NILES — The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, hosted in conjunction with Western Michigan University and the City of Niles, is underway in Niles, as community members and experts continue their public archaeology program, investigating one of the most important French colonial sites in the Western Great Lakes region. The Project has once again featured summer archaeology camps, a lecture series, an open house and a field school which runs through August.

The schedule began with the 43rd annual WMU Archaeological Field School, one of the longest-running archaeological field schools in the U.S., from June 28 to Aug. 17. The program offers graduate and undergraduate students the opportunity to discover history and practice archaeology as they search for evidence of colonial French fur trade, military, and religious activities at Fort St. Joseph. Students gain hands-on experience in proper archaeological techniques including excavation, site survey, wet screening, record keeping and mapping, along with lab processing and preliminary analysis. The project also sponsors several other programs at the fort this summer.

According to Michael Nassaney, the project’s principal investigator, Summer Archaeology Camps provide an opportunity for youth and lifelong learners alike to learn how to actually do archaeology.

“Participants spend a week discovering the history of Fort St. Joseph and participating in onsite excavations alongside University students who serve as mentors,” Nassaney said. “An approved continuing education program, the Lifelong Learner Camps, offer students three WMU graduate credits, nine State Board Continuing Education Units in Michigan, credits for recertification in Illinois, and/or credits applicable toward the Professional Growth Plan in Indiana.”

The camps are now filled but in the future, those interested may visit nileshistorycenter.org to apply.

The ninth annual Summer Archaeology Lecture Series invites the public to engage in several interactive and educational programs, focusing on this year’s theme: “Technology Then and Now.” All four of the lectures begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Niles District Library.

The remaining lecture includes:

• Aug. 1, Telling Time with Technology: Glass Trade Beads of Fort St. Joseph, Heather Walder (Northern Illinois University)

Fort St. Joseph also hosts its free Archaeology Open House from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 4 to 5, at the corner of Fort and Bond Streets in Niles. Attendees can meet WMU archaeologists working at the archaeological site, observe period demonstrations at the Living History Village, explore the active site, participate in children’s activities and crafts, view recently uncovered artifacts, listen to period music and participate in period dance, and learn more about the technologies of the 18th Century and how archaeologists use technology today to study the past.

As many residents know, WMU’s Department of Anthropology located the fort during an archaeological survey in 1998. Excavations began in earnest there in 2002, when WMU conducted its annual archaeological field school at the fort site. Since then, faculty researchers and students from the university have continued to uncover and interpret the fort’s physical remains.

First established as a mission in the 1680s by French Jesuits, the fort was one of the earliest European settlements in the western Great Lakes region. It was an important part of a chain of settlements that facilitated the fur trade between Native Americans and the French, and supported religious and military activities for much of the 18th Century. For more information, visit wmich.edu/fortstjoseph.