UE Archaeology to Open New Wet Lab Wednesday
Published: September 28, 2009
The University of Evansville will wrap up Indiana Archaeology Month this Wednesday with the grand opening of its new Archaeology Wet Lab.
UE, which is one of only 17 colleges in America with a Department of Archaeology, will open the new lab in the lower level of Hyde Hall. The event will begin at 3:30 p.m. and run until 5:30 p.m., with a ribbon cutting at 4:00 p.m. The afternoon also will include tours and displays of the University’s Tin City Excavation Project, located on the north side of Krannert Hall. The event is free, and open to the public.
“As a department, we’re extremely excited to open the new Archaeology Wet Lab, and to have the opportunity to show the public all of the things we’re doing here at UE,” said Jennie Ebeling, chair of UE’s Department of Archaeology. “By creating this lab space, we will be able to offer our students an even greater learning experience, from giving them a space in which to wash and catalog their finds to offering them more hands-on educational opportunities right here on the UE campus.”
The second part of the program will include tours and demonstrations of the Tin City Excavation project, undertaken each year by students in the Archaeological Field Methods course, taught by UE Assistant Professor of Archaeology Alan Kaiser. The project allows students to practice their field techniques by excavating pieces of the “Tin City” – student housing built to accommodate the rush of students after World War II and the Korean War, many of whom were taking advantage of the G.I. Bill. The 13 residential units were used until 1961, when dwindling numbers of veterans coupled with the University’s need for space to build Krannert Hall, Moore Hall, and Neu Chapel led to the structures being razed.
Today, students in Kaiser’s class dig into the ground where Tin City used to stand, finding numerous artifacts from those former soldiers attending UE. The project begins in September, and runs through November.
“This is an exciting project for our students, because it gives them terrific, hands-on experience in an actual archaeological dig,” Kaiser said. “In past years, students have found everything from a child’s barrette to costume jewelry and a pedal from a tricycle left from that time; it’s always interesting to see what pieces of UE history we find in the ground!”
