Occupied for centuries between ca. A.D. 1300 and A.D. 1600, the Hahn Site is one of the most intact circular villages remaining in the central Ohio Valley. Hahn has produced countless thousands of objects that help document everyday life in the Little Miami Valley from more than 500 years ago. Assist in excavations and lab work, and tour a number of prominent sites in the Newtown and Mariemont areas.

During the previous four Museum field schools at Hahn, we excavated nearly three dozen large unit blocks, seventeen of which straddle a middle period Fort Ancient (ca. A.D. 1300-1500) wall-trench house. At the base of the wall trenches (ditches constructed to support house wall posts), a series of nearly five-dozen post molds was exposed and excavated within four separate walls of the house. Most of the remaining units were placed to intercept pit features and other anomalies located by remote sensing. Of particular interest was a midden-filled ditch associated with a small circular earthwork, and a large midden-filled borrow pit at the edge of the village’s central plaza.  Hahn is a dense village site with a cultural midden rich in flint, bone, stone, shell, and ceramic artifacts extending to a depth of nearly 20 inches below ground surface. The 2008-2011 field schools produced large quantities of flint arrow tips and scrapers, bone tools, and volumes of pottery vessel fragments.

The goals of the 2012 Hahn Site Field School include the exposure of features located during remote sensing, and the recovery of diagnostic artifact samples and associated organic materials that will allow for radiometric dating of the site.  One goal will be to locate a stockade or stockades that would have enclosed and protected the large village.  Participants will learn standard excavation and recording techniques, and will engage in all aspects of excavation and screening at the site. Participants will also learn about the late prehistory of southwest Ohio, the development of sedentary agricultural villages, and the importance of the Hahn Site in our understanding of local Fort Ancient-age societies.

The 2012 Hahn Site Field School will run for four consecutive one-week sessions beginning on July 2, 2012 and ending the week of July 23, 2012. Field school members will participate in an in-field session on excavation methods and local late prehistory, and will participate in a guided tour of major archaeological sites in the lower reaches of the Little Miami Valley. In the event of rain, participants will travel to the Geier Collections and Research Center of the Cincinnati Museum Center to undertake laboratory work associated with the excavations. Robert Genheimer, George Rieveschl Curator of Archaeology at Cincinnati Museum Center will supervise the 2012 Hahn Site Field School.

Participants may enroll for any or all of the one-week sessions. A modest program fee will be charged with a discount offered to CMC members. Participants should plan on traveling to and from the site on their own. The field school is an outdoor activity in July, so participants should be able to perform moderate physical tasks in a hot and humid climate.