Ongoing research by Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences at Historic Hanna’s Town is featured on a Pennsylvania Cable Network segment.
The segment, “Pennsylvania Frontier Archaeological Sites,” is part of the network’s History and Culture series. It is available on the PCN network’s website.
The segment features interviews with University Distinguished Professor and professor of anthropology Ben Ford.
Hanna’s Town, located in Westmoreland County, was the first English county seat west of the Allegheny Mountains and the source of the Hanna’s Town Resolves—a precursor to the Declaration of Independence and the first such document in the American colonies.
Hanna’s Town was founded circa 1769 by Robert Hanna and prospered for a generation as a regional economic and political center. In the late 1770s, the town contained approximately 30 homes and vied with Pittsburgh for regional importance.
Hanna’s Town was destroyed in 1782 by a contingent of British and Native American soldiers. The town never recovered, and by the early nineteenth century the site had become a farm field.
Archaeology at the site began in 1969 when the town location was acquired by Westmoreland County. The site offers a unique view of Western Pennsylvania at an important time in American history.
IUP has been working at the site since 2011 in partnership with the Westmoreland County Historical Society.
The Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences Department has held four archaeological field schools at Hanna’s Town, and several master’s degree theses have been conducted using artifacts from the town. Four decades of previous excavations have generated a rich data source of nearly one million artifacts and several shelves of records.
Ford is working with students to digitize these records so that they can be studied and made accessible to other researchers.
“The collection has the potential to shed light on the lives of frontier inhabitants of various classes, ethnicities, ages, and genders. Hanna’s Town is an important historical and archaeological site that is poorly understood,” Ford said. “The goal of the Hanna’s Town project is to synthesize the enormous dataset to better understand life in colonial Pennsylvania, and to use this information to better interpret the site to the public.”
“Having PCN focus an episode on our work at Historic Hanna’s Town is a great opportunity to share some of our findings with a state-wide audience,” Ford said.
PCN is a nonprofit television network dedicated to educating, connecting, and celebrating Pennsylvania’s past, present, and future through streaming platforms and cable television.
Earlier this year, a segment about IUP’s 150 years of history and impact, including interviews with IUP President Michael Driscoll, history faculty emeritus Charles Cashdollar, and university archivist Harrison Wick, was the subject of a History and Culture segment on PCN.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. IUP’s Impact 150 comprehensive campaign is designed to honor a legacy of educational excellence while looking toward a future of innovation, public service, and leadership in healthcare education, including the first college of osteopathic medicine at a public university in the commonwealth.