 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|
|
|
The Sandrocks Shelter Archaeological Research Project
Overview
Archaeologists at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg are pursuing a continuing archaeological research project at the Sandrocks Shelter (36GR68) in Greene County, Pennsylvania. The site is a stratified, sandstone rockshelter or re-entrant located along the Muddy Creek, a small tributary of the Monongahela River. Since 1996, the site has been excavated by field school participants at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, who learn the inner workings of an archaeological research project in order to earn college credit. Thus far, the researchers have recovered a rich assemblage of late prehistoric Monongahela artifacts and features. We expect to determine whether other groups of people may have visited the Sandrocks Shelter prior to the Monongahela as the project continues.
The Sandrocks Shelter provides a unique environment for learning. Just by being there, students can sense first-hand what it must have been like for others who would have stayed there at any time during the past. Game such as deer and turkey pass by the area, and fish swim in the creek below the shelter. During different times of the field season, we see certain berries and nuts ripen and fall from bushes or trees. These same sorts of things are then excavated from the ground, and it is possible to make instant connections between some of the experiences students have today with those people may have had in prehistory.