ANTH 4995. Anthropology Independent Study
For several years, Anthropology students have been gaining valuable field and laboratory experience by participating in the Camp Douglas/Bronzeville Archaeological Project. Students volunteer for fieldwork that provides basic training in stratigraphic excavation and mapping at sites on Chicago's Near South Side. Prof. Jane Peterson, a member of Marquette's Anthropology faculty, serves as Laboratory Director for the project and runs the Archaeology Lab in Cramer Hall, where students learn how to process, identify, and analyze historical artifacts. Their analyses have resulted in research projects that shed important, new light on several historic periods represented in the excavations, including Civil-war era Camp Douglas -- when the area served as a Confederate POW camp -- and the inception of the Bronzeville neighborhood where large numbers of African Americans moved as part of the Great Migration. Student research also contributes to several community-based, heritage preservation initiatives currently underway.