold? What IS that metal plate we found pressed against the 1614 floor? And what might we find in the yard out in front?  Might Smallpox Bay be the site of Governor Moore's brief 1612 capital? And where did Carter, Chard, and Waters place their house, if not the Cotton Hole Bight site? Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm pleased to say that Leigh and Jim will both be returning to join battle once again for the Gelato Cup. We plan to have students conduct digital archaeology field recording, including some 3D modeling and direct-to-database context input using Android tablets. Weather permitting, we may also conduct a surface recording and make a 3D scan of the shallow shipwreck we found halfway between St. George's and Smiths Island, just to see if a Go Pro Hero 4 and Agisoft Photoscan are up to the task.

If you are interested, there's still time to apply (Deadline is March 1): you can download an application from my department website or apply directly at the U of R's Study Abroad Study Abroad website.

I am also very pleased to announce a new fellowship for students interested in taking HIS 399/599, Advanced Field and Research Methods.  Through a generous donation to support advanced student training, the Irwin Belk Foundation has funded several Thomas Harriott Scholarships of up to $1,000 each to defray the field school program fee for returning students seeking to develop specialty archaeological skills. Thanks especially to friends Bill and Georgia Dunn Belk for their support and deep and abiding interest in Bermudian history! For more information and to apply, please email me (Michael.jarvis@rochester.edu) directly. The application deadline is March 15; please apply to the field school first/as well, so we will have relevant supporting information.

New and Improved 17th-Century Day! Now with more rats!

Two additional changes worth mentioning involve this summer's housing. Sadly, our Convict Bay Condo is no longer available, but we have identified a cluster of 18th-century buildings in the very heart of St. George's near the Town Hall and State House to become our headquarters. Located at the site of 17th-century-St. George's town dock and inlet, Block House itself could be an archaeological site! And we have plans to make Seventeenth-Century Day even better, with different traditional craft activities. And hammocks instead of the hard dirt floor! And guest speakers expert in early modern cuisine and domestic manufacturing.

May 23 will be here before we know it - and I for one can't wait. The high today in Rochester was 4° F.  The low was -6°, with a wind chill of -30°...