SURFICIAL PROCESSES CLASS IN SERVICE TO ARCHEOLOGY

A Surficial Processes class is a natural for service-learning research related to prehistoric human occupation of landscapes. Working with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management, my undergraduate students have completed three field research projects to assist management of archeological resources. This talk describes the most recent of those.

Lima Reservoir impounds the Red Rock River in the Centennial Valley of SW Montana, where human occupation is documented to the latest Pleistocene. Some archeological sites near the north shore of the reservoir are being eroded by wave action. We investigated part of that shoreline to further understanding of the ancient landscape and the recent erosion along the beach.

Students participated in all aspects of the research: literature review, project design, data collection, analysis, and oral and written presentations to agency personnel. Because UM Western classes meet in 3.5-week immersion blocks, we could go to the field for an extended camping/work party. BLM archeologists introduced the site and returned for a walk-around at the end.

Working in four field teams, students investigated:

• The beach profile and cliff face – for erosional processes and erosion resistance;

• Vegetation near the cliff rim – for its role in erosion resistance;

• The stratigraphy exposed in the beach cliffs – for past topography and depositional environments, paleosols, erosion resistance, and to help place artifacts in stratigraphic position;

• Geologic structures – for tectonic paleotopography and displacement of artifact-bearing layers;

• Presence of datable material – for ¹⁴C dating and volcanic tephra.

Students also created a photographic profile of the beach and cliff face as a visual baseline for future studies. After the field days, additional research included:

• Maps and air photos – for site topography, aerial views, and change through time;

• Climate – for recent and past 20,000 years of climate change;

• Reservoir-level history – for extent and timing of high-stands that could erode the cliff site.

This original research neatly integrated textbook readings (Process Geomorphology, Fifth Edition, 2011, D.F. Ritter et al.) and provided an authentic professional experience in the discipline, which is the essence of experiential learning.