Forensic Science Club Goes Digging for Evidence

Oct. 4, 2007

Archaeology Month Celebration :Fort Hunter Excavation                                  

	Susquehanna Twp. High School Forensic Science Club members start their investigation with on overview of the archaeological excavation.		Dr. Kurt Carr, Archaeologist  from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, describes the excavation to a club member.		In an excavation, the square areas where the digging is occurring are called "units".
	A view of the excavation at Fort Hunter.		Archaeologist are investigating the possibility that this location represents the original English fort built to fortify troops a protect the area from an attach from troops coming down the Susquehanna River.		Strings are used in the measurements for the excavation.
	PennDOT Archaeologist Scott Schaeffer helps our investigators find evidence from the past in a method called "screening".		The Forensics team stand on a large hill of soil that has been removed from the excavation in large white buckets and pushed through a screen.		Dr. Carr points to a "feature" in the excavation. Features are areas in the soil that has been disturbed, possibly by human activity.
	Student investigators found numerous animal bones in the screened soil from the excavation.