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2010 Industrial Archaeology Field School: Copper Mining on the  
Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan.

Join the Industrial Archaeologists from Michigan Technological  
University during May and June of 2010, helping document an historic  
mid-nineteenth century native copper mine in the heart of the Keweenaw  
Peninsula. The Keweenaw is famous as one of the few places on earth  
where humans found significant quantities of metallic copper, ranging  
in size from tiny flakes to massive boulders of pure metal.  We  
anticipate studying the ruins of the Cliff Mine (1845-1870), one of  
the region's earliest, and for a time most profitable, mass copper  
mines. The site sits atop and below the 200-foot greenstone bluff that  
runs along the spine of the Keweenaw Peninsula, about 30 miles  
northeast of Houghton, Michigan.  We will reconstruct the evolution of  
the industrial process using clues left by workers as they built,  
worked, and reworked the site’s shafts, mill, engine house, kilns,  
stacks, shops, houses and offices.

The field school participants will learn multiple documentation  
techniques, such as digital and optical mapping, use of ground-based,  
aerial, and satellite-based remote sensing in survey- including LiDAR  
and ROV aerial photogrammetry, measured drawings, architectural and  
archaeological photography, and some excavation and artifact analyses  
specifically designed for industrial archaeology.

Timothy Scarlett and Samuel Sweitz teach the field course.  Both Drs.  
Scarlett and Sweitz are anthropologists and archaeologists with  
experience in hardrock mining history and archaeology in the United  
States.

Along with fieldwork, there will be field trips, lectures, and  
discussions devoted to the history and technology of early copper  
mining in the Keweenaw, copper mining communities, and industrial  
landscapes.  We anticipate a number of guest lectures by noted  
scholars, including:

Dr. Larry Lankton, historian of technology and author of several books  
and articles about the Copper Country, including Hollowed Ground:  
Copper Mining and Community Building on Lake Superior, 1840s-1990s  
(Wayne State University Press, 2010); Cradle to Grave: Live, Work, and  
Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines (Oxford University Press,  
1991); and Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape at the Lake  
Superior Copper Mines, 1840-1875 (Oxford University Press, 1997).

Dr. Susan Martin, anthropologist and author of Wonderful Power: The  
Story of Ancient Copper Working in the Lake Superior Basin. (1999,  
Wayne State University Press)

Dr. Patrick Martin, industrial archaeologist and current president of  
The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial  
Heritage (TICCIH), the international body that advises ICOMOS  
regarding Industrial Heritage issues.

Dr. Michael Falkowski, Remote sensing and Resource Management  
specialist with expertise in high spatial resolution remote sensing,  
including LiDAR.

Course Details:

Students will live in Houghton. MTU will help guest students to find  
accommodations in town for during the field school.  Project  
participants are encouraged to explore the Keweenaw during their time  
off, and many will choose to bring outdoor recreation gear for  
mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, and road biking.   
Students are also encouraged to attend the 2010 Annual Meeting of the  
Society for Industrial Archaeology in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This is an equal opportunity course, and students with disabilities or  
special needs should contact Dr. Scarlett to discuss accommodations  
during the registration process.

MTU students can register using Banweb as they would for a regular  
Track A summer course.  Register for SS 3210 (undergraduate) or SS  
5700 (graduate), and the class may be taken for 2-8 credits.  These  
credits are repeatable, so students that have done previous field  
schools at MTU or elsewhere can also enroll for credit. The field  
school will generally require a full day commitment for Track A, both  
in the field and in the lab. Contact Dr. Scarlett with questions: [log in to unmask] 
.

Additional information, including registration information for guest  
students, can be found here:

http://www.ss.mtu.edu/faculty/Scarlett/Summer/FieldSchools.htm