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Students patiently scraped away a shallow layer of dirt in a trio of test pits last week as gentle breezes wafted past, nudging the stubborn humidity of summer southward.
Nearby, a 6-foot-long segment of stone wall barely crested the soil's surface in another row of sondages, as the 3-foot-square pits are called by archaeologists. Using trigonometry, the students were calculating angles to help predict the configuration of what might lie buried there.
Four of the five workers had the privilege of toiling this summer alongside academicians and students at an international excavation site on a picturesque hilltop in France. The quartet comprised the first American team to take part in the 20-year-old project.
But Wednesday, they were squatting on a 2-acre wooded plateau near the Athletic and Fitness Center at Howard Community College in search of the remnants of a mid-19th-century farm.
The small-scale dig at the plot on the Columbia campus was far from a letdown, though, students said.
Instead, it revived memories of Burgundy, France, where they worked alongside European teams from 11 universities to unearth the remains of Bibracte, a fortified city conquered by Julius Caesar in 58 B.C.
The exercise also served to remind them why they were attracted to archaeology in the first place. The process is the same, no matter what continent you're on.
"The white noise of the trowels scraping and clinking against rock creates this harmonious symphony, and suddenly, it's just you and the past," said Jaimie Wilder, a sophomore and the first president of the school's newly formed archaeology club.
"There's a point where you become one with the site, and you can see the people who lived there," said the Laurel resident.
The students' teacher took a more direct approach to explaining the appeal of what might appear to onlookers to be an exercise in tedium.
"It's well known that archaeology is boring 90 percent of the time," said Laura J. Cripps, adjunct professor, as she surveyed the afternoon's progress. "But the other 10 percent is a complete thrill."
Cripps, who is 29 and a British native, came to HCC in April 2007 and also works as an academic adviser there.
As co-director of the Anglo-American-German team in France last month, she said it was important to her that she and her band of students be invited back, which they were. A three-year contract to work at Bibracte each summer was extended to the college, with the implication that another three years would follow.
"This is a huge opportunity for our school," said Cripps. "Caesar actually finished writing his 'Gallic Wars' at the site, making it an incredibly important location for understanding European history."
The momentum generated by the agreement wasn't lost on Lee Preston, who taught at HCC from 1980 to 2005.
Currently the president of the Upper Patuxent Archaeology Club and historical consultant for the Robinson Nature Center, Preston called the leap to international fieldwork "a good stimulus" for the archaeology program.
"Laura has a contagious enthusiasm which will allow her to resurrect and expand it," he said.
Cripps said the number of students taking archaeology courses at the college has nearly doubled since 2005, jumping from 16 to 30.
Preston also worked with students on the Bassler farm site, where recent progress is a point of pride for the HCC administration.
Nearby, a 6-foot-long segment of stone wall barely crested the soil's surface in another row of sondages, as the 3-foot-square pits are called by archaeologists. Using trigonometry, the students were calculating angles to help predict the configuration of what might lie buried there.
Four of the five workers had the privilege of toiling this summer alongside academicians and students at an international excavation site on a picturesque hilltop in France. The quartet comprised the first American team to take part in the 20-year-old project.
But Wednesday, they were squatting on a 2-acre wooded plateau near the Athletic and Fitness Center at Howard Community College in search of the remnants of a mid-19th-century farm.
The small-scale dig at the plot on the Columbia campus was far from a letdown, though, students said.
Instead, it revived memories of Burgundy, France, where they worked alongside European teams from 11 universities to unearth the remains of Bibracte, a fortified city conquered by Julius Caesar in 58 B.C.
The exercise also served to remind them why they were attracted to archaeology in the first place. The process is the same, no matter what continent you're on.
"The white noise of the trowels scraping and clinking against rock creates this harmonious symphony, and suddenly, it's just you and the past," said Jaimie Wilder, a sophomore and the first president of the school's newly formed archaeology club.
"There's a point where you become one with the site, and you can see the people who lived there," said the Laurel resident.
The students' teacher took a more direct approach to explaining the appeal of what might appear to onlookers to be an exercise in tedium.
"It's well known that archaeology is boring 90 percent of the time," said Laura J. Cripps, adjunct professor, as she surveyed the afternoon's progress. "But the other 10 percent is a complete thrill."
Cripps, who is 29 and a British native, came to HCC in April 2007 and also works as an academic adviser there.
As co-director of the Anglo-American-German team in France last month, she said it was important to her that she and her band of students be invited back, which they were. A three-year contract to work at Bibracte each summer was extended to the college, with the implication that another three years would follow.
"This is a huge opportunity for our school," said Cripps. "Caesar actually finished writing his 'Gallic Wars' at the site, making it an incredibly important location for understanding European history."
The momentum generated by the agreement wasn't lost on Lee Preston, who taught at HCC from 1980 to 2005.
Currently the president of the Upper Patuxent Archaeology Club and historical consultant for the Robinson Nature Center, Preston called the leap to international fieldwork "a good stimulus" for the archaeology program.
"Laura has a contagious enthusiasm which will allow her to resurrect and expand it," he said.
Cripps said the number of students taking archaeology courses at the college has nearly doubled since 2005, jumping from 16 to 30.
Preston also worked with students on the Bassler farm site, where recent progress is a point of pride for the HCC administration.
