Each day of an Earthwatch teen expedition offers a balance of hands-on research and the chance to explore your surroundings and get to know the scientists and your teammates. Your team is led not only by professional researchers, but also by at least one Earthwatch facilitator, who will always be around to help you get the most out of your experience
On the day you arrive, the researchers will conduct an orientation and brief you on the work you’ll be doing. Fieldwork will begin on the second day, where you will:
- Excavate ancient households and public architecture:
Most days, you’ll arrive at the dig immediately after breakfast and spend much of the day working with hand trowels, brooms, buckets, and screens to remove and identify artifacts and other archaeological finds. Your work may focus on the excavation of homes, middens (trash deposits), and the great houses.
- Survey for future excavation sites:
Help with remote sensing surveys that identify likely areas of archaeological significance. Remote sensing tools are used to identify features beneath the ground that may have been overlooked by standard survey techniques.
- Survey for future excavation sites:
Excavate a site of the ancient Pueblo II community.
- Lab Analysis:
Process artifacts recovered from excavations—pottery, lithics (stone tools), ground stone, and animal bone—which includes washing, sorting, cataloging, and labeling them.
In the evenings, you’ll head back to the field station for dinner and time to relax. Additionally, you may attend programs, including an introduction to research at Crow Canyon, presentation by staff archaeologists, and guest lectures on current research in Southwestern archaeology.
NOTE: Field conditions and research needs can lead to changes in the itinerary and activities. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.