AHS maintains extensive office, laboratory, and curation facilities in the Storrs section of Mansfield, staffed by 14 core employees and between 4 and 12 additional graduate-student workers. The facilities, housed in a 4,000-square-foot AHS-owned building set on two acres, include all that is needed for fieldwork, artifact processing and conservation, site research, data analysis, report preparation, and short- and long-term storage of archaeological materials:
The 1,000-square-foot wet lab is where artifacts are washed, dried, and rebagged after being brought in from field projects. The wet lab is equipped with large washing sinks with specialized silt traps, as well as custom-made drying and sorting racks and other necessary tools. Outside is a specially built flotation area, allowing for the recovery of very small artifacts and ecofacts from soil samples.
Artifacts are identified, catalogued, inventoried and then packed for permanent curation in the dry lab. Computer work stations in the lab allow personnel to enter detailed information about each artifact into our custom-designed artifact inventory program. The program, developed specifically for New England prehistoric and historic-period artifacts, incorporates a custom user-interface that greatly increases the speed and reliability of inventory processes. Directly linked to our GIS and other software, it enables flexible and precise spatial analysis of archaeological data and other relevant geospatial information, and promoting accuracy, speed and efficiency.
A dedicated conservation lab allows AHS to assure that artifacts discovered in the course of field work will be processed to the highest professional standards. The lab is equipped with a stereoscopic microscope, digital scale, vacuum chamber, digital conductivity meter, wax-impregnation equipment, rotary and air abrasion tools, a dual-channel pH/ion meter, and other specialized apparatus that permit AHS to conserve a wide range of materials. AHS is the only cultural resource management firm in southern New England with conservation facilities.
A network of 16 computers provides all staff members with access to Internet resources and to AHS's site-based artifact database; the computer network also allows multiple staff members to collaborate in data analysis and report preparation, creating significant advantages in efficiency and quality control. We maintain in-house versions of historical maps dating back to the 18th century, recent aerial photography, soil-survey maps, USGS topographical maps, town boundaries, and other spatial data, most of it geo-referenced for instant importation into project-specific GIS files. Engineering data from other consultants can be imported and exported in a variety of GIS and CAD formats. Other computer-based capabilities include web-development tools and graphic-design software (Adobe InDesign™).
AHS has over 1,000 square feet of curation space, in which we house, in secure and climate-controlled conditions, artifacts collected in surveys until a permanent repository is designated. In addition to extensive shelving for storing standard-sized acid-free boxes, facilities include long-term refrigerated storage for core samples.
AHS has a fleet of seven field trucks, all of which can accommodate both gear and crew. In addition to the usual tools, field crews are equipped with Total Station surveying equipment, GIS locators, and digital cameras.
Four staffing characteristics set AHS apart from other firms: 1) a strong and diversely talented group of specialists in New England prehistory and history, archaeology, and historical research and documentation; 2) full-time field, laboratory and conservation staff; 3) extremely low staff turnover; and 4) a cadre of seasonal field workers from nearby University of Connecticut graduate students who have worked for AHS for years.
AHS president and owner Mary G. Harper, M.A., RPA, is 36 CFR 61 and 950 CMR 70-qualified in both prehistoric and historic archaeology and is also a 36 CFR 61- and 950 CMR 70-qualified historian and cultural anthropologist. She has over 30 years of experience in New England cultural resource project management, during which she has directed over 400 projects. Ms. Harper has written hundreds of technical reports, National Register nomination forms and public-oriented books. She has also supervised the in-house preparation of numerous Web sites and has prepared the text and design for several museum exhibits, including a permanent installation at Fort Trumbull State Park in New London, Connecticut. Ms. Harper has a track record of exemplary and efficient project management, with the proven ability to handle many diverse projects at a time, while keeping overhead costs very low and producing award-winning products.
Senior Historic Archaeologist Ross Harper, Ph.D., a former staff archaeologist at Colonial Williamsburg and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, has been with AHS for 12 years. He is an expert in the colonial-period history, archaeology, and ethnography of Native and Euro-Americans and is NPS 36 CFR 61 and 950 CMR 70-qualified as an historical archaeologist, historian, curator, and cultural anthropologist. Dr. Harper is responsible for directing all historical archaeology surveys and data recovery projects with AHS. His work overseeing the excavation and analysis of 18th-century homestead sites is widely respected as exemplary. He has authored numerous reports and articles on historic-period archaeology.
Historian and director of historical research Bruce Clouette holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Clouette is a NPS 36 CFR 61 and 950 CMR 70-qualified historian, architectural historian, and industrial archaeologist. He has produced hundreds of cultural resource management products and written or contributed to several books on southern New England history, among them Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites, Connecticut's Historic Highway Bridges, Historic Highway Bridges of Rhode Island, Carriages and Clocks, Corsets and Locks: The Rise and Fall of an Industrial City, New Haven 1850-1950, and Where Water Meets Land: Movable Bridges in Connecticut. He has also designed numerous museum exhibits, including the Connecticut state capitol's permanent exhibit on the history of the Connecticut General Assembly. In addition to his vast experience in documenting historic structures and properties of all types, Dr. Clouette is an expert in industrial and railroad history and archaeology.
Dr. Clouette has a particularly strong background in historic bridge documentation and advising on historic bridge rehabilitation. He has prepared dozens of state-level bridge documentations, National Register of Historic Places documentations, and HAER bridge recordations. He has conducted statewide surveys of the historic highway bridges of Connecticut, Rhodes Island and Vermont, documented in two books and an associated website.
Senior Prehistoric Archaeologist Timothy Ives, M.A., RPA, is a 36 CFR 61 and 950 CMR 70-qualified prehistoric archaeologist, historical archaeologist, curator, and cultural anthropologist. Mr. Ives is an expert in New England prehistory and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Connecticut. He is responsible for developing and overseeing archaeological research designs at prehistoric sites and interpreting survey results. The author of many cultural resource management reports, Mr. Ives is also an accomplished geoarchaeologist.
Our dedicated laboratory staff at our Mansfield office have extensive experience processing and curating New England artifacts. The inventory, conservation, and curation of artifacts at AHS are overseen by laboratory supervisor Sonia Ives and conservator Robyn Beausoleil. Ms. Ives, a NPS 36 CFR 61-qualified curator, is responsible for the supervision of artifact processing in the wet and dry laboratories, overseeing the field archaeologists who are cross-trained as laboratory workers, maintaining the site database on the server, and referring identification challenges to the appropriate senior staff. Ms. Beausoleil, a NPS 36 CFR 61-qualified conservator and curator, is responsible for implementing the technical conservation laboratory procedures necessary for the cleaning and stabilization of fragile artifacts, ensuring their long-term preservation.
AHS has continued the increasingly rare practice of maintaining a core staff of New England-specialized field archaeologists as permanent employees. As a result, we have a very low turnover rate; most of our archaeologists have been with the company for ten years or more. The low turnover is a key factor in quality and efficiency because our experienced people know how to coordinate their efforts. Accustomed to working closely together, the staff tackle tasks quickly and smoothly, with no down time or duplication of effort. To augment our staff, we have a pool of a dozen University of Connecticut graduate student interns and part-time/seasonal employees who are trained one-on-one by an AHS staffer to ensure that they fit in seamlessly and that quality is maintained.