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By Dakota Galvin, College of Arts and Sciences  
 

Middle school students from Hillsborough and Hernando Counties spent part of their summer uncovering ancient stories 鈥� and creating new ones 鈥� at the USF Archaeology + Art Camp, hosted by Access3DLab and supported by the USF Office of Youth Experiences. From excavating 3D-printed artifacts to sculpting pottery and authoring archaeology-inspired comics, campers explored how heritage and art intersect 鈥� and how their own voices shape the narrative.

Laura Harrison, the director of Access 3D and the summer camp, has built a career around innovative approaches to archaeological storytelling, with a focus on drawing connections between the past and present. Her fieldwork projects in Bronze Age Greece and Turkey (circa 2500 to 2100 B.C.) explore the origins of urban planning and reveal how specialized pottery and textile workshops were embedded in the fabric of early cities. Her 3D reconstructions of early cityscapes make these faraway places accessible to both scholars and the public. For Harrison, archaeology isn鈥檛 just science 鈥� it鈥檚 a craft.  
 
At home in Tampa, Harrison channels that same spirit of discovery and creativity into hands-on learning for local middle schoolers through mock excavations, pottery, weaving, 3D scanning and drawing comics. This work is part of an educational outreach startup housed at the lab, called Project CLAY. Lessons include working with 3D-printed artifact reconstructions, site visits in virtual reality and visualizations of excavation contexts. The activities are designed to surprise and delight while also supporting key middle school learning objectives in social studies, visual art and literacy.

Harrison鈥檚 interest in archaeological storytelling began with a chance encounter in the field. While leading an archaeological excavation in Turkey, she met Nickelodeon illustrator Kristin Donner, whose creative lens helped reframe how Harrison thought about sharing research with audiences outside of academia. Together, they created a comic about a 2,200 BCE pottery workshop based on real finds from Seyit枚mer H枚y眉k 鈥� an experience that inspired Harrison to integrate comics into her educational work and reimagine how students and general audiences connect with the past.

鈥淚 am always amazed at how intuitive and smart middle school students are! It鈥檚 a great age to work with archaeology and comic storytelling,鈥� Harrison said.

This encounter led to the development of Project CLAY, pilot activities in New York, California and Florida, and eventually the USF summer camp, which became a long-form version of the lessons. Each of the four key modules 鈥� excavation, pottery making, weaving and comics 鈥� has a strong multimodal focus that integrates physical elements, like handmade pottery, with digital elements such as 3D scans of artifacts. This innovative approach helps engage multiple types of learners and encourages students to be curious and explore their creativity.

At the summer camp, students showed a strong interest in the cutting-edge technology housed in the Access 3D Lab, particularly the 3D laser scanners.

鈥淥ne thing I noticed right away is how open the students were to the hands-on work with the scanners,鈥� Harrison said.

While many campers had prior experience with 3D modeling and virtual reality, 3D scanning is often less accessible due to the cost and technical expertise needed to run it.

鈥淪o, it was great to provide the campers with a hands-on scanning opportunity and to see how intuitive they were with the technology!鈥� she said.

The Access 3D Lab wasn鈥檛 the only USF resource the students learned about during their time on campus. The (USF IT) hosted a 3D printing demo and the Ceramics Studio gave a live demo of pottery mixing, molding and firing using techniques that mirrored Donner鈥檚 archaeology comic. The archaeologists-in-training also visited for an excavation and built community ties through a Gallery Show at the end of the camper鈥檚 week, where family and friends got to see the students鈥� work on display.

鈥淭he lab has never been so full or lively,鈥� Harrison shared. 鈥淚t was a great moment for the lab, and I think many of our campers were inspired by the event and all that USF has to offer.鈥�

As the final projects went home in the hands of proud students and their families, the camp鈥檚 mission was clear: to spark curiosity, foster creativity and bring history to life.

For Harrison and her colleagues, it wasn鈥檛 just about teaching archaeology to middle school students. It was about empowering a new generation to see themselves as storytellers.

And for some campers, the experience wasn鈥檛 just a summer program 鈥� it was the first chapter in a story they鈥檙e now beginning to write.