2024-25 “Gateways” Undergrad Research in Archaeology

During the fall term 2024, Pitt undergraduate students worked with Dr. Hanks and PhD candidate Emily Eklund, to undertake archaeological geophysical surveys in Westinghouse Park, a 10.2 acre city park in Pittsburgh’s east end. This project, in collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh and the Westinghouse Legacy, a non-profit created to honor George Westinghouse Jr. (The Westinghouse Legacy), is focused on providing survey results that will better locate the original foundations of Westinghouse’s “Solitude” estate home and underground laboratory complex that includes a preserved underground tunnel system that connected them. George Westinghouse and his wife Marguerite lived at this location from 1871 until 1918.

Through classroom lectures and on-site geophysical survey instruction, students are learning how to use ground penetrating radar, magnetometry, earth resistance, and electromagnetic conductivity. These research activities are contributing to a better understanding of the historical heritage of the site and the legacy of George Westinghouse Jr. Continued survey will take place during the spring 2025 semester with another group of students participating in this important project.

Participants of the project:
Faculty: Dr. Bryan Hanks, Dr. Marc Bermann, Dr. Claire Ebert, and Dr. Jennifer Muller
Graduate Student Assistant: Emily Eklund
Undergraduate Students: Hannah Barton, Josephine Bevacqua, Alexis Duley, Samuel Hormell, Isaac Mains, Jalen Manhertz, Gail Wolf, and Sophia Zar

Undergraduate students Alexis Duley, Jalen Manhertz and Sophia Zar surveying with earth resistance instrument.

Undergraduate student Gail Wolf surveying with electromagnetic conductivity instrument.

Faculty members Dr. Marc Bermann and Dr. Claire Ebert surveying with ground penetrating radar system