Technical Equipment and Computer Applications
Program activity and grant funding has allowed ARP to acquire top-of-the-line technical equipment. Our technical equipment contains five Trimble handheld GPS units, survey transits, and a Leica total station. Technical laboratory equipment includes a Burker Tracer III-V+ handheld XRF, a NextEngine 3D scanner, and a 3D printer. The ARP’s suite of technical equipment allows senior undergraduate and graduate students to work with specialized equipment and develop computer skills that have proven to be very transferable to careers in archaeology.
Cooperative Agreement with Bureau of Land Management
In May of 2014, ARP and the Bureau of Land Management Eagle Lake Field Office (ELFO) initiated a five year cooperative agreement. The ARP has long-standing research interests in northeastern California and the Eagle Lake region in particular. In accordance with the goals of this agreement, ARP will conduct cultural resource inventories, record cultural resource sites, prepare inventory reports, participate in cultural resource restoration, develop and recommend cultural resource protection measures, and provide analysis for BLM collections.
Benbow Lake State Recreation Area
The Benbow Lake State Recreation Area Archaeological Project is an ongoing cooperative project between ARP, the North Coast Redwoods division of California State Parks, and the Bear River Band at Rohnerville Rancheria. The project involves conducting archaeological investigations at ethnographic village sites in the vicinity of Benbow Campground along the South Fork of the Eel River in northern California.
Initial field activities for this project were completed in during summer of 2013 and spring of 2014. Fieldwork was completed in the style of a traditional archaeological field school. The goal of the fieldwork was to update the existing site records to current professional standards, assess the extent of the subsurface archaeological deposits within and adjacent to the campground, and determine the location of a historic cabin thought to have been once located at the site. Student participants gained experience with the archaeology of prehistoric California and with current issues in the field of contact archaeology. Additionally, techniques in archaeological survey, site recording and boundary delineation, and archaeological test excavation were taught.
Sierra Valley
During the summer of 2012, ARP led a volunteer archaeological project at a prehistoric site in Sierra Valley, California. The project consisted of archaeological site documentation, mapping, and test excavations to evaluate the subsurface integrity of the site. The purpose of these tasks was to assess impacts to the site from road construction and livestock use. The material recovered from the site is currently being studied at CSUC, which will conclude with completion of a Master's thesis on the site.
