By Joslyn DelSignore / The Jambar
Youngstown State University archaeology students were invited to participate in the West Virginia Archaeology Day on Oct. 11 at the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex in Moundsville, West Virginia, for the fourth year in a row.
Thomas Delvaux, archaeologist and instructor in the Beeghly College of Liberal Arts, Social Sciences and Education, brought 12 of his students on the trip.
The students had the opportunity to tour the museum, repository and curation lab. Then, they set up an archeology display table with various artifacts from different time periods. The table also included demonstrations to show how indigenous populations in the Americas would have operated thousands of years ago.
Students also had the opportunity to work in the curation lab, cleaning artifacts such as animal bones and pottery.
Delvaux has been working with the archaeology program since 1999 and started teaching classes in 2001. Delvaux said he’s been taking students to Archeology Day for four years and three years prior, he took students to visit the museum and see the displays.
“There’s a lot of archeology programs across this country. Students rarely get to touch real artifacts,” Delvaux said. “This is an amazing opportunity for [the students].”
In preparation for this event, Delvaux said students work on curating artifacts with organizations in the Youngstown community. Since 2018, students have the opportunity to do curation work at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society on Wick Avenue.
Delvaux said students get to measure artifacts, determine how old they are and categorize them.
“I’ve known students who have gotten four-year degrees in archeology or anthropology and never touched an artifact, never did curation work and here we do it routinely,” Delvaux said.
To further prepare for the trip, Delvaux said students prepared a presentation about Moundsville to discuss its history and activities for the trip.
Michael Vinkler is a senior history major and one of the 12 students who attended the trip. He said the trip added experience to his resume and allowed students to practice professional skills.
“It’s a blast. I went the last two years … It’s great resume building because you man the tables, and you get some public speaking and presentation experience,” Vinkler said. “It’s great experience in general if someone is interested in that field.”
Students interested in archeology can reach out to Delvaux through email at trdelvaux@ysu.edu.