MTSU Forensic Aviation Archaeology

Check out the cover story of the current issue of CLA Magazine from MTSU College of Liberal Arts https://www.mtsu.edu/liberalarts/CLAMagazine_Vol11_No1_Fall2023.pdf

College of Basic & Applied Sciences, MTSU Office of Education Abroad, MTSU Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center, MTSU Anthropology, Forensic Institute for Research and Education, Commemorative Air Force

Check out today’s blogfest post from our project co-director Dr. Adam Fracchia

Day 14 of TAAM 30 Days of Archaeology! Adam Fracchia writes "Documenting the Battle of Nashville: Recent Research in Sevier Park" about what they learned during renovations at Sunnyside Mansion, home of the Metro Historical Commission. The photo below shows the results of a collaboration with Metro Police to map the trajectory of Civil War era bullet holes discovered in these log cabin walls and gives us a glimpse into a moment in time during the Battle of Nashville.

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Audrey McGill is a graduate student at Georgia Southern University working on a thesis focused on geospatial technology and Bioarchaeology. She is a sitting member of the Board of Directors for the Society for Georgia Archaeology, Co-President of the GSU Chapter of Lambda Alpha and the Hominin Society: GSU Anthropology Club. She loves Archaeology and getting dirty in the field but also has fun reading, knitting, and chilling with her cats and dog!
Audrey loved the unique experience of this project and has made new friends around the country and globe.

After some very long travel days and some tearful goodbyes, everyone has officially made it back home safely! Stay tuned for more posts about our fieldwork from this summer and some of the students who participated!

Our team visited Paris twice this year. Highlights of our visits included the Catacombs, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame de Paris, Shakespeare and Company, Arc de Triomphe, Disneyland Paris and many more!! Keep an eye out for more updates as we enter our final week of work.
Middle Tennessee State University
MTSU Office of Education Abroad

We are in our fifth week of field work and we want to continue to introduce our hard working team members! Emely Arevalo is a junior majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Forensic Anthropology and Psychology. She was born and raised in Smyrna, TN and enjoys going to the gym and being outdoors. Emely’s favorites are hiking or swimming, but she also likes staying in to binge watch a good show. She also enjoys traveling, painting, and doing puzzles from time to time. She is very excited to be participating in this program which is her first study abroad trip! Emely is excited to be gaining fieldwork experience while participating in work that is important. She is also loving seeing new places and meeting new people.

This past weekend we visited Normandy and learned more about World War II and D-Day. We visited the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Omaha Beach, Point du Hoc, La Cambe German Cemetery and Peace Garden, and German Battlements. We also spent time in Bayeux viewing the Bayeux Tapestry and Cathédrale.

Our second weekend excursion was to the Château de Maintenon, the home of the second wife of Louis XIV, and the Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathédrale. At the Cathedral we enjoyed an interior self guided tour and a night time light show on the facade.

Week two update: We learned new skills on the total station (an instrument that uses optical alignment and electronics to measure distance and elevation across a site) and celebrated two birthdays (more cake!). At the end of the week we said good-bye to seven very hard working volunteers. In honor of their departure, we had a cook-out…with s’mores, of course!

For our first weekend excursion we visited Versailles. Team members were able to enjoy the gardens, musical fountains, and palace!

As we continue our second week of work, we want to keep introducing our hard working team members! Kaitlyn Rice is a rising junior at American University in Washington, D.C. majoring in anthropology and minoring in psychology. She works at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum as part of the Explainers Program! Kaitlyn feels the DPAA does really important work and our co-directors are people she greatly admires. She is honored to have the opportunity to be part of this project and learn more about archaeology firsthand.

As the sun sets on our first week, we would like to share some of our work. Students worked very hard setting up the site, opening new units, and enjoying the French landscape and culture!

Today was our first day in the field this season, and it was a success! We located our previous units, learned mapping techniques, and celebrated the first birthday of the season!

Today is an exciting day as many of our team members are making their way to France! Pictured are our Tennessee-based MTSU students!
MTSU Office of Education Abroad

Today we would like to introduce Rose Raymer, a rising sophomore at MTSU! She is majoring in Anthropology with a minor in Forensic Anthropology. Rose is a member of the Middle Tennessee Forensic Science Society and has already participated in archaeological excavations with our co-director Dr. Fracchia. In her free time, she enjoys watching Grey’s Anatomy and traveling. Rose is excited for this mission because it will be great fieldwork experience, networking opportunities, and of course…Paris!

Our departure is less then two weeks away, so we want to begin introducing our new team members! First up is Claire Fick. Claire is a rising senior majoring in Anthropology with a Forensic Anthropology minor. She is a member of the Middle Tennessee Anthropology Society, and this past year was both a Resident Assistant and Osteology Lab Assistant on campus. Claire frequently volunteers at the Catfiene Cat Cafe in Murfreesboro, and for the past few years has worked as lifeguard at a local swim club and summer camp. Although she’s loved these jobs, she’s excited to spend this summer gaining more field experience…and leaving the country for the first time!

