The fragment of Taino pottery, probably ca. 500 to 800 years old.

It was a summer experience Christopher Bontrager and Darryl Ricketts will always remember. In fact, it was life changing.

Both IU South Bend students spent a month in the Dominican Republic working on collaborative research with James M. VanderVeen, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology. They, along with students and faculty members from IUB, worked at the Bahia Isabela Archaeological Project (BIAP).

They worked with members from the Museo del Hombre Dominicano, as well as a student from the Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo. The Bloomington faculty members were Geoffrey W. Conrad (Department of Anthropology and Mathers Museum of World Culture) and Charles D. Beeker (HPER).

The area they investigated is near La Isabela, the first European town in the New World. They focused on studying the interaction between the European settlers of the Columbus era and the indigenous people of the island known as the Tainos.

"The BIAP team is conducting research on three fronts," VanderVeen said. Faculty and students (graduate and undergraduate) from IUB are searching for sunken Columbus-era ships in Isabela Bay. Secondly, the team looked for other valuable archaeological sites on land, in caves and underwater.

Third, the team lead by VanderVeen excavated the area around the Taino village. "It is here that we can learn about the daily interactions between the Europeans and the local people. My research examines the diet of the two groups and I have found that the exchange of food products and cooking technique was an unexpected two-way street."

During the dig, they recovered ceramic artifacts. "These are small pieces of broken pottery, but they can tell us a lot about the people who made them. "The fragments, called sherds, are often decorated with incised lines and dots. The distinctive patterns indicated which group lived in the area and at what time. The size and quantity of the vessels suggest the number of people present at the site," VanderVeen said.

And once back home, using technology at IU South Bend, he can extract centuries old organic material like cholesterol from the pots and determine what types of plants and animals the villager were eating.

Bontrager said the days were spent digging, washing off the artifacts at the field lab, weighing and recording. The evenings were spent in lively discussions about the day's work.

Both Bontrager and Ricketts became interested in the archaeology after taking a class with VanderVeen. The trip was suggested and Ricketts thought it would be an interesting way to spend part of the summer. Interesting became exhilarating. But the trip did more. "As it turned out, it helped focus my goals. Because of the work, I've added anthropology as a minor and intended on pursuing a master's in forensic anthropology.

Bontrager, who is a staff sergeant with the Indiana National Guard and is serving in Iraq presently, received a SMART grant for his research and also saw the trip as an opportunity to explore a new field. "No textbook could have taught what I learned in the Dominican Republic."