The Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research was established in 1999. Its chief purpose is to support archaeological research in landscape and environmental archaeology, historical archaeology, and environmental history. The Fiske Center was created through an endowment from the late Mrs. Andrew Fiske, as a living memorial to her late husband Andrew and his interest in archaeological research.
A major research initiative of the Center is to oversee the long term investigation of Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island, New York, a project that will examine the foundations of plantation life and slavery in the North. Envisioned as a ten-year, interdisciplinary study, the Sylvester Manor Project will provide the first detailed portrait of a northern plantation established by Europeans of mixed Dutch and English ancestry that relied upon Native Americans and enslaved Africans as their primary labor force.
The Center is charged with developing initiatives in three major areas. The first is to promote the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To this end the Center, in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Archives, the Commonwealth Museum, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the Office of the State Archaeologist, serves as the curator and conservator for significant archaeological collections unearthed in Massachusetts. A second area of interest is research in environmental archaeology. The Center promotes archaeological research in landscape and environmental history, health, sanitation and nutrition, and the growth of urban environments and culture. The center maintains laboratories to carry out much of the environmental archaeology the Center helps to support.
The third major area of center activities is to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in the study of cultural and environmental history and to have this research play an active role in contemporary debate concerning environmental issues. In particular the Center will support policy initiatives which seek to conserve the cultural landscape of the Commonwealth and promote environmental quality.
The Sylvester Manor project highlights the aims of the Fiske Center: supporting students and academics pursuing interdisciplinary anthropological archaeology projects within an institution that promotes collaboration among a wide range of specialists. In this fashion, the Fiske Center hopes to produce rich interpretations of the past which will help guide our future.
Over the past three years, the Fiske Center has offered a National Science Foundation-supported Research Experience for Undergraduates program.
Announcements
Field School in Historical Archaeology at Hassanamesitt Woods
Summer 2008
May29 - June 27
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For additional information.
phone 617.287.6859 or email: Fiskecenter@umb.edu
This page last updated on: April 14, 2008