Exchange students ‘digging’ Mitchell

• Archaeology students

First-year University of Exeter students, from left, Emily Rice and Hannah Maisey, sweep a quadrant of the Thomsen Center floor at the Prehistoric Indian Village Thursday afternoon in Mitchell. Eighteen students from the university, in England, will spend a month at the village working. (Chris Huber/Republic)

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The scenic site of a 1,000-year-old native settlement along Lake Mitchell has caught the attention of college students from across the seas.

As part of an exchange program that started in 2004, students from the University of Exeter in Exeter, England, annually spend four weeks digging and uncovering artifacts left behind by the American Indians who had a settlement in the area of the modern Thomsen Center Archeodome at the Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell.

The findings are studied by Augustana College students throughout the school year in Sioux Falls.

This summer program, which takes place between June and July, gives students from a different part of the world a chance to travel and get an archeologist experience.

Leading the 18 students from the University of Exeter is the school’s head of archaeology, Alan Outram. One of the students with him this summer is Natalie Lake. She is 20 years old and just finished her first year of college, where she is pursuing her degree in ancient history/archeology. She said she is amazed by the beauty South Dakota has to offer and at how the public can see the excavation site up close. She said even though the weather is hot, the people here are friendly.

After two days here, the students had found several animal bones, but more significant finds are expected throughout their stay.

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