Return of the Volunteers for Peace

This season our international Volunteers for Peace program returns after a 3 year hiatus. It runs from 9 July to 22 July, as we welcome up to 8 volunteers from around the world. So far, we have volunteers signed up from Germany, Taiwan, Italy, Mexico, Hungary, and The Netherlands. VFP partners with local volunteer organizations in each country, to make it easier to apply for and obtain a visa. You can email them at vfp@vfp.org to ask about partner organizations in your country. A list can also be found on their website at vfp.org.

2019 VFP volunteers with a few other volunteers at Letchworth State Park.

Field Season 2023: Getting a bit back to normal

 Our field season this summer will be a bit more like the pre-pandemic AVP, and we will be running from July 5 until July 31. We are finally able to welcome back our international volunteers through the Volunteers for Peace program! The last VFP group we had was in summer 2019... Stay tuned for more information on scheduling coming up soon! Come and volunteer with us this summer, or just visit a while. Everyone is welcome. 

Field Season 2022

 We have been preparing the volunteer house and the dig site over the last few days, and will be ready for excavation volunteers tomorrow (Tuesday 7/12). We have been at the site off and on, and it is as beautiful as ever down there, though a bit dry. Walk-on volunteering is welcome, though be sure to bring plenty to drink and a bag lunch if you plan to stay the full day. We generally dig from about 9:30 until about 4:00. Email avp.archaeology@gmail.com if you're in need of directions. 

Summer 2022

 Our summer 2022 program will run for three weeks, from July 10 until July 30. Unfortunately, we will not have the international program this year, but hope to have it up and running again for 2023. See you in the field!

Ground Breaking

Today we got the volunteer house situated, and tomorrow we'll be setting up the field area and breaking ground to expose some of the earlier units from which we plan to expand. We'll be in and out of the site, as we're still in set-up mode, but if you stop by and we happen to be there, come on down and say 'Hi!' We're also excited about our new lab space, and we'll be trying that out if it rains this week. 

We can finally confirm that we will be running a scaled-down field season for 2021! Our program will be welcoming volunteers from July 25 through August 14. We will be continuing our investigations at the Canticle Farms site called Bockmier One. It is a Late Woodland village site that was once inhabited by the Ohiyo Haudenosaunee, people who form part of the ancestry of today's Onondagawa (Seneca). Our focus this year will be on identifying the features and structures in the southwest corner if the site, and how they relate to the broader site in general. We will have opportunities for fieldwork and lab work, so come on out and learn a bit about archaeology!

*We will be continuously monitoring and abiding by the CDC recommendations for the continuing pandemic. The Allegheny Valley region has a relatively low vaccination rate, so we are asking that all out-of-state volunteers be vaccinated, to reduce risk of transmission. 

2020 Cancellation of Field Season

It is with great disappointment that I must relay the news that the 2020 Summer Field Season of the Allegheny Valley Project has been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  As a non-profit community archaeology program, the Allegheny Valley Project brings people together for research and education in a hands-on environment. Our archaeology volunteers work in close quarters from the excavation units and screening stations in the field to the processing stations in the lab.  Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to practice social distancing, a necessary policy as the pandemic persists. While many of our volunteers are local to the New York and Pennsylvania area, we have a large contingent of volunteers that travel from other parts of the US, and our International Program with Volunteers for Peace brings participants from across the globe. In addition, our volunteers are of all ages and abilities, and many of our volunteers are in particularly vulnerable populations. We considered a scaled back season held later in the summer, but the Allegheny Valley Project would not be the same experience without the full contingent and range of volunteers that form our community. We will resume our field excavations in the summer of 2021. In the meantime, we hope that all of our volunteers across the globe have a safe and cheerful rest of 2020. I will miss you all this summer, but look forward to seeing you in 2021!