1. From the Editor, Mark J. Lynott

We apologize for the delay in getting this issue of the Newsletter together. The government furlough put all of us in the National Park Service behind, and we are still trying to catch up. Despite the delay, we hope you will find this issue of interest.

The focus of this issue is on the value of archeology as an education tool. During the last three summers, the Midwest Archeological Center has worked with the Milton Hersey School in Hersey, Pennsylvannia to offer high school students the opportunity to participate in an archeological project. This valuable experience (both for the studends and for National Park Service archeologists) has been possible, because the organizer for the Milton Hersey School is also a former employee of the Midwest Archeological Center. I met Randy Farmer in 1983 when he enrolled with fifteen other students in a fieldschool we offered through the Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The fieldschool was held at Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southeast Missouri, and most of the students were enthralled by the scenery and the thrill of archeology. Following that summer, Randy came to work at the Midwest Archeological Center on a part-time basis until he finished his B.A. in Anthropology. He then worked with us as a full-time employee, until he decided to return to school and fulfill the requirements for his teaching certificate.

Randy and I kept in touch after he left the Center, and we often talked about how a summer of fieldwork can better prepare students for the rigors of life. These talks have become real opportunities for the students at the Milton Hersey School.

As I prepared this issue, it led me to reconsider a question I have often asked myself and colleagues: what leads people to become interested in archeology? Several of my close friends and colleagues collected artifacts as youths, and this led them to pursue archeology as a career. For me, the course was less direct. As a child, I had several books about the great archeological discoveries (e.g. discovery of the Altamira cave paintings, Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhaman' s tomb, and Heinrich Schliemann's search for Troy). I was fascinated by these stories, but unfortunately, there was very little else available to indulge my boyhood archeological interests.

As I went through high school, my interests shifted to history and I went to college with the intent of majoring in history and trying to play basketball. It didn't take me long to realize that my basketball skills weren't sufficient to take me very far in life, so I turned my interests to academics. Giving up competitive sports might have been a disappointment, except that at the same time I rediscovered my interest in archeology. An introductory course in archeology and physical anthropology brought back all of my youthful interests in archeological discoveries. This time, through the university system, there was actually an avenue available to pursue my interest.

I still have the childhood books that stimulated my interest in archeology. I was fortunate that my family encouraged me, and that those books were available. Unfortunately, until recently, there have been very few opportunities for young people to learn about archeology. As archeology continues to mature as a profession, we are seeing the develpment of school curricula and books aimed at young people. It is exciting to think that with archeology becoming a part of formal school curricula, more and more students will enter universities and colleges with a predisposition to study about the past.

I am really pleased and proud that we have been able to assist Randy Farmer in his attempts to teach his students about archeology. This issue includes a statement from Randy Farmer about why he became a teacher, and why he teaches archeology to high school students. This issue also includes papers by three students from the Milton Hersey school, who write about their experience working at archeology on a Hopewell site in Ross County, Ohio. We won't know for several years whether any of them will pursue archeology as a career. However, if they do, it will likely be in part, because the Milton Hersey School offered them the opportunity to cultivate their interests. We hope that archeology will continue to find new ways to cultivate the interests of young people, and sew the seeds that result in a lifelong interest in the study of the past.