Travel
Volunteer Archeology
By Cynthia Kirkeby
Mar 2, 2004, 2:00pm

If you’ve always daydreamed about being a modern day archeologist, then we’ve found a program that you’re going to love!

“Passport in Time (PIT) is a volunteer archaeology and historic preservation program of the USDA Forest Service (FS). Participants work with professional archaeologists and historians on projects including archaeological excavation, rock art restoration, survey, archival research, historic structure restoration, gathering oral histories, or writing interpretive brochures. That’s just a small sample! Volunteers have helped stabilize ancient cliff dwellings in New Mexico, excavate a 10,000-year-old village site in Minnesota, restore a historic lookout tower in Oregon, clean vandalized rock art in Colorado, survey for sites in a rugged Montana wilderness, and excavate a 19th-century Chinese mining site in Hell’s Canyon in Idaho.”


It doesn’t cost anything to participate in these projects, but you do have to get yourself to the project locations, and sometimes you have to pay for your own food and lodging. All in all, it seems like a pretty cool way to spend a Spring break or part of your summer!

New Projects
Find a new project by clicking on the state you’re interested in visiting. States shown in green have current projects.

Source: USDA Forest Service