Research Internships

The application period for 2009 research internships has closed. This page is intended for general informational purposes only. Please check back in the fall of 2009 for details on 2010 internships.

Crow Canyon Research

Crow Canyon's research focuses on the ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) occupation of the Mesa Verde region. We are currently investigating the historic development of communities from about A.D. 900 through 1300. By examining population growth, human environmental impacts, and social, political, and economic organization within and among communities, we hope to better understand the forces that contributed to cooperation and conflict among the Pueblo population. As part of this research, staff archaeologists are also studying the demographic structure of the area, including migrations into the region in the A.D. 900s and migrations out of the region in the late 1200s. An important element of our research is the development of innovative methods for studying the abandonment of structures and the depopulation of entire sites and regions.

The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center maintains high standards of research and scholarship. Students and adults participating in the Center's research programs are closely supervised in the field and the lab, ensuring a positive learning experience for them, as well as high-quality research for the profession. In addition, American Indians—many of them descendants of the Pueblo people we study archaeologically—consult on all facets of our research, and colleagues from many other disciplines contribute their expertise to help us achieve our objectives. In such an environment, research interns have the opportunity to gain valuable experience in working with, and learning from, a wide variety of people.

What Do Research Interns Do?

Field interns will gain experience in some or all of the following areas:

• instructing and supervising lay participants in basic excavation techniques and archaeological concepts
• answering questions about research that are posed by site visitors
• excavating and recording architectural and nonarchitectural contexts
• maintaining provenience control for excavated contexts and cultural materials
• writing narrative notes and completing provenience forms
• drawing measured plan maps and cross sections
• drawing and describing stratigraphic profiles
• using a total station
• photographing archaeological contexts

• processing archaeological specimens and samples
• maintaining provenience control for cultural materials and records
• analyzing a variety of artifacts, including pottery, stone tools, and stone debitage
• managing archaeological collections using a relational database
• maintaining a small research library
• instructing and supervising lay participants in artifact identification and laboratory methods and procedures

Laboratory internships will emphasize cataloging and analysis of archaeological collections, particularly pottery and stone artifacts. Interns will also have the option of working on a special project involving analysis and interpretation of artifact collections.

Zooarchaeological interns will gain experience in some or all of the following areas:

• training in identification of mammalian and avian skeletal parts from zooarchaeological assemblages
• experience analyzing zooarchaeological samples from Goodman Point Pueblo
• training and experience in recording anatomical and taphonomic features of skeletal parts
• experience working with relational databases in the course of performing data entry and quality-control tasks
• experience conducting a variety of other laboratory tasks related to the management and analysis of zooarchaeological samples
• weekly reading and discussion of scholarly articles on zooarchaeological quantification, taphonomy, and problem-oriented research

Requirements

Applicants should meet the following requirements:

• advanced undergraduate or graduate course work in archaeology, anthropology, museum studies, or related fields
• minimum of four weeks archaeological field and/or laboratory experience
• motivation to improve field, laboratory, and (field and laboratory applicants only) teaching skills
• ability to work as part of a team (interns attend research staff meetings and participate in discussions about research strategies and organization and scheduling of work)
• (field and laboratory applicants only) desire to instruct lay participants ranging from fourth graders to adults, many of whom have no previous archaeological experience
• ability to perform technical work, make careful observations, and record data legibly and accurately

Campus

Crow Canyon's 170-acre campus is located in southwestern Colorado, near Mesa Verde National Park and the town of Cortez. Wooded hillsides overlook a grassy meadow, complete with a running stream and small pond. From the porch of the lodge, you can enjoy a spectacular view of both Mesa Verde and the La Plata Mountains.

The following on-campus facilities are available to interns:

• kitchen and dining room
• housing in primitive cabins (see photo at right) with no electricity, water, heat, or air-conditioning (a composting toilet is available adjacent to the cabins, and a modern shower and restroom building is located a short distance away)
• a 15,000-square-foot building that contains research labs, specimen-processing area, temporary curation space, archives, teaching labs, gift shop, offices, seminar room, and reception area; a 2,800-volume research library focused on Southwestern archaeology and anthropology
• networked PCs, integrated research database, and Internet connection

Benefits

A travel allowance (up to $350) and a small weekly stipend are available to help defray expenses. All internships include meals in the Center's dining hall. Interns are also provided with housing and usually share accommodations with one or two other interns.

Interns work a five-day week, Monday through Friday. Interns are not eligible for the Crow Canyon benefits package. Crow Canyon does not provide vehicles for personal use.

Course Credit

The Center does not offer course credit for internships, but will gladly certify work/study performed and provide evaluations if students wish to arrange for credit through another institution.

To Apply

Download the application and recommendation forms, fill them out, and return them to Crow Canyon. We regret that we cannot accept applications from anyone who is not a United States citizen. Application deadline: March 6, 2009

Note: These forms are presented as Portable Document Files, or PDFs. To view the files, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Click on the icon below to download the reader, free, from Adobe's Web site.