It's back-to-school time! Are you a student who wants to learn more about archeology? Maybe you're looking to extend your summertime experience on an archeological dig in the off season? Or you're a teacher who wants to draw on archeology for your classroom? The National Park Service has lots of great resources for everyone headed back to class this fall. More >>

The national parks are home to a wide variety of research and educational projects. Our Projects in the Parks series touches on all aspects of archeology, including site survey, analysis, curation, consultation, education, technology, and ongoing efforts to recover sites being destroyed by erosion.

Most recently we featured Mapping an Armory Grounds Tailrace at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park is home to cultural resources spanning thousands of years, from pre- European contact Indian populations to the time of John Brown's infamous raid and the Civil War up to the town's inception as a historical park in the 20th century. With this much accumulated history, the park has a major responsibility to preserve, protect, and understand material remains from those time periods. Since a large part of Harpers Ferry's history lies buried, archeology is intrinsically critical to cultural resource stewardship. NPS archeologists are actively engaged in excavating cultural remains to inform the public.

A large part of that responsibility falls upon the park Division of Resource Management and the Archeology Program. They are tasked with, among other things, documentation, investigation, and compliance with the laws governing these multi-faceted resources so that the public today and tomorrow can benefit from that shared heritage.

The Archeology Program is involved in an ongoing investigation of the Lower Armory Grounds. This land, acquired in 2001 from CSX Corporation, contains the remains of the second national armory commissioned by the United States in 1798. An important part of this land acquisition was gaining access to the remnants of the infrastructure that was integral to the operation of the Armory. One such feature is the tailrace tunnels. The investigation of the armory grounds and a tailrace highlights the park's devotion to fulfilling its obligation of both understanding its resources in order to better protect them and to present that information to the public for a more comprehensive experience of this facet of American history. Read more >>

Projects in the Parks tackles historical mysteries like that of the Armory grounds as well as those for which there is little or no documentary evidence. From Making Prehistoric Music: Instruments from Puebloan Sites to 16th-Century Cross-Cultural Encounters at Point Reyes, archeology sheds light on the lives of people who would otherwise remain unknown. It also highlights the value of the National Parks as repositories of the raw data of the past, and the dedication of the people who protect, recover, and interpret those resources for our children and for those who are yet to come. Learn more >>