Discovery gives insight into campus history, provides educational opportunities

In summer of 2023, workers from Michigan State University Infrastructure Planning and Facilities, or IPF, were installing hammock posts close to student residence halls near West Circle Drive when they encountered a hard, impenetrable surface under the ground. 

Believing it to be either a large rock or building foundation, IPF called MSU’s Campus Archaeology Program, or CAP. After cross-checking old maps, campus archaeologists determined that it was the foundation of the first observatory on MSU’s campus, constructed in 1881. 

“The campus archaeology program is designed to protect and mitigate our below ground heritage here at MSU,” said Stacey Camp, director of CAP and associate professor of anthropology at MSU, “We collaborate with IPF on construction projects and we are involved in preplanning stages to ensure that if they potentially hit an archaeological site, we can protect it in some manner.”

The observatory discovery gives insight into how scientific observation, as well as life on campus, has changed over the last 140-plus years.

“It gives us a sense of what early campus looked like in the late 19th century,” said Ben Akey, MSU campus archaeologist and anthropology doctoral student. “The original campus observatory was built and used at a time when Michigan Agricultural College — what would become MSU — was a radically different institution with only a handful of professors and a relatively small student body.”

Akey’s role entails collaborating with IPF to keep up with campus construction projects, researching any discoveries and supervising crews of students participating in on-campus archaeological dig sites. Working closely with MSU Archives, Akey conducted most of the research to confirm that IPF’s discovery was indeed the foundation of the first campus observatory. They also drew on the book “Stars Over the Red Cedar” by Horace A. Smith, professor emeritus in the MSU Department of Physics and Astronomy for additional information.

“I did a lot of reading to learn more about the first observatory: its history, how it was used and what the building itself might have looked like,” Akey said.

Astronomical observation at MSU: Then and now

Located just behind what is now Wills House, the first observatory on MSU’s campus was built by Professor Rolla Carpenter. An 1873 graduate of Michigan State Agricultural College, Carpenter returned as a professor and taught a wide variety of courses, including mathematics, astronomy, French and civil engineering. 

“In the early days of MSU’s astronomy program, Carpenter would take students to the roof of College Hall and have them observe from there, but he didn’t find it a sufficient solution for getting students experience in astronomical observation,” Akey said. “When MSU acquired a telescope, Carpenter successfully argued for funding for a place to mount it: the first campus observatory.”

Today, the MSU observatory is located just south of campus at the intersection of Forest and College roads. It boasts a 24-inch telescope and is used for undergraduate and graduate education and research, as well as faculty research. It also hosts free public observation nights.

Levi Webb is a fourth-year astrophysics and anthropology major who works at MSU’s current campus observatory and participated in the archaeological dig of the first on-campus observatory. 

“It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come from a little 16-foot circular building to a large building with a high-quality telescope and an electric dome,” Webb said. “Seeing the difference between how observing used to be versus how it is now is very interesting to me and makes me appreciative of the observatory we have now.”

Real-world experience: Field school and summer digs

While most students who work with campus archaeology are anthropology majors, some — like Webb — have backgrounds in other areas of study. In addition to Webb, the observatory dig crew included students majoring in classical and romance studies and forensics. 

“Having students from majors outside anthropology gives us a different perspective on what we’re finding in the ground,” said Camp. “We feel really lucky to have a wide variety of knowledge on our dig sites.” 

Akey said working on a dig site, such as the first campus observatory, helps prepare students for careers in archaeology. 

“CAP provides an essential venue of professional training for both graduate students and undergraduates in archaeological fieldwork in analysis,” Akey said.

One training opportunity is an undergraduate field school led by CAP. Most archaeology and anthropology programs require fieldwork, which is often done overseas and can often be costly. Every other summer, MSU hosts a field school that gives Michigan students who are interested in archaeology, but may not have the financial resources to travel abroad, an opportunity to do hands-on work on an actual site. 

For the upcoming field school in 2024, CAP is planning to focus on the first observatory site.

“Next summer, we’re planning to run an undergraduate archaeological field school where students can enroll for credit and get experience excavating the foundation of the first observatory on campus,” Camp said. “We anticipate having 18 to 20 students work on the project and get great experience doing archaeology.”

