A student asks… “I was wondering if you could tell me more about what types of archaeological surveying you will be teaching and simply what we will be studying?”
We will teach students basic survey skills, for example how to recognize sites and deposits on pedestrian survey and how to record features using form and mapping equipment. We also stress the use of digital technology where appropriate. So, for example, students will learn how to use mapping-grade GPS which can map features with remarkable precision and hold a range of information about each feature in a database.
Our research focuses especially on ancient agriculture, so we will be investigating large, continuous systems of irrigated fields that were built beginning around 1400 A.D. The surplus production from these systems would eventually help underwrite the rise to power of Hawaii’s first elite to rule all of the islands: King Kamehameha I. However, until we began surveying and excavating in the area we had little direct evidence of this aspect of the region’s prehistory.
A good place to start to get an idea of what kinds of work we do is by looking at last year’s report:
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/mdmccoy/McCoy_Graves_2007_HARP_report.pdf
