The hands-on learning strategy of public archaeology summer programs provides opportunities to combine conceptual understanding with real-time application of analytical practices, enhancing the retention of technical skills. Using a mixed-methods approach that considers patterns and qualitative insight, we aim to understand the effectiveness of hands-on learning and the incorporation of art as a tool for strengthening a conceptual understanding of science and history. By mapping public access to archaeology-related programs in the Midwest, we can reflect on potential disparities in the region. The 2025 Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Project summer camp participants will complete a pre- and post-program assessment, including a trivia quiz and time for reflective visual art to assess shifts in interest and knowledge. This project will further analyze the effectiveness of creative learning strategies by observing engagement with hand-drawn visual aids available at the project's annual open house that represent Fort St. Joseph and recovered artifacts.

Over 2,500 pieces of container glass have been found thus far within the site of Fort St. Joseph, an 18th-century mission, military, and trading post. While the glass at this site has been visually examined, a chemical analysis has not been undertaken. By utilizing XRF, the elemental makeup of the glass samples can be better understood. Expanding on previous research, samples from each of the five identified color classes (blue, green, olive green, patinated, and other) in the collection will undergo XRF. By finding the bases and additives in these samples, the similarities and differences can aid in better understanding production locations, trade, and intended uses.

In household contexts, metal tacks used to upholster fabrics upon furniture can offer insights into residents' everyday ease and status. By examining the metals used and designs present on tacks found at the eighteenth-century site of Fort St. Joseph, we aim to learn more about the occupants' daily comfort, socioeconomic status, and access to materials. A spatial distribution of tacks archaeologically recovered in relation to structures identified within the fort will shed light on similarities and differences across the site. While metal tacks have not been widely examined in the past, these small items have the potential to provide a better understanding of life on the frontier.

Gunflints have been imported from Europe for military, personal, and trading purposes in New France. Establishing the original and terminal steps on the chaine operatoire provides the best framework for closer study of the scope and impact of global trade with regard to these artifacts. At Fort St. Joseph, both blade and spall-type gunflints of varying material have been recovered archaeologically. By examining these everyday items, chronological patterns may be discovered as well as their association with other artifacts and features. Spatial data from these artifacts could also show disparities across the site itself in access to desirable trade goods in colonial America. The small, but diverse population of this eighteenth-century outpost will shed light on trends of use and exchange in the western Great Lakes Region.

The process of 3D scanning has improved archaeologists’ ability to curate and share archaeological evidence by using scanning technologies to create models of excavation units, features, and artifacts. The resulting models can be used for sharing cultural or historical information. This is true for the artifacts recovered from the historic site of Fort St. Joseph, located in present-day Niles, Michigan. To better investigate the ways to engage scholars and the public, an examination of the methods employed to share and archive these reproductions both digitally and physically will be examined. By exploring which events and virtual platforms are most available and useful for the public as well as the curators, we aim to shed light on ways to make archaeological sites and artifacts more accessible.

It took 21 years to identify a frit-core bead recovered from the site of Fort St. Joseph (20BE23, 1691-1781) in Niles, Michigan. According to Karlis Karklins, frit-core beads are likely French-made with manufacturing dates spanning the late 1500s through the early 1600s. This specimen represents the furthest west a frit-core bead has been recovered in the Western Hemisphere. So, this bead possibly pre-dates the fort complex by roughly 100 years. How did it get there? What was it doing there? This poster examines the possible routes “taken” by this bead and examines its path to deposition. Suppositions include inhabitants from Sainte Marie among the Hurons, various Native peoples from Montréal and the western Great Lakes, Father Allouez, and Marquette and Joliet. This “small forgotten thing” may symbolize some of the oldest personal exchanges between French colonizers/explorers and Indigenous inhabitants before standardized practices of trading in fancier glass beads was established.

This research investigates butchery practices at the River Raisin archaeological site in southeastern Michigan, a long-term settlement best known for its role in the War of 1812 but occupied from the precolonial through Victorian periods. Morphological analysis of over 2,500 faunal specimens assessed cut mark frequency, placement, and type (e.g., slicing, sawing, chopping). Butchery traces were examined under low-magnification microscopy (DinoLite) to confirm identification, and select specimens were molded and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evaluate skill and consistency. Preliminary results indicate a shift toward more standardized and intensive processing during the colonial and Victorian periods, particularly in the sawing and segmentation of livestock bones. These changes suggest increasing formalization of butchery practices tied to broader colonial provisioning systems. Ultimately, this research demonstrates how food processing traces can illuminate the material impacts of colonial systems on everyday life and labor in the Great Lakes region.

From 1942 to 1945, 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes and into incarceration camps around the United States, including the Amache National Historic Site on the eastern plains of Colorado. Housing and feeding over 10,000 people there presented considerable logistical, cultural, and social issues for the US government. Eight field seasons of archaeological research have revealed the location, markings, and shape of 1000s of used and modified tin cans. This data, in conjunction with archival documents and oral histories, has been used to create a tin can typology for Amache. This typology has yielded important data into food flows into the camp, landscape-based analysis of differences in can depositions, and insight into how different foodstuffs were utilized in the camp itself, by individuals, communities, and the US government. This typology will be useful to any researchers working on mid-twentieth century sites, especially government and institutional facilities.

Occupying the freshwater and brackish environments of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, the bullhead catfish (Ameiurus spp.) is a species of freshwater catfish native to the Chesapeake. Sources from the 19^th- and 20^th-century point to the commercial value that this species had as a food source, with the fishery yielding nearly one million pounds per year during the late-19^th century. While these fish can tolerate variable environmental conditions, an increased reliance on catfish necessitated intensified harvesting that put pressure on these populations. In this poster, we use regression model analysis to estimate the body-length ranges of archaeological bullhead catfish from 19^th-century sites in Maryland and Virginia. We argue that estimated size data are a reflection of both regional market preferences and harvesting strategies that exerted pressure on the bullhead fishery in the Chesapeake. Broadly, this poster provides an example of how building size-regression datasets can be useful to ichthyo-archaeological research.

New Orleans, Louisiana encapsulates America’s “melting-pot” notion, culminating in an area of diverse music, art, and food. Along with its richness in culture, the city became known for its richness in vice. Storyville (1898-1917), the city’s former red light district, was once a central hub for the city’s culture and vice. Central to a large portion of creole and cajun style recipes, seafood has been an ever-present part of the city’s history. But what does that history look like in the context of a 19th-century red light district?

This poster examines the fish assemblage recovered during the excavation of one city block in the former footprint of Storyville. This project aims to offer a new perspective into the lives of sex workers living in Storyville, especially regarding their diet and cuisine. This research will focus on lifestyles, dietary practices, food waste, and transportation, using faunal analysis to begin uncovering answers.