Camp said seeing students develop an interest in connecting the past with the present energizes her.

“I love watching students connect with artifacts and try to tell a bigger story about humankind with those objects,” she said. 

Connecting past and present

Akey said they appreciate the unique opportunity to learn more about MSU’s campus history while developing skills that will serve them beyond the completion of their Ph.D.

“One of the things I value most about archaeological work is kind of building a sense of connection to landscapes and people,” they said. “With a campus this old, there’s a lot of historic materials, archaeological materials that would be disturbed by all the ongoing construction on campus. Because of our partnership with IPF, those objects are not disturbed, and we get a chance to document and analyze some of them. It’s a pretty cool job.”

Camp was initially drawn to archaeology as a tactile way to interact with history and gain new perspectives.

“Archaeology gives us a bit more knowledge about how people lived in the past, how they did things differently and how maybe we could do things differently in the contemporary world as well,” she said. 

Webb sees this firsthand through his work at the observatory and on archaeological dig sites. 

“In my job working outreach at the observatory, I meet people who graduated from MSU many, many years ago who come and see the work that we’re doing, and they’re very proud to see how campus has grown,” he said. “I have even more insight into the campus’ evolution after learning about the first observatory and the history of scientific observation on campus.”

Camp said she feels honored to connect MSU’s past to its present through her work with CAP.

“MSU is a passionate and dedicated community,” she said. “Spartans are very invested in this campus and its history, and being able to share a little bit of my knowledge with people is very rewarding.”

View more images from the dig site here.

Media Contact: Alex Tekip

Graduating Senior Melanie Pitt of Farmington Hills, Mich. has been chosen by the Department of Anthropology as this year’s Outstanding Senior. 

Pitt said she was elated and shocked when she heard the news.  

“It was very unexpected,” Pitt said. “I don’t tend to expect much from what I have done, but it was a nice surprise. I was really happy.”  

Professor of Anthropology and director of the MSU Bioarcheology Laboratory Dr. Gabriel Wrobel nominated Pitt for the award because she showed initiative with organization, something that is crucial for work in the lab. 

Wrobel said Pitt’s organization set her apart from other students.  

“When I first met Melanie and I talked to her a little bit, I immediately saw that she just had an organized brain and she liked to put things in order. And I thought, I need somebody that can do that in this lab,” Wrobel said.  

“She was clearly prepared and organized and that was great,” Wrobel added. “I love finding students like that.”  

Pitt transferred to MSU from Schoolcraft College in Livonia in 2021. She previously studied at Albion College, where she worked as a research assistant in the Anthropology Department. Pitt said she always enjoyed studying anthropology and the thought of studying and working in MSU’s bioarcheological lab intrigued her.  

“When I was transferring into a bigger university, I started to think, ‘Oh, maybe forensics would be interesting,” she said.  

Pitt said she did more research and connected with Professor of Anthropology Dr. Stacey Camp, who helped her narrow down which subfield she wanted to study: bioarcheology. 
 

Wrobel helped Pitt secure the Dean’s Assistantship grant through the College of Social Science. The grant, a $5600 stipend, gives students “the opportunity to have an enriched independent research experience in the social sciences with a faculty mentor.”   

Pitt worked closely with Dr. Wrobel to create a digital repository for the bioarcheology lab using Kora.  

Kora is an open-source, database-driven, online digital repository application for complex multimedia objects (text, images, audio, video) created by MATRIX. The application ingests, manages, and delivers digital objects with corresponding metadata that enhances the research and educational value of the objects. (from Kora’s website).  

“She has completely restructured the lab and how we organize the materials that are in it, how we find things, how we keep digital records,” Wrobel said. “It has been a huge help.”  
 

Pitt said organization did not always come naturally to her, but following her diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, things got easier, and she started to excel in her college courses.  

“I’d always sort of thought I was just a bad student, my peers never seemed to struggle with homework and studying the way I did,” Pitt said. “Once I was diagnosed with ADHD and began treating it, the difference was unbelievable – it was like I had needed glasses my whole life and never understood why I could not read the board like everyone else. I was not a bad student, my brain just worked differently, and I had never had the means to excel.”  

