911�Թϱ�����ѹۿ����

Up in an Arizona mountain landscape of juniper and pinyon pines, a group of Cal State Long Beach students and alumni spent their summer unearthing evidence of the Southwest’s Indigenous prehistory. 

The Mt. Trumbull Archaeology Field School is an annual experience for archaeologist Sachiko Sakai and her students. Sakai, an assistant professor of anthropology, has led excursions to Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument for more than two decades. 

They seek evidence of how ancestral Puebloan people lived c. 600-1350 CE. Meanwhile, students develop practical skills that can lead to careers as research archaeologists or cultural resource managers, all while experiencing the importance of preserving the past. 

“It’s kind of easy to say, ‘We need to preserve the archaeological site,’ but through the field school, they really value a piece of pottery,” Sakai said. 

Lab and fieldwork 

Cal State Long Beach received a recent gift supporting Sakai’s lab work, which includes radiocarbon and luminescence dating, as well as macro and micro botanical remains analyses. This project was made possible in part by a National Park Foundation grant and a generous donation from the BC-AD Daron Trust, created by Steve Daron.  

During Daron's life, he served as a cultural resource manager at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Sakai volunteered at Lake Mead, working alongside Daron, as a doctoral student. 

“They really wanted the donation to continue to support the research in these areas,” Sakai said.  

Chemical analyses can show where artifacts originated, Sakai said. These clues can help archaeologists study trade and migration patterns. 

“The lab analysis allows us to develop the story behind the artifacts,” Sakai said. 

A day at Mt. Trumbull begins when the sun rises, said Katie Erlig ‘25, who completed her bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Work often begins with excavation until the heat rises, after which the team returns to their cabin to wash and catalog new finds. 

Artifacts can include remains of distinctive pottery in use c. 1050 CE, Erlig said. These help with assessing when people lived at the site. Researchers also examine maize and pinyon seeds to investigate how people fed themselves. 

“It’s just such a rich site,” Erlig said. “You can learn a lot from this site.” 

The Mt. Trumbull site also includes the remains of a C-shaped structure, likely used for storing maize, squash and beans, Sakai said. People may have lived inside the 20-room building. 

Erlig  is preparing for graduate study at San Diego State. She has already applied skills in site mapping, photography, record keeping and off-road driving to paid work in cultural resource management.  

She took a job last fall that involved visiting Southern 911�Թϱ�����ѹۿ����construction sites to monitor whether workers uncovered anything culturally significant. She hopes to again research U.S. public lands after completing her master’s. 

“She (Sakai) is very good about including every aspect of what archaeology is in this field school,” Erlig said. “This field school, specifically, has really helped me in my professional life already.” 

Eduardo Sanchez ‘25, like Erlig, studied with Sakai and returned to Mt. Trumbull as an assistant. He is planning to complete a master’s degree at Cal State Fullerton and is considering a future in culture resource management. 

“You’re making sure that these people that are digging aren’t disrupting anything significant,” Sanchez said. “You just have to go in and try save and record as much as possible, so that history isn’t lost.”

Image

Image

Protecting the past 

Archaeology requires a meticulous approach. 911�Թϱ�����ѹۿ���� use small trowels and picks, working about one centimeter at a time while digging, graduate anthropology student Steven Wong said. 

These efforts can uncover pieces of ceramic or stone, bits of charcoal and the occasional — but always exciting — projectile heads. The full record attests to the human story of the Southwest. 

“The work that we do is also protecting a cultural heritage,” Wong said. “It does belong to the tribes first, but that is also part of our collective American history.” 

Wong is interested in becoming a professor and wants to research burial sites of Chinese railroad laborers. 

“If I ever planned an excavation of my own, I definitely would like to work in that area and get some of my ancestors out and back home, if possible,” he said.