The Big Dig
Students Turn Indiana Jones in New Course

When Professor of History Thomas Taylor and Assistant Professor of History Darlene Brooks Hedstrom saw an opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience in history, they capitalized on it.

Together, they designed a class syllabus that combined Brooks Hedstrom’s archaeological expertise and Taylor’s involvement with the restoration of the Gammon House, a stop on the Underground Railroad in Springfield.

They then applied and received matching funds from The Turner Foundation and a start-up budget from Wittenberg.

After a year’s preparation, which included having a resistivity probe conducted by Michael Zaleha, assistant professor and acting chair of geology, using ground penetrating radar equipment operated by Dan Fleisch, associate professor of physics, Taylor and Brooks Hedstrom welcomed 17 students to their co-taught Archaeological Field Methods course this fall, the first in Wittenberg’s history.

“The goal is to discover what evidence exists physically that the Gammon House was on the Underground Railroad,” Brooks Hedstrom explained, adding that a tangible sign would be a tunnel.

The schedule for the interior reconstruction of the house mandated that the dig begin in the shallow crawlspace beneath the house.

At the site, each student worked as a field archaeologist. Required to document everything, each developed and improved skills in several disciplines.

“This class gave us the unique opportunity to gain some firsthand experience with the methods and techniques that archaeologists use to examine and interpret the past,” Adam F. Drain ’05 explained.

“Paperwork, drawing, categorizing and a lot of thinking occurs before and during the actual excavation.” “It has managed to go above and beyond what I expected,” added Corey McOsker ’05, who plans to pursue archaeology.

“Everyday there was something new and interesting, whether or not you actually unearthed an old object.”

Springfield native Tyler Jackson ’05 said he was drawn to the class by the fact that something exciting like the Underground Railroad actually happened in his hometown.

Jackson admits that his most difficult challenge was leaving an 1860-1870 two-cent coin untouched while he photographed and documented the discovery.

“We have to realize that everything is important; our documentation will be the only record of each object,” Jackson said.

Seven students continued to work after the excavation component of the class ended in October to complete the crawl space dig. They will work as supervisors during the back yard excavation scheduled for the spring.

The yard is not fenced, so additional time will be required to set up and take down the materials each work day to secure the dig. A ‘study season’ will soon get underway, according to Brooks Hedstrom.

“The study season is the work done away from the site that follows the excavation work,” she said. “Wittenberg’s biologists will examine the bones, and the chemists will examine the soils collected.”

A final component of the course requires that the students organize an exhibition for the Gammon House Museum.
– Phyllis Eberts ’00