HANDS-ON HISTORY: Anthropology

HANDS-ON HISTORY

Anthropology Major Digs up Study-Away Opportunities in Nebraska, Southwest

Tori Brandt ‘24 has always been interested in the past. At six years old, a Pompeii exhibit at a local science museum captured her interest. At eight years old, she visited an archaeological site in Mitchell, South Dakota, for the first time. That’s where she discovered history wasn’t just in books.

Brandt discovered that she could pursue a hands-on career outdoors, digging in the dirt, finding bones, pottery and tools of societies passed. Now, as an anthropology major at Augustana University, pursuing her ideal career is taking her across the country and around the world.

“I’m looking forward to traveling around because I feel as an anthropologist, you really need to go elsewhere,” Brandt said. “You need to experience cultures that are not your own.”

The anthropology, Spanish and STEM composite triple major traveled to the Southwest United States during Spring Break 2022 and attended field school in Nebraska in June 2022. Both programs were led by Augustana Professor of Anthropology Dr. Kristen (K.C.) Carlson. Brandt, who first discovered Augustana through the anthropology department’s work at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, loved the size and opportunity the department offered.

“We all know each other, so it’s easy to reach out and make those connections,” said Brandt.

At archaeology field school, students learn excavation — a vital skill for their future careers. At the Plains Village site in Lynch, Nebraska, students learn to mark and map work areas, collect and understand data, dig with sharp trowels into the layers of earth and test soil, as well as identify bones, stone tools and pottery. They then backfill everything so the site is ready for future students.

“Living in the Midwest, there’s so much to do with Plains Village archaeology,” Brandt said. “You’re surrounded by it all the time.”

The opportunity to learn about and respectfully study these Native American sites and histories played a role in both of Brandt’s trips. In Nebraska, students worked at a site, that is the ancestral land of the Pawnee and the Arikara nations.

“I go into trips and field school with the mindset that this history is not mine,” she said. “I have the opportunity to help this native nation discover their past.”

Brandt’s ultimate interest is forensics, which she’s been able to pursue through taking additional chemistry classes and pursuing a forensic research project in the Augustana Archaeology Lab. The project, which she presented at AU’s annual Arthur Olsen Student Research Symposium and to the South Dakota Archaeological Society, focused on the different effects that blunt objects versus surface collisions have on bones.

“Augustana encourages a well-rounded student, which I appreciate because you can be in so many different things,” Brandt said. “I can be in the humanities, chemistry, the sciences and have three majors. Plus, I can be in all of these different clubs.”

Brandt is part of the anthropology club, Student Members of the American Chemical Society (SMACS), Women in STEM, La Unión Hispana and is an Augustana Cultural Exchange (ACE) ambassador for international students.

“It’s so nice to experience all these different things, because I know it makes me better as a person,” Brandt said. “It gives me opportunities for my future that I know could benefit me.”

Brandt’s hands-on anthropology studies have taken her to England, where she’s studying abroad in Fall Semester 2022 at the University of Exeter, through Augustana’s anthropology exchange program. There, she’ll expand her education with more forensics classes, while meeting people from all over the world.

Field School, Lynch, Nebraska

Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village