Photo By Samantha Heilig | Gwyneth Vollman (left), Tom Hale (back left), Colleen Vollman (front right) and Brant...... read more read more
In a collaboration with the city of Rock Island, Illinois, and the Martin Luther King Center Summer Education Program, staff from the Rock Island District helped put together an Archaeological Field School for area youth during the months of June and July.
Organized by Corps Archaeologist Brant Vollman along with his wife, Colleen, and daughter, Gwyneth, this program invited area youth from the Martin Luther King Center Summer Education Program to participate in a hands on archaeological dig on city-owned property in Rock Island. The city of Rock Island reached out to the Corps for assistance with the project and Vollman jumped at the opportunity.
While Vollman is an Archaeologist for the Corps, his daughter Gwyneth is studying the related field of Anthropology at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri, and his wife, Colleen Small-Vollman, is the Budget and Grant Manager within the Community and Development Section for the city of Rock Island, making it an all-around family affair.
In addition to the Vollman family, Rock Island District employees Tom Hale (Planning), Chuck Gerdes (Geographic Info Systems), Mike Dougherty (GIS), Chris Hawes (GIS), Kayleigh Thomas (GIS) and Mike McKean (Ranger/Visitors Center) assisted with the program.
When Brant Vollman was asked about the goal of the program, he said, "The purpose of the Archaeological Field School is to introduce area youth to various aspects of archeology including surveying, GIS, research, history and photography and to also help them develop skills in geometry and the presentation of information."
The first part of the program involved the participants out in the field retrieving artifacts that they could bring back to the classroom to examine. While in the classroom, participants analyzed and researched the artifacts to determine the significance of each item. They then photographed and cataloged each item. At the end of the program, each group of participants presented their findings and discussed what they learned during the program.
In addition to the archaeological field work and research components of the program, participants were invited to come to the Clock Tower for a tour and to meet with GIS Section personnel to run through a mapping exercise and to showcase potential career paths associated with this type of activity. Participants got a chance to use a new data collection system under the direction of the GIS personnel and went out into the “field” to gather certain targets to be included in the mapping exercise. This activity gave them another real life, hands-on mapping experience.
"Based on the success of this year’s program, my family and I are looking forward to a long, successful partnership with the City of Rock Island and the MLK Center, and improving and strengthening the program year-in and year-out," Vollman said.
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.05.2018 12:29 |
| Story ID: | 298829 |
| Location: | ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Corps Joins City of Rock Island and MLK Center for Archaeological Field School, by James Finn, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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