This summer, history students at UAH took part in the first-ever historic archeology field school. A combination of classroom learning and practical experience, the course focused on an archeological site located on nearby Redstone Arsenal. "This site is on land that was originally part of a vast plantation that operated from around 1818 until the Army bought the land in 1942," says Benjamin J. Hoksbergen, the Arsenal's archaeologist and cultural resource manager. "It was first discovered in 1997 as part of the initial effort to survey all Arsenal lands for archaeological sites." After the survey turned up a stone well on the site, it was considered potentially eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. "That's where the field school came in," he says. "Not only did the students learn how to do archaeological fieldwork, but the Army benefited from having the site evaluated without having to pay a contractor to do the work."