2010 Industrial Archaeology Field School: Copper Mining on the
Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan.
Join the Industrial Archaeologists from Michigan Technological
University during May and June of 2010, helping document an historic
mid-nineteenth century native copper mine in the heart of the Keweenaw
Peninsula. The Keweenaw is famous as one of the few places on earth
where humans found significant quantities of metallic copper, ranging
in size from tiny flakes to massive boulders of pure metal. We
anticipate studying the ruins of the Cliff Mine (1845-1870), one of
the region's earliest, and for a time most profitable, mass copper
mines. The site sits atop and below the 200-foot greenstone bluff that
runs along the spine of the Keweenaw Peninsula, about 30 miles
northeast of Houghton, Michigan. We will reconstruct the evolution of
the industrial process using clues left by workers as they built,
worked, and reworked the site’s shafts, mill, engine house, kilns,
stacks, shops, houses and offices.
The field school participants will learn multiple documentation
techniques, such as digital and optical mapping, use of ground-based,
aerial, and satellite-based remote sensing in survey- including LiDAR
and ROV aerial photogrammetry, measured drawings, architectural and
archaeological photography, and some excavation and artifact analyses
specifically designed for industrial archaeology.
Timothy Scarlett and Samuel Sweitz teach the field course. Both Drs.
Scarlett and Sweitz are anthropologists and archaeologists with
experience in hardrock mining history and archaeology in the United
States.
Along with fieldwork, there will be field trips, lectures, and
discussions devoted to the history and technology of early copper
mining in the Keweenaw, copper mining communities, and industrial
landscapes. We anticipate a number of guest lectures by noted
scholars, including:
Dr. Larry Lankton, historian of technology and author of several books
and articles about the Copper Country, including Hollowed Ground:
Copper Mining and Community Building on Lake Superior, 1840s-1990s
(Wayne State University Press, 2010); Cradle to Grave: Live, Work, and
Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (Oxford University Press,
1991); and Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape at the Lake
Superior Copper Mines, 1840-1875 (Oxford University Press, 1997).
Dr. Susan Martin, anthropologist and author of Wonderful Power: The
Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin. (1999,
Wayne State University Press)
Dr. Patrick Martin, industrial archaeologist and current president of
The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial
Heritage (TICCIH), the international body that advises ICOMOS
regarding Industrial Heritage issues.
Dr. Michael Falkowski, Remote sensing and Resource Management
specialist with expertise in high spatial resolution remote sensing,
including LiDAR.
Course Details:
Students will live in Houghton. MTU will help guest students to find
accommodations in town for during the field school. Project
participants are encouraged to explore the Keweenaw during their time
off, and many will choose to bring outdoor recreation gear for
mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, and road biking.
Students are also encouraged to attend the 2010 Annual Meeting of the
Society for Industrial Archaeology in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
This is an equal opportunity course, and students with disabilities or
special needs should contact Dr. Scarlett to discuss accommodations
during the registration process.
MTU students can register using Banweb as they would for a regular
Track A summer course. Register for SS 3210 (undergraduate) or SS
5700 (graduate), and the class may be taken for 2-8 credits. These
credits are repeatable, so students that have done previous field
schools at MTU or elsewhere can also enroll for credit. The field
school will generally require a full day commitment for Track A, both
in the field and in the lab. Contact Dr. Scarlett with questions: [log in to unmask]
.
Additional information, including registration information for guest
students, can be found here:
http://www.ss.mtu.edu/faculty/Scarlett/Summer/FieldSchools.htm
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