Welcome to the SBS 260s/360s (Archaeology of a California Mission) project Internet site. This course offering centers on an authentic archaeological research experience. The field project in question was designed by Professor Mendoza to serve a unique active learning or applied field experience. By active learning we are referring to the addition of in-class labs and a field oriented and project-based learning experience in archaeological research methods. As such, you the student will be afforded the opportunity to engage in an authentic research experience in a hands-on archaeological field setting. In a word, it is the intent of this applied learning experience to put you in the shoes of the archaeologist…all the while making learning come to life in each week’s lab offerings.

The late Keith Iida pictured at work in Trench 1 at Mission San Juan Bautista, California.

Unlike most undergraduate methods courses in archaeology, this learning experience offers (a) weekly opportunities to analyze and interpret authentic archaeological and other cultural materials and data, (b) lab and field based basic training in the archaeological and forensic analysis and study of ceramics, stone tools, bones, and Mission era material cultures, (c) opportunities to demonstrate your learning experience via written narratives and online journals as opposed to exams and tests, (d) activities that empower you to self-select those lab and field projects and opportunities available for the purpose of completing a final project report, and (f) access to authentic archaeological collections and related artifacts. In effect, this learning experience will train you to see the world through the medium of Spanish colonial and California Indian material culture and its primary cultural contexts.

Animal bone constitutes a significant portion of the collections from Mission San Juan Bautista.

In order to make possible this unique lab and field epxerience in Mission Archaeology, you should be prepared to participate in team work and group activities, lab analysis of recovered artifacts and features, online discussion forums, and a full-fledged commitment to active participation in both lab and field activities. At the start of the term, you will be provided an in-class and lab orientation, and field tour, concerned with the conduct of selected lab and field research methods in archaeology and applied learning approaches. Specific lab projects will vary from semester to semester, but range from the hands-on cleaning, analysis, photo documentation, and analysis of a broad variety of Mission era materials including animal bone, ceramics, metal work, military hardware, beads, glass, and stone. Ultimately, project labs will challenge you to participate in collaborative work groups and project teams so as to best analyze and interpret data and features, and thereby study some of the most intriguing questions facing archaeology today.