“Before coming to MSU, I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college,” Pitt said. “I’m still a little unsure, I am figuring it out as I go. I love archaeology, and this experience with the digital archive and organizing the lab has shown me I also really like collections management. It has given me a few things to think about as potentials for future careers.”  

After graduation, Pitt is slated to join Dr. Wrobel in Belize where they and other members of the Ambergris Caye Archaeological Project, including Maya students from Belize, will excavate an ancient Maya site community. Pitt will lead the project’s field lab. 

Pitt said she is excited about the opportunity to travel, and she is looking forward to continuing her work. She said it is bittersweet to look back on her college career and she is proud of how far she has come.  

“It’s strange to look back six years ago and remember how much harder school used to be for me,” Pitt said. “At the same time, I would not have it any other way. I think the way that I was when I first started college and the struggles that I faced were essential for where I am now. That was a foundation that I needed to build upon. But it was all necessary steps to get to where I am now.”  

Department of Anthropology Associate Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies Dr. Elizabeth Drexler published an article in Visual Anthropology Review. The article is titled, Seeing Gaslighting: Photo-Dialogues and Structural Injustice. Focusing on gaslighting, the article reveals a process that manipulates perception to obscure systemic inequality and injustice and produce complacency and/or inability to perceive complicity in an unjust system through photo-dialogs that engage the sensory and affective rather than evidentiary aspect of images of injustice. 

This article is based on a project supported by the Provost Undergraduate Research Initiative Award (2019-20 and 2020-21) that generously funded Isabel Hersey’s research assistance. 

Read the full article at: https://doi.org/10.1111/var.12286

Abstract: Extending photovoice methodology, I describe a process of seeing structural injustice through photo-dialogues.   In a collective context where state and society collude in normalizing and extending injustice through both law and systemic gaslighting, the problem of exposing injustice with images involves issues of common sense, language, institutions, and access to various forms of power. “Seeing gaslighting” reveals a process that manipulates perception to obscure systemic inequality and injustice and produce complacency and/or inability to perceive complicity in an unjust system. Photo-dialogues engage the sensory and affective rather than evidentiary aspect of images of injustice.

Associate Professor of Anthropology Dr. Heather Howard co-publishes an article in Epidemiologic Reviews with Danielle Gartner (Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, MSU, primary author), Madeline Nash (Doctoral Student, Sociology, MSU) and Ceco Maples (Undergraduate Major in Anthropology, MSU). The review article is titled, Misracialization of Indigenous People in Population Health and Mortality Studies: A Scoping Review to Establish Promising Practices. This review identifies four primary limitations of approaches used in population health research that misracialize or misclassify indigenous people and offers promising practices to consider. 

Read the full article at: https://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxad001

ABSTRACT: Indigenous people are often misracialized or misclassified as other racial or ethnic identities in population health research. This misclassification leads to underestimation of Indigenous-specific mortality and health metrics, and subsequently, inadequate resource allocation. In recognition of this problem, investigators around the world have devised analytic methods to address racial misclassification of Indigenous people. We carried out a scoping review based on searches in PubMed, Web of Science, and the Native Health Database for empirical studies published after 2000 that include Indigenous-specific estimates of health or mortality and that take analytic steps to rectify racial misclassification of Indigenous people. We then considered the weaknesses and strengths of implemented analytic approaches, with a focus on methods used in the United States (U.S.) context. To do this, we extracted information from 97 articles and compared the analytic approaches used. The most common approach to address Indigenous misclassification is to use data linkage, though other methods include geographic restriction to areas where misclassification is less common, exclusion of some subgroups, imputation, aggregation, and electronic health record abstraction. We identified four primary limitations of these approaches: (1) combining data sources that use inconsistent process and/or sources of race and ethnicity information, (2) conflating race, ethnicity, and nationality, (3) applying insufficient algorithms to bridge, impute, or link race and ethnicity information, and (4) assuming the hyperlocality of Indigenous people. While there is no perfect solution to the issue of Indigenous misclassification in population-based studies, a review of this literature provided promising practices to consider.