Field School Results

By the last week and a half of the field school, the subterranean greenhouse feature was finally located. The found feature was approximately the same size as Theophilus A. Wylie III had drawn on his 1954 sketchmap (see below). The greenhouse in his sketch map had diminsions of 12 ft x 6 ft x 6ft while the found feature had roughly the same measurements. 

Future Plans

The completion of the 2018 fieldschool does not conclude this Indiana University Bicentennial Project. Related projects beginning immediately after the field school include this online exhibit, a small symposium with Field Director Liz Watts Malouchos and Wylie House Director Carey Beam, and a Laboratory Methods course that was an extension of artifact analysis took place at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, taught by April Sievert, in Fall 2018. Another symposium is planned for the fall of 2019, in which archaeologists from across the state to explore the advantages of and best practices for campus archaeology programs.

Additionally, the locating of the green house increases the likelihood of a future field school or excavation to reopen the feature and explore it in more depth. There may also be other future excavations to locate other features on the Wylie House property such as the ice house or the well due to the success of this field school excavation. 

The management of the artifacts collected from the 2018 field school are and will continue to be a collaborative effort between the Wylie House and the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, and will provide classes and researchers with increased access and information.