This web page concerns earthworms and archaeology. Does this seem to be an unlikely combination of topics? Understanding how earthworms affect the soil (and therefore the artifacts within the soil) is actually quite important in archaeological research. Earthworms, along with many other soil-dwelling organisms, mix the soil through their burrowing. This mixing is termed bioturbation. The better we understand how these organisms mix the soil, the better we can understand the archaeological material that gets mixed in with it.

You can read a short article about how earthworms and other organisms mix the soil (originally published in Worm Digest) from the links on the left above.

You can also look at a gallery of bioturbation and other interesting forms of soil mixing.

Did you know that Charles Darwin yelled at worms? Shocking, isn't it? You can read about this above too.

I have also included a short list of technical articles specifically about earthworms and archaeology, and a list of Internet links to other sites about earthworms, archaeology, and related topics.

How did I become interested in earthworms and archaeology? I am an archaeologist currently living and working in Kampsville, Illinois, at the Center for American Archeology. My archaeological interests are diverse - I primarily study prehistoric people in North America (Native Americans), but I am also interested in historical archaeology. I frequently apply computers and spatial statistics to archaeological topics, and I am involved in the recording of historic cemeteries. I am also interested in geoarchaeology, which is the application of earth-science approaches to archaeological research. It was through geoarchaeology that I came to study soil, and to become interested in what earthworms do to the archaeological record.

You can read more about my projects, and other archaeological and anthropological projects here: ProjectPast.org.

You can contact me here: ggvogel@gmail.com.

This web site is hosted by ProjectPast.org, web platform for archaeologists and anthropologists created by Jamie Brandon.