An Introduction to the IU Bicentennial Campus Archaeology Project

As part of the Indiana University Bicentennial Project, the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology has collaborated with the Wylie House Museum to host an Archaeological Fieldwork course for the month of June. Led by Archaeologist Liz Watts Malochous, IU students are learning archaeological field methods while searching for two buried garden beds from the second half of the 19^th century. The investigation on the Wylie House Museum property utilizes correspondence, writings, photographs, and a memory map, paired with modern GIS and remote sensing technologies to identify the excavation area. The project hopes to deepen our understanding of the daily lives of the Wylie House residents, especially how their gardening practices exemplify a shift from earth 19^th century subsistence farming in Bloomington to the development of agriculture and floriculture in the later 19^th and early 20^th century. For more details about that shift, visit IU student Maclaren Guthrie’s blog post .

Field School students pose on the porch of the Wylie House with their professor, Liz Watts Malochous.

This project contributes to the larger IU Bicentennial Project aimed at ensuring the protection of Indiana University’s cultural heritage. The front lawn of the 1835 Wylie House provides students an ideal historic archaeological site and an opportunity for community engagement with the class, so everyone can learn more about local Bloomington and IU history.

The site is open for public visitation, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am – 3:30 pm. To learn more about what the fieldwork students have uncovered, read their blogs at https://www.indiana.edu/~gbl/thedirt/wordpress/?p=448.

If you would like to see pictures of the unearthed treasures or stay updated on the progress of the dig, visit the Wylie House Facebook page, the Glenn A. Black Lab Facebook page, the Wylie House Instagram, or the Glenn A. Black Lab Instagram.