On May 1, 2024, an experiential learning workshop for farmers will be held from 10:30 – 2:00 at the Rutgers Specialty Crop Research and Extension Center in Cream Ridge, New Jersey. The workshop focuses on insects recovered from a 1683  grave that was excavated at Historic St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Historic St. Mary’s City was the first permanent British settlement in Maryland, located on a small rural coastal peninsula east of modern-day Washington, DC. Today, the site is still a farming operation that mainly grows field crops.

Registration is free and can be found on the workshop’s homepage here: https://go.rutgers.edu/mll66dzo

Workshop Details

Dr. George Hamilton’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Laboratory at the Rutgers Department of Entomology is studying historical insects from the Philip Calvert grave at Historic St. Mary’s City and the insect biodiversity of the modern site. One goal of this project is understanding if the same beneficial rove beetle species have survived in the area as land use around the site has changed over time.

The workshop’s purpose is to get feedback from the agricultural community on the project after going through some of the activities used to study the historical insects and gather modern site data. First, the workshop will start at 10:30am with learning more about the project and the archaeology of Historic St. Mary’s City through two 10-minute talks. Then, three break-out groups will rotate through guided insect collecting in the field, recognizing historical insect fragments under laboratory microscopes, and seeing how maggots move after leaving a death scene by making insect art.

Everyone who attends will receive a folding pocket scope on behalf of NOFA-NJ for viewing insects they collect and are invited to take home their maggot insect art.

Lunch will be provided around noon after breakout groups complete each hands-on activity. Coffee will be served, and a short talk will give an overview of the investigation’s current findings. Finally, before the workshop ends at 2:00pm project members will lead a brief group discussion about how studying insects in archaeology can be used for sustainable agriculture.

For example, identifying native rove beetles that have existed at a location for 100s of years then developing an IPM farmscaping or habitat manipulation program targeted to increase populations of those beneficial insects.

Additional Background Information

The study of insects and other arthropods in archaeology sites is referred to as archaeoentomology. In Europe archaeoentomology has been used to show fleas and grain weevils moved with migrating humans over 5,000 years ago. Changes in archaeoentomology beetle species found at early European farms represent changing land use once agriculture became established. However, even though insects are all around us, archaeoentomology is usually overlooked when researchers try to design new sustainable agriculture practices.

Very little archaeoentomology research has been conducted in the United States. This provides an opportunity for developing American archaeoentomology as a field focused on understanding changes in the food system over time related to crop pests and beneficial insects.

Parking information and the link to the registration form can be found on the workshop’s homepage here: https://go.rutgers.edu/mll66dzo

In addition to farmers, growers, ranchers, farm workers, beekeepers and other members of the agriculture industry, this workshop is free and open to college students interested in agriculture, Master Gardeners, and other interested community members.

Please contact Mike with any questions at mmonzon@njaes.rutgers.edu

This event is a collaboration between NOFA-NJ, George Hamilton’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Laboratory at the Rutgers University Department of Entomology, and the Fahrenfeld Research Group at the Rutgers University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number GNE22-292.