By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

BARRY, Ill. -- Anna Agbe-Davies might be new to the New Philadelphia archaeological field school site, but she's seen enough to feel right at home.

Agbe-Davies, assistant professor of anthropology at DePaul University, is one of three field school co-directors.

Agbe-Davies has worked on several dozen archaeological sites, many with African-American ties. She sees some similarities and differences with New Philadelphia -- the first community founded and platted by an African-American, Free Frank McWorter, in 1836 -- and sites in Colonial Williamsburg, Bermuda and Barbados.

"A similarity would be the kinds of artifacts that we find," Agbe-Davies said. "So much of what is excavated from sites of that period in the Americas was manufactured in Europe, and so you find the same pottery or bottles in Virginia or the Caribbean."

But there's a key difference with New Philadelphia and its future potential.

"Unlike a lot of sites I'm familiar with, it's not directly threatened by development or farming," she said. "We can take our time, make the best decision possible among all the stakeholders who are interested."

Community involvement, such as cooperation with the New Philadelphia Association, is key in making archaeology valuable outside the university setting.

"To be exciting for the general public, it's best if it can serve the needs and desires of people who aren't archaeologists," Agbe-Davies said. "Archaeology can give information to a community that wants to discover more information about its history."

She will be involved with the site in the remaining two years of the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant.

"It's possible this could be a place where archaeology continues for many years to come because the site will still be here," she said. "If it's agreeable to the people who own the land at that point, agreeable to the New Philadelphia Association, this could be a sort of lab for the teaching of archaeology, as a model for cooperation between archaeologists."

Field school co-director Chris Fennell, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, said a program could be developed to have high school and middle school students continue archaeological work at the site.

"That gives you both additional research, adding more to the story, but also very intense community engagement with the site," Fennell said. "Archaeologists will be here for a cycle of years, then come back episodically for different surveys. It would be terrific to find a way for the community to pick up the momentum and carry it forward."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379