What did you do on your summer break? Tell your friends you unearthed ancient secrets this summer!
 
Become an amateur archaeologist at our Hahn Site Field School. It promises to be a first-rate field experience at this late prehistoric village site.
 
Preliminary excavations by Peabody Museum at Harvard in 1885 uncovered an array of prehistoric items including flint, stone, bone and shell artifacts. And, although little was learned of village layout, these 19th century investigations and subsequent surface collections in the 20th century indicate that Hahn is a circular to oval village with a central plaza. Our 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Hahn Site Field Schools exposed a complete wall trench house dating to the middle Fort Ancient period (ca. A.D. 1300-1500), a large debris filled pit, a ditch to a circular earthwork and numerous pit features dating to the late Fort Ancient Madisonville phase (ca. A.D. 1500-1650).

This adventure is geared for teenagers and adults (ages 11-16 must be accompanied by an adult) and offer an opportunity to explore the Hahn Site’s domestic areas, including food storage and cooking pits, as well as the suspected locations of stockades bordering both the middle and late Fort Ancient villages. You will learn standard excavation and recording techniques as you discover more about the late prehistory of southwest Ohio, the development of sedentary agricultural villages and the importance of the Hahn Site in our understanding of local Fort Ancient-age societies. Your hard work will be rewarded with the thrill of uncovering layers and artifacts from an important period in American prehistory.

You may follow up your field experience by volunteering in our archaeology laboratory, processing and cleaning the artifacts for eventual study and exhibit. Call Volunteer Services at (513) 287-7072 to learn more about becoming a volunteer.