most people think of archeology is
telling us about the past what we’re
trying to do is actually use archeology
to improve people’s lives in the present
in this particular program we’re aiming
that specifically at military veterans
and trying to use archaeology as a tool
to build these really cohesive teams
that can help them get through some of
the stresses of transitioning back to
civilian life and some of the problems
that they face I did five active duty
and currently in the reserves my
favorite find found the bottom I guess
maybe one bottle maybe some type of
model but it had an anchor on it and so
I guess be me in the Navy and you know
the correspondence with the anchor it
was like hey this is pretty cool we got
funding to bring about a dozen veterans
out onto the site to dig well dig
Ventures was training us providing the
real expertise in archaeology that they
have and we’re gonna take a number of
different photographs of different
angles because we’re trying to
photograph and records different
elements of the structure so right now
we’re standing in new Lebanon New York
on Mount Lebanon which is the largest
and most important of all the shaker
settlements in the United States so this
is the print shop what the veterans and
a var have brought to our work is this
sense of team and I mean they can shift
dirt this stretch is so much further
along that I would have expected by this
time just because of how hard they work
and their attitude and this sort of
can-do Ness that they bring to what
we’re doing this was really my first dig
and experience in archaeology and making
the right choices in life so far I
really enjoy it but that one’s good
because you’ve got the scale in so good
by digging and concentrating and range
something focus on the goal too can also
reduce your stress as well they start a
little bit square a little cleaner out
here some antiques you see some of the
various glass ever found there’s colors
something I force them like a material I
did just over ten years in the Marine
Corps my stress level since coming here
has been very low actually getting out
some physical exertion and they’re just
hanging out with fellow
at night has been very helpful just
shooting the breeze and talking about
our experiences and learning about each
other so I feel like this is a very good
experience for military veterans
honestly it’s given me a sense of more
purpose selling me kind of like to with
the new people and kind of just getting
out there and being productive the idea
was developed by the British in 2011
what that’s done for us is actually give
us a couple of peer-reviewed research
papers that show that this project works
this is where we really see a lot of
those personal conversations happen
where people can really feel comfortable
talking to someone else who’s been in
similar circumstances it can kind of
open up and say what they want to say
I’ve talked to a lot of guys here
they’ve even said like once they get
there and dig or they’re out here
surveying or even cleaning the finds
they’re all just at peace and that’s
that’s really a great thing to hear from
this program we have multiple sites
through the year and that’s what we
intend to offer every year going forward
so that we can allow as many vets as
possible to have this experience I was a
little apprehensive at first but I’m
glad I found this group of people and if
the possibility of me performing this in
another site and all the location down
the road comes up I’m gonna jump on it
and try to get as much people involved as I can
telling us about the past what we’re
trying to do is actually use archeology
to improve people’s lives in the present
in this particular program we’re aiming
that specifically at military veterans
and trying to use archaeology as a tool
to build these really cohesive teams
that can help them get through some of
the stresses of transitioning back to
civilian life and some of the problems
that they face I did five active duty
and currently in the reserves my
favorite find found the bottom I guess
maybe one bottle maybe some type of
model but it had an anchor on it and so
I guess be me in the Navy and you know
the correspondence with the anchor it
was like hey this is pretty cool we got
funding to bring about a dozen veterans
out onto the site to dig well dig
Ventures was training us providing the
real expertise in archaeology that they
have and we’re gonna take a number of
different photographs of different
angles because we’re trying to
photograph and records different
elements of the structure so right now
we’re standing in new Lebanon New York
on Mount Lebanon which is the largest
and most important of all the shaker
settlements in the United States so this
is the print shop what the veterans and
a var have brought to our work is this
sense of team and I mean they can shift
dirt this stretch is so much further
along that I would have expected by this
time just because of how hard they work
and their attitude and this sort of
can-do Ness that they bring to what
we’re doing this was really my first dig
and experience in archaeology and making
the right choices in life so far I
really enjoy it but that one’s good
because you’ve got the scale in so good
by digging and concentrating and range
something focus on the goal too can also
reduce your stress as well they start a
little bit square a little cleaner out
here some antiques you see some of the
various glass ever found there’s colors
something I force them like a material I
did just over ten years in the Marine
Corps my stress level since coming here
has been very low actually getting out
some physical exertion and they’re just
hanging out with fellow
at night has been very helpful just
shooting the breeze and talking about
our experiences and learning about each
other so I feel like this is a very good
experience for military veterans
honestly it’s given me a sense of more
purpose selling me kind of like to with
the new people and kind of just getting
out there and being productive the idea
was developed by the British in 2011
what that’s done for us is actually give
us a couple of peer-reviewed research
papers that show that this project works
this is where we really see a lot of
those personal conversations happen
where people can really feel comfortable
talking to someone else who’s been in
similar circumstances it can kind of
open up and say what they want to say
I’ve talked to a lot of guys here
they’ve even said like once they get
there and dig or they’re out here
surveying or even cleaning the finds
they’re all just at peace and that’s
that’s really a great thing to hear from
this program we have multiple sites
through the year and that’s what we
intend to offer every year going forward
so that we can allow as many vets as
possible to have this experience I was a
little apprehensive at first but I’m
glad I found this group of people and if
the possibility of me performing this in
another site and all the location down
the road comes up I’m gonna jump on it
and try to get as much people involved as I can
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