![\"Undergraduates](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07282026-0088.jpg\")
From left, undergraduates Hunter Hogan and Brayden Hickerson show the test unit they are excavating at a private-property site adjacent to Maumee\u2019s Fort Maumee to Dr. Melissa Baltus, an associate professor of anthropology, and UToledo President James Holloway.<\/p><\/div>\n
They’re learning the field skills they’ll need to pursue careers in cultural resource management \u2014 basics like plotting a test unit, screening excavated soil and documenting artifacts for reference by fellow archaeologists.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s important for students to understand the recovery process even if they ultimately want to work in a museum,\u201d said Dr. Melissa Baltus, an archaeologist and associate professor of anthropology in UToledo\u2019s Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education. \u201cAnd for students who enjoy this experience and want to continue into field work, a field school like this is the core requirement for getting a job in archaeology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baltus teaches Field Methods in Archaeology (ANTH 4510), an experience-based learning course that challenges students to \u2014 quite literally \u2014 get their hands dirty as they apply the skills they learn back on Main Campus. This year they\u2019re investigating a private-property site adjacent to Fort Miamis, a historic stronghold along the Maumee River, where their discoveries have ranged from fish bones that may speak to a long-ago kitchen to a spoon that more likely reflects the fill dirt incorporated into a relatively recent landscaping effort.<\/p>\n
During a recent visit to the site in Maumee, UToledo President James Holloway asked the obvious question about a discovery the students identified in variations in the composition of the soil itself: Why would a narrow trench, perhaps studded with posts, have once run outside of Fort Miamis?<\/p>\n
But the answer, he learned, will almost certainly be up for debate even with the data still being collected by the students enrolled in Field Methods in Archaeology.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one of my favorite things about anthropology and archaeology is that it isn\u2019t a hard science,\u201d said Brad Cain, an undergraduate pursuing a minor in anthropology. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interpretation that goes into it. We\u2019re finding things out here, but not everyone is going to agree on what it all means.\u201d<\/p>\n
The field school course aligns with the new UToledo initiative, Applied Skills for Career Experience, Networking and Development (ASCEND),<\/a> to ensure that every undergraduate student, regardless of major, engages in an experience-based learning opportunity before earning their degree.<\/p>\n ASCEND supports the Advantage Toledo launchpad that Holloway introduced to harness the power of partnership with the region’s broad business and cultural ecosystem. And it builds on the experience-based opportunities already integrated into the majority of undergraduates\u2019 academic programs such as co-ops, internships, clinical or research opportunities, service-learning or study abroad programs and other University-approved experiences \u2014 like Field Methods in Archaeology.<\/p>\n Dr. Melissa Baltus, left, the associate professor of anthropology teaching Field Methods in Archaeology, shows UToledo President James Holloway an artifact uncovered by students at a private-property site adjacent to Fort Miamis in Maumee.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThis is exactly the kind of experience-based learning that we are integrating into UToledo through ASCEND,\u201d Holloway said during his visit to Maumee. \u201cOur students are developing the skills needed to be employed in their profession, and they are simultaneously experiencing the excitement of uncovering something new.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Melissa Gregory, dean of the Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education, spoke similarly of ASCEND.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents here are not only learning to understand the world on a much deeper level,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re also learning hands-on skills that lead to careers in fields like cultural resource management.\u201d<\/p>\n More than five weeks into the six-week course, Evan Salas can appreciate the value of hands-on experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of want to go into paleontology, but I\u2019m interested in museum management as well,\u201d said Salas, who followed an interest in history and a fascination with fossils to the undergraduate anthropology<\/a> degree program. \u201cThe skills I\u2019m learning in this course are going to be applicable to a lot of different fields that I\u2019m interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Dunbar is also excited about the practical applications of the field school.<\/p>\n Dunbar is on a circuitous course to his bachelor\u2019s degree in anthropology. He first enrolled in UToledo in the 1980s, then put his studies on hiatus to raise a family and run a small business alongside his wife. He\u2019s back in the classroom now with a specific goal \u2014 to land an archaeological field work job in Scotland, where his daughter recently earned a master\u2019s degree and where he and his wife are hoping to live for a part of each year.<\/p>\n Dunbar said he was enjoying his field school experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very exciting,\u201d he said, taking a break from screening the excavated soil for missed artifacts. \u201cEvery time you get into the pit, you never know what you\u2019re going to find.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anthropology students are learning to plot test units, screen excavated soil and document artifacts during a six-week field school near Maumee\u2019s Fort Miamis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":908,"featured_media":100065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,581,498,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100064"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100070,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100064\/revisions\/100070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07282026-0154.jpg\")
![\"Undergraduates](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/07282026-0088-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>