In the woods on the outskirts of campus, a group of students crouches over a carefully measured excavation site, brushing away soil a few centimeters at a time. Every artifact is flagged. Every measurement is recorded. Every discovery could change the story they are trying to piece together.

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The excavation was part UMass Amherst’s Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Field School, a six-week summer program that immerses students in the methods used by archaeologists, biological anthropologists and forensic scientists to investigate human remains.

The field school, directed by Ventura Pérez, associate professor of anthropology, combines classroom instruction, laboratory training and hands-on excavation in a way few other programs can match. Students learn osteology, excavation techniques, forensic documentation and laboratory analysis while working through simulated crime-scene and archaeological burial sites designed to mirror real-world investigations.

“This field school is just unique in the country,” Pérez notes.

One reason is a partnership with UMass Chan Medical School’s Division of Translational Anatomy and its Anatomical Gift Program. The collaboration gives students exposure to forensic and archaeological methods as well as ethical body donation practices and anatomical research.

The field school begins with instruction on the human skeleton and forensic methods. Students then spend two weeks excavating simulated burial sites before returning to the lab to analyze their findings and produce professional-level reports.

The sites themselves are designed by students from previous years, creating a learning experience that combines scientific investigation and problem-solving.

“In real life you never know what actually happened,” Pérez says. “Last year’s students built this year’s site.”

The approach creates opportunities for students to think like investigators rather than simply follow instructions.

The field school also includes invited experts who help students appreciate the legal, ethical and cultural dimensions of working with human remains.

Rania Abdelouahed, a rising senior majoring in anthropology, says one of the biggest lessons has been learning how meticulous archaeological work can be.

“You have to literally line up and step with your group and everybody walks at the same time flagging everything,” she says. “Anything could be relevant.”

The process often feels like detective work. This year’s students uncovered artifacts including a pocket watch, a horseshoe, buttons and skeletal remains that suggested a more complicated story than a single burial.

At one point, students realized they had identified three femurs at the site.

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“You’ve only got two per person,” Abdelouahed observes with a laugh.

The discovery led students to theorize that the burial might contain commingled remains, possibly including an amputated leg associated with a wartime medical scenario. Whether that theory proves correct is part of the educational experience.

The goal is not just to find artifacts, but to learn how evidence is interpreted, challenged and reconstructed into a coherent narrative.

The field school has drawn attention from professionals across the country. Pérez reports interest in the program was evident during a recent workshop at a national biological anthropology conference, where attendance far exceeded expectations.

People wanted to know how to replicate what is happening at UMass.

However, for students, the program’s impact is often more personal.

Abdelouahed, who hopes to become a biological anthropology professor, says the experience has reinforced her passion for research, teaching and mentorship.

“I definitely want to teach,” she says. “I really like the idea of a professor knowing something really well about a topic.”

That enthusiasm is exactly what Pérez hopes students carry forward. As graduates move into careers in anthropology, archaeology, forensic science and medicine, they take with them lessons that extend beyond excavation techniques and laboratory methods.

He says those lessons are thanks to the mentorship, institutional support and generations of anthropologists who helped build the field school.

Standing at the excavation site, surrounded by students carefully brushing away soil, Pérez reflected on how far the program has come since its early days in the borrowed backyard of a faculty member.

“I’m really, really proud of it,” he says.