REU Site: From Field to Lab: Bringing Science to Underserved Undergraduate Students through Archaeology

参加岩石艺术牧场研究丰富本科生（RAR-REU）项目的学生在亚利桑那州科罗拉多高原的一个私人牧场实地工作五周，然后在图森亚利桑那大学校园的各种研究实验室工作两周，获得考古调查和挖掘经验。而在现场，学生们沉浸在一个研究项目，探索该地区的历史在过去的5000年。RAR-REU的目标是让本科生参与到这一研究过程的各个方面。通过考古学家、土著人类学家和工作人员的讲座，以及实地考察体验当地考古和土著文化，实现了参与。参与包括挖掘和调查方法的实践经验，制图，文件，并在现场实验室工作。每个学生确定一个研究项目，该项目在教师导师的指导下进行，并在REU期间的最后两天提交。在亚利桑那大学的校园里，学生们有两周的时间在ASM的保护、动物考古学、生物考古学和陶瓷/石器实验室工作，以获得对回答现代考古学问题至关重要的分析方法的经验。知识价值：对RAR进行了两年的调查，发现了14个史前陶瓷，篮子制造者II （BMII）遗址，沿着牧场西侧的峡谷，不包括之前在Chevelon峡谷记录的BMII岩画遗址。RAR-REU计划将把研究重点放在这个群体上，寻求为这些符号的含义提供一个背景，并通过收集BMII遗址中丰富的烧焦特征的放射性碳样本来间接确定它们的年代。BMII遗址在RAR上的集中以及峡谷中大量图像的存在，为了解BMII土地和资源的利用、遗址的使用时间长短、定居点是专注于农业还是狩猎和采集，以及岩画遗址在BMII景观创造中的作用提供了机会。更广泛的影响和研究与教育的整合：RAR-REU旨在通过与代表不同学科和观点的众多专业人士的互动，为本科生提供身临其境的、以科学为基础的体验，这些专业人士包括本土学者、实地考古学家、保护人员和博物馆专业人员。学生与教师导师密切合作，发展他们的研究项目。RAR-REU的招聘重点是有大量印第安人代表的当地大学、学院和社区学院。我们还与部落文化保护项目合作，帮助招募参与者。此外，我们的目标是小型学院和社区学院，其中包括女性在内的代表性不足的群体。学生和教师之间的合作研究项目在地方和国家的专业考古会议上展示，并以多作者的文章和书籍章节的形式出版。所提出的研究和活动对社会的好处在于为社会科学领域的众多职业提供了模型，这些职业有可能为代表性不足的群体提供模型，并展示了科学探索的过程及其价值，它不仅增加了我们对当前世界的理解，而且增加了我们对过去世界和社会的理解。

Students participating in the Rock Art Ranch Research Enrichment for Undergraduates (RAR-REU) program gain experience in archaeological survey and excavation while in the field for five weeks at a private ranch on the Colorado Plateau in Arizona followed by two weeks in diverse research labs at the University of Arizona campus in Tucson. While in the field, students are immersed in a research program that explores the history of the region over the past 5000 years. The goals of RAR-REU are to involve and engage undergraduates in all aspects of this research process. Engagement is achieved through lectures by archaeologists, indigenous anthropologists, and staff, and through field trips to experience local archaeology and indigenous cultures. Involvement includes hands-on experiences with excavation and survey methods, mapping, documentation, and work in the field lab. Each student identifies a research project that is conducted with guidance from faculty mentors and presented on the last two days of the REU period. On the University of Arizona campus the students have two weeks to work in conservation, zooarchaeology, biological archaeology, and ceramics/lithics labs at ASM to gain experience in analytical methods essential to answering modern archaeological problems.Intellectual Merit: Two years of survey on RAR has discovered 14 preceramic, Basketmaker II (BMII) sites along canyons on the west side of the ranch, not including the previously documented BMII petroglyph site in Chevelon Canyon. The RAR-REU program will focus its research on this community seeking to provide a context for the meaning of the glyphs and to indirectly date them through collection of radiocarbon samples from burned features that are abundant in the BMII sites. The concentration of BMII sites on RAR and the presence of extensive imagery in the canyon provide an opportunity to understand BMII land and resource use, the length of time sites were in use, whether or not the settlements were focused on farming or hunting and gathering, and the role of petroglyph sites in the creation of the BMII landscape.Broader Impacts and Integration of Research and Education: RAR-REU is designed to provide an immersive, science-based experience to undergraduate students through interaction with numerous professionals representing different disciplines and perspectives, including native scholars, field archaeologists, conservators, and museum professionals. Students work closely with faculty mentors to develop their research projects. Recruitment to RAR-REU focuses on local universities, colleges, and community colleges having significant Native American representation. We also work with tribal cultural preservation programs to help recruit participants. In addition, we target small colleges and community colleges having significant underrepresented groups, including women. Collaborations on research projects between students and faculty are presented at local and national professional archaeology meetings and published as multi-authored articles and book chapters. The benefits of the proposed research and activities to society are in modeling numerous careers in social science that are possible for underrepresented groups and in demonstrating the process of scientific enquiry and its value in increasing our understanding of not only the present world, but of past worlds and societies.