Staff of the Spring Lake project
Posted by Ed Fleming on Sunday, May 30
This post lists the staff involved in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s 2010 archaeological research at Spring Lake.
Dr. Edward Fleming - Director. (This is me, and I will, hesitantly, write in the 3rd person about myself for just a moment)
Dr. Fleming is the Curator of Archaeology and Director of the Archaeology Program at the Science Museum of Minnesota. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology, a M.S. in Archaeology and Paleoecology, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Art History from the University of Minnesota. For the past 10 years, his research has been focused on the relationships of pre-contact native communities along the Upper Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. He specializes in the study of lithic (stone) and ceramic artifacts, and in the interpretation of archaeological materials and concepts for the public.
Dr. Ronald Schirmer - Co-Director.
Dr. Schirmer is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Minnesota State University - Mankato, and a Research Associate in Anthropology at the Science Museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology and Paleoecology from the University of Minnesota, a M.S. in Anthropology from the Minnesota State University - Mankato, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. He has been conducting archaeological research and field work in the Midwest for the past 20 years with a specialization in the analysis of ancient plant remains and plant use (paleoethnobotany). His passion and research is understanding interaction among American Indian communities during the Late Pre-Contact period (1000 - 1400 A.D.), and is also carrying our active survey and excavation projects in the Red Wing area of Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to co-directing the project, Ron will also be leading the recovery and analysis of botanical remains from the Ranelius site.
Don Johnson - Geophysicist.
Don Johnson has over 25 years experience providing high-resolution, near-surface geophysical services in many applications. He has specialized in geophysical applications at archaeological mapping for 10 years. Methods he will be applying to this project are magnetometery, ground penetrating radar, and electrical resistance.
Don has worked all over the world. A partial list of locations where he has worked includes many states in the United stated, Turkey, Bolivia, Ecuador, Italy, and the Philippines. He has worked on several prehistoric sites in the area around Red Wing, Minnesota. These include Silvernale, Bartron, Bryan, and Energy Park sites. Work at the Silvernale site included compilation of available maps and air photos to provide a consistent scale map showing mounds and other features mapped from the late 1880’s to today in addition to the comprehensive magnetometer and resistance surveys conducted to help establish the sites limits and to help archaeologists plan excavation locations. He will be leading the geophysical survey of the Ranelius site.
Paul Wickman - Geographic Information Scientist.
Paul Wickman is the owner and primary analyst of Northstar Geographics in St. Paul Minnesota. He holds a Master of Geographic Science from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Computer Science from Carroll College. Before moving into the field of GIS, he spent 15 years in the Information Technology field as a programmer and a software engineer. Now he applies GIS to projects that range from water and natural resources engineering to archaeology. Paul will be carrying out a number of GIS mapping, analysis, and data management tasks including setting up the master geographic information system for the project.
Travis Hagar - Research Assistant.
Travis Hagar is a graduate student in Applied Anthropology at the Minnesota State University - Mankato. He holds a B.S. in Anthropology from the Minnesota State University - Mankato and is working on his M.S. His thesis involves a study of plant remains from the Late Pre-Contact Silvernale site in Red Wing, Minnesota. Travis is assisting in all aspects of the Spring Lake project, from analyzing the 1954/1955 Ranelius site collection to participation in this summer’s field work, analysis of the recovered materials, and writing up the reports.
Matt Edling - Collections Technician.
Matt Edling is a Collections Technician in the Collections Services Department at the Science Museum of Minnesota. His experience in working with archaeological data and collections management make him an invaluable member of the team. He holds a M.A. in Museum Studies from George Washington University and a B.A. in Archaeology from the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse. Along with participating in the geophysical survey and excavation of the Ranelius site, he is also working in the lab on the GIS portion of the project and will be working on the processing of the recovered materials from the 2010 excavation.
Anna Morrow - Laboratory Volunteer.
Anna Morrow has been a volunteer in the Archaeology Lab at the Science Museum for 10 years where she has been crucial to the identification and cataloging of numerous collections. Anna has several decades of archaeological experience in the Upper Midwest and the U.K. Frankly, the Archaeology Lab at the Science Museum would not function without her dedication and experience. She has been, and will continue, working on processing archaeological materials from the Ranelius site and other sites from the Spring Lake region.
Rod Johnson - Laboratory Volunteer.
Rod Johnson is the President of the Minnesota Archaeological Society, a part-time field archaeologist for various Cultural Resource Management firms in the Twin Cities, and an expert flint knapper (the manufacture of stone tools). For several years, he has been filling his busy schedule in by volunteering in the Science Museum’s Archaeology Lab. His expertise is in the identification of stone materials, the production of stone tools, and the public education of this process. You will often find Ron sitting on a tarp demonstrating flint knapping and teaching people how to make stone tools at archaeology events in the area.
This list sums up various backgrounds often required to carry out a scientific archaeological project today. This list is far from exclusive, though. There are many backgrounds that contribute to archaeological projects around the world. The scientific study of the human past is by nature interdisciplinary. If you have any questions about becoming involved in archaeology, I encourage you to send me a note.
