FORT MEADE, SD — The Bear Butte Creek Historic Preserve between Sturgis and Fort Meade is hosting the annual University of South Dakota Archaeology Field School May 26 through June 11.

The dig is sponsored by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission and the Albert & Laverne Elliott Foundation.

Created in 2020, the 180-acre Preserve helps preserve, protect, and utilize key historical elements to the north of Fort Meade for education and tourism. The area includes the old fort firing range, Soaps Suds Row, Native American history and the natural flora and fauna along Bear Butte Creek.

The dig is again being led by Dr. Tony Krus and Archeologist-in-Residence Aaron Mayer of the University of South Dakota. Twelve USD students and several volunteers will continue to uncover evidence of the life of U.S. Cavalry laundresses and their families. Volunteers include Cher Burgess, Logan Lamphere, Brenda Shierts, and Mike Fosha.

Previous years’ teams found evidence of laundry activities, while teaching students how to conduct shovel test pits, use a Trimble GPS, do a survey, excavate and document 1×1 meter units, and clean and process artifacts, among other things.

This year’s dig was preceded by a survey of the entire Preserve by two student interns and two supervisors. The survey will help point to locations for future digs. The proposal was written by Brenda Shierts and underwritten by the Albert & Laverne Elliott Foundation.

“I’d like to become a museum curator or professor,” said student intern Natalie Wagner from Chatham, Illinois, an Anthropology major at USD.

One of the questions the group still hopes to answer is whether any intact pre-contact (pre-fort) deposits remain of Native American activity, both recent and ancient.

Further processing, cleaning, and documentation will once again be at the Lamphere Ranch Campground nearby. Artifacts found in previous years were retained for curation at the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center in Rapid City or at the USD Archaeology Laboratory. A display of significant artifacts from the site has been installed at the Old Fort Meade Cavalry Museum.

Visitors are welcome to stop by and observe. Archeologists and volunteers plan to be on site daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., depending on the weather. Parking is located at the Fort Meade Trailhead of the Centennial Trail. Follow the sidewalk under the highway to the Centennial Bike Path towards Sturgis Brown High School.

For more information, visit the Preserve’s website bbchp.org.