This summer, ISAS assistant director Tom Loebel introduced students from Knox College to field work at the DeWulf site, a Paleoindian site that dates back about 9,500 years. 

Knox student volunteer Hannah Dixon spent 32 hours at the site. “I’d never been able to participate in the actual digging of an active archaeological site,” she said. She said that the atmosphere of the dig was not intimidating and that she enjoyed learning from seasoned archaeologists—all of whom were “incredibly nice and witty and willing to explain anything and everything we had questions about.” 

The Knox students are not the only volunteers who have assisted ISAS at the DeWulf site. 

"We've had over 20 professional archaeologists involved, and over 80 different volunteers who have worked 206 person-days of time to help salvage this site before it gets developed," Lobel said. "Archaeology is uniquely positioned among the sciences to put 'citizen scientists' to work in a way they can make an immediate contribution!"

Read more about the Knox students' participation in the project.