What's New

Anthropology Department

Activities in the last academic year:

In 2006-07, Cultural Anthropology honors students collaborated with the King Barn Dairy Mooseum on community research about dairy farming in Montgomery County.  In the fall the Montgomery Scholars AN101class completed oral history interviews with current dairy families, and in the spring honors students carried out ethnohistorical research using census data, topical files from the Montgomery County Historical Society Library, and archived copies of the Rockville Sentinel.  Many of the results will become part of a Mooseum exhibit on October 6, 2007 at the Waters House.

The anthropology department’s main archaeology project in the community for 2006-07  was at the prehistoric Nursery Site, located in Rock Creek Park in Chevy Chase. A quarry site for high quality cobbles used in the manufacture of stone tools, it was visited by prehistoric peoples off and on for a period of nearly 10,000 years, from about 8000 BCE to 1400 CE. This makes it one of the oldest and longest visited sites in Montgomery County.  Anthropology 105 students and HP260 honors students, and AN202 students dug shovel test pits to determine the extent of the site and to locate features.  This project was carried out for the benefit of the Montgomery County Park and Planning Department, and all artifacts will be curated with them.