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Public Archaeology on the Front Range
A view of the Pawnee National Grassland. There's something special about the Plains in northeastern Colorado.
Calliope Jane, the goodest good girl, surveying the Pawnee National Grassland.
2025 Survey & Testing in Weld County, CO
The heart of my fieldwork lies in public archaeology and making the process of archaeological investigation accessible, inclusive, and meaningful for everyone. During the 2025 PAAC Summer Field Project, I led a diverse team of volunteers, including students, community members, new archaeological professionals, and retired professionals, on the Pawnee National Grassland and adjacent State Trust lands in Weld County. Together, we worked to document the archaeological record of the Colorado Plains, bridging the gap between professional research and public stewardship.
This project offers a rare opportunity for individuals, regardless of prior experience, to engage directly with the archaeological process. By walking the land in systematic transects, practicing subsurface testing, and recording sites in both buried and surface contexts, participants do more than just observe the process; they become active contributors to the generation of archaeological knowledge. Through this hands-on engagement, we foster a collective responsibility for preservation and a lasting connection to the deep history of the Front Range.
Photos from the field:
Documenting a large surface scatter of chipped stone material
Volunteer documenting attributes of chipped stone tools in the field
Colorado wildfires making for a hazy sky - the Rocky Mountains are barely visible!
Me photographing & documenting chipped stone tools
photo by Chris Johnston
PAAC volunteer augering
Volunteers screening each auger bucket
Volunteers determining soil color using the Munsell
One auger with all the buckets laid out. You can really see the stratigraphy!
Geoarchaeological Research
Photo by David Ian Howe
Geoarchaeology
Geoarchaeology is the bridge between the earth sciences and the human story. As Colin Renfrew noted in 1976, "since archaeology, or at least prehistoric archaeology, recovers almost all its basic data by excavation, every archaeological problem starts as a problem in geoarchaeology." While this foundation is essential, I would add that every geoarchaeological problem must end as an anthropological one.
Three fundamental methods to characterize soils and sediments:
calcium carbonate content
A chittick apparatus is used to determine the inorganic carbon content of a sample by measuring the volume of liquid that is displaced by gases released when a sample reacts with acid.
loss on ignition
LOI is a method used to determine the organic matter content by measuring the weight difference of a sample before and after it has been heated to a high termperature (pictured above).
particle size analysis
Digital hydrometers help us determine percent sand, silt, and clay content in a sample by measuring the change in density of a soil-water suspension over time as particles drop out of suspension at different rates.
University of Wyoming ZooMS Laboratory
ZooMS
Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS) is a cutting edge proteomics method used to unlock the taxonomic identity of faunal remains. At the University of Wyoming, we have established an in-house lab dedicated to ZooMS analysis, providing a powerful alternative to traditional methods. This technology is particularly transformative for identifying highly fragmented bone specimens or bone tools, turning unidentifiable remains into critical archaeological data.
Featured Research
Use of hare bone for the manufacture of a Clovis bead
Early Paleoindian use of fur bearers for bone needle production
Other Featured Projects:
Warren Mammoth Project
The Warren Mammoth (48LA3800) was discovered by a local landowner in Laramie County, WY. Fieldwork began at the site in 2022, and was completed 2023 with funding from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.
While we have determined this to be a non-cultural site, our excavations produced valuable data for the interpretation of other proboscidean sites and for proboscidean bonebed taphonomic studies.
2022 Excavation Block
A volunteer crew excavated approx. 15 sq. m over 10 days in 2022.
Biface
This biface was recovered from the surface nearby the scattered mammoth remains. No unambiguous archaeology was found in situ associated with the mammoth remains. We are interpreting the site as non-cultural.
Working Hard
Junior Supervisor Jack-dog taking a quick nap on the job while crews excavate in 2023.
Back at the lab
Work continues back at the lab to stabilize and catalog all of the mammoth remains recovered.
Jack Yeller posing for the camera on a cool pile of back dirt, June 2021.
Investigations of the Red Buttes property in the Laramie Basin, WY
Hay Gulch Investigations
Middle Park, CO
University of Wyoming Archaeological Field School 2022
Paperwork
Students learning how to determine soil texture in the field while augering.
Total Station
Junior Supervisor Jack-dog overseeing UW Archaeology Field School students learning how to use the total station.
Screening
Senior Supervisor Callie-dog resting in the shade of the screens at Hay Gulch, CO.
In Situ
Students gathering to look at the first in situ find at Hay Gulch during the 2022 field season.
Profiling
After excavations are complete, students gather together to learn how to draw a profile.
Backfilling
Last step: backfill!
Galactic Neighborhood Model Run with 10ly capabilities
Modeling the Settlement of our Galactic Neighborhood
I presented the preliminary findings of this research at the Society for American Archaeology 87th Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL, March 30 - April 3, 2022 and for the Western Regional Space Grant Meeting in Houston, TX, October 17-18, 2022.
Laying out the auger buckets allows for a quick view of the subsurface stratigraphy. September 2019.
Rehder Ranch Investigations
Read about our investigation of a reported Clovis point find from the Rocky Mountains in Southwestern Lore, vol 87, no 4: 1-10.
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