Congratulations to our project co-director Dr. Adam Fracchia on the recent publication of his book Below Baltimore: An Archaeology of Charm City. Check it out here:

Below Baltimore Learn more about this book at UPF.com

The excitement is building as our departure date gets closer! This weekend many from our team got their first taste of archaeology at our training day. Students, staff, and some volunteers helped excavate at a historic site in Nashville, Tennessee. They learned how to lay out a unit, fill out paperwork, take photos, and properly excavate. Follow along to learn more about our new team members this year!

Check out this awesome article from MTSU News about our program!

https://mtsunews.com/anthropology-grant-sends-students-abroad/

This past weekend a few of the team members assisted with an excavation at Sevier Park directed by Dr. Adam Fracchia. The goal was to find information to help date the building seen in the photographs which is thought to be from the Civil War era. The team members were excited to get to use the skills they learned from France to do archaeology in their own local area! Thank you Everett Merian (not pictured) for photos.

Recently, some of the Tennessee-based team members were able to get together for lunch and reminisce about the 2022 field season. Lots of photos were shared, memories relived, and pasta consumed! Excitement is now building as planning begins for the summer 2023 field season.

Julia Beasley feels that our trip to France this summer was an absolutely life changing experience. Throughout the trip, she loved that she was able to make amazing connections with students and teachers from across the globe while practicing fundamental archaeological techniques. She feels that the DPAA was an amazing group to work with and that their mission made all of the hours in the field this summer worth it. She wants to thank our program directors Dr. Tiffany Saul and Dr. Adam Fracchia for the incredible job they did of scheduling our weeks and weekends in such a way that every bit of our time was utilized either in the field or on an educational excursion. She is also very thankful that our professors made sure that we were fully immersed in the French culture throughout our trip, which helped us develop basic French communication skills, learn local customs, and establish relationships between students and volunteers on the mission. She says, "I would absolutely recommend the Forensic Aviation Archaeology program to anyone who asks. I learned more than I could have ever imagined, while gaining real life experience in the process. This trip was everything I could have asked for and more".

This past week team members have begun picking up their t-shirts and challenge coin to commemorate their participation in this year’s mission. Team forensic anthropologist/project co-director Dr. Tiffany Saul and MTSU student Gabriel Compton model the t-shirts with anticipation of next year’s design! Thank you to Everett Merian for their hard work on this year’s design.

Brooklyn feels that in her undergraduate career, her time in France was hands-down her favorite academic experience. It was crucial in her understanding of a career in archaeology and what that entails. Her favorite part of France was our weekend trip that included the Normandy American Cemetery where she is pictured here in their museum. She felt that reading the names of those missing in action and those who passed during World War Two made the repatriation work we performed as a team feel more palpable. As we continue our lives in the states, she often thinks back to our common goal as a team and how proud and grateful she is for the team we had in France.

Like many of her peers, Anna Yuhas felt this trip was an incredible opportunity not only as a student, but also as an emerging professional into the world of forensic science. She expected to learn about Forensic Aviation Archaeology from this trip but did not expect how much she enjoyed the physical labor required. She feels that "to know that what we were working towards as a team contributed to the DPAA mission made the long hours worthwhile". Her favorite part of the trip was not only getting to take advantage of the opportunity to explore France as a tourist but also to work with French students and volunteers that taught her about the culture and made it a ethnographic experience.

Gabriel Compton feels like he learned a lot on the trip. He loved learning about field work and putting what he learned into practice in the field. One of his favorite parts of the trip was exploring French culture and going on our weekend excursions. He feels that “what made this trip so great was all the students and volunteers that came into the site”. He loved that everyone was so helpful and willing to work hard on the mission.

MTSU is hosting this event! Be sure to save the date.

Mark your calendars! The annual MSB Meeting of Forensic Anthropologists is back this November at MTSU.

Hailey Simmons (pictured holding a snake she found) feels that this trip was a remarkable experience. She very is glad that she was able to be a team member and become a part of the family that was built. Hailey already had an interest in archaeology, but loved that she was able to tie it to her passion for forensic anthropology. She now is determined to complete her masters and potentially doctorate degrees in the future. Hailey loved that "everyone was inviting and willing to help" and says ” I wouldn't trade my field team for any other". Hailey appreciates all the memories she made and wants to thank everyone she met along the way, including new friends and colleagues.

Tori Bascou, an MTSU Forensic Science student, is extremely grateful that she participated in this mission in France. It not only was a great opportunity for her to complete her internship, but it provided her with many new skills and opened her eyes to the world of archaeology that she never knew existed. As a result of this trip, she discovered her love for forensic anthropology and added it as a minor to her degree so that she can learn more about the subject. One of her favorite parts of the experience was being able to do real fieldwork that will make a difference in the world, and she loved learning how to work at an archaeological field site. Additionally, she enjoyed getting close with everyone on the trip - they helped create memories she will never forget! She hopes to return next summer as a volunteer and will continue learning about archaeology in the meantime.

As school continues, so do our student reflections! Audrey Lauerhass (pictured second from left), a MTSU student, feels that she had an experience of a lifetime. “I learned so much about archaeology, and especially forensic archaeological techniques and documentation like the use of the total station”. Her favorite part of the trip was the comradery that was created between all the team members. “We became a family, and there are not many experiences in which you can become that close with a group of people”. She is also excited about returning next summer as a field assistant and beginning her honors thesis this semester on a topic related to this mission.