College students to search Japanese Gulch for artifacts

Edmonds and Everett community colleges plan to offer archaeology classes this summer with a rare opportunity for students to work on a real local dig.

Students will excavate a site at Japanese Gulch, within 140 acres of wooded ravine, in Mukilteo. They will recover artifacts of the Japanese community, immigrants working in the Mukilteo Lumber Mills who lived in the area in the early 1900s. The city of Mukilteo discovered historical and cultural artifacts at the site while working on a fish passage and stream restoration project at Japanese Gulch Creek.

Students will learn about human ecology and archeology, and then go into the field to collect, clean, analyze and document the artifacts under the supervision of an archaeologist.

“This is a unique, hands-on learning experience for students,” said Thomas Murphy, founder of Edmonds Community College’s Learn and Serve Environmental Anthropology Field (LEAF) School.

Interested students should enroll in “Archaeological Field Methods, Anthropology 270” and “Archaeological Lab Methods, Anthropology 217” at EdCC summer quarter. Summer quarter enrollment starts May 23.

Learn more

Call 425-640-1560 for more information about anthropology classes or go to www.edcc.edu/leaf to learn more about the LEAF school.

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