Urban archeological dig takes place on IIT campus
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When you think of archeological digs, far-off lands, and ancient places often come to mind.
But there's an important dig underway right here in Chicago.
Students have been working to unearth some local history on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. It started several weeks ago, led by Doctor Rebecca Graff of Lake Forest College, this archeological field school is digging up artifacts.
The goal: to paint a picture of the communities who once called the campus home.
"I'm really interested in thinking about what the material signature of urban renewal looks like in Chicago and other cities and how we can use some of that information to kind of reckon with the history and the structures of racism to create that type of environment," Graff said.
"And there were a lot of communities and people specifically who were hurt by that process. And so I think that's why things like this are important, because otherwise, like if you didn't know we were here, it would looks like just like a field," said Lake Forest College student Kris Bostick. "And so then all that history and all those stories can be just swept and buried, pun intended."
Students dig down about 10 centimeters at a time all while documenting their findings.
When the dig is complete, they'll spend the next several months cleaning, labeling and analyzing the artifacts.