PAAC Summer Training Survey
Each year the Office of the State Archaeologist of Colorado (OSAC) sponsors an archaeological inventory ("survey") on a parcel of state property, typically during the June-August period when few classes are scheduled. The purposes of the survey are to provide field training in surveying techniques for PAAC volunteers, applicable toward certification requirements, and to help OSAC meet its statutory obligations to inventory land within Colorado. Previously undocumented archaeological and historical sites are discovered during the inventory, and added to OSAC's data base for use in future research. 
Field training involves hiking across undeveloped lands in search of artifacts and features more than fifty years old. When such sites are discovered, volunteers are instructed in the production of sketch maps, filling out standard recording forms, plotting site locations on topographic maps, artifact illustration, etc. Credit toward certification is earned for the days spent under professional supervision (Certified Surveyor I), and for each site form which volunteers complete following the inventory (Provisional Surveyor). A final technical report on the summer survey held at Pike's Stockade in Conejos County describes the training survey program in greater detail as well as providing an interpretation of the results of that inventory. (Click here to download the 12MB PDF of the report). |
