Mark your calendars for our 2nd annual Pumpkin Stem event!
Mark your calendars for our 2nd annual Pumpkin Stem event!
What do pumpkins, ancient engineering, and archaeology have in common? At first glance, maybe not much—unless you’re at ARI’s Pumpkin STEM Festival!
Each fall, families gather at the Archaeological Research Institute for a day of science, creativity, and hands-on discovery. One of the star attractions is our pumpkin trebuchet—a giant catapult that hurls pumpkins across the field with a satisfying thwack. It’s always a crowd-pleaser, but behind the flying pumpkins lies a deeper story about how people across time and place have used science to solve problems and shape their world.
A trebuchet is a type of catapult powered by a swinging counterweight. By releasing energy through a long throwing arm, it can launch objects surprisingly far and with impressive accuracy. While trebuchets themselves weren’t used by Indigenous peoples in North America, they showcase the same principles—gravity, leverage, momentum, and trajectory—that underlie many technologies found here.
Across North America, communities engineered remarkable tools and structures using the knowledge available to them:
Just like the trebuchet demonstrates applied physics in action, these technologies highlight the creativity and scientific thinking of past peoples.
The Pumpkin STEM Festival uses the trebuchet as a fun teaching tool, turning the excitement of a flying pumpkin into a hands-on lesson in physics. When kids watch a pumpkin soar, they’re not just laughing—they’re asking questions:
Those same questions mirror the curiosity that drove past peoples to refine their own technologies and innovations.
At ARI, we believe that discovery is for everyone. Whether you’re testing the flight path of a pumpkin, holding a replica atlatl, or learning about the Fort Ancient peoples who lived in this region centuries ago, each experience shows how science and creativity have always gone hand in hand.
Join us at the Pumpkin STEM Festival, and let’s celebrate the science of discovery—one pumpkin at a time.
When you picture archaeology, what comes to mind? Maybe a gold chalice, ancient sculpture, or a long-lost city uncovered overnight.
But the real magic? It’s quieter. It happens when something small and fragile is lifted from the earth: a shard of pottery, a flint chip, a bead no bigger than your fingertip.
At first glance, these look ordinary. Broken. Forgotten. Yet in the hands of archaeologists, they become storytellers. They speak of meals cooked and shared, of families gathered around firelight, of journeys taken and communities built. Each piece, no matter how modest, helps us see the whole picture of a culture.
Hold a pottery fragment in your hand. Feel its edge—smooth from centuries underground.
Notice its color—perhaps the deep red of baked earth, or the faint trace of a stamped pattern. What looks like trash is, in fact, a clue.
Pottery reveals what people ate, how they stored food, even how far they traveled. A single shard found in Indiana might match a style made hundreds of miles away. That means trade. That means connections. That means people were moving ideas long before highways or planes ever existed.
Now imagine a flint chip. At first? Just a rock. But run your fingers along the sharp edge and you’ll feel tiny ripples—the fingerprint of ancient craftsmanship.
Creating a tool was no accident. One wrong strike, and the stone shatters. But with patience and skill, the maker produced a knife, a scraper, or the point of a spear. Every chip of stone shows us human ingenuity at its earliest stage.
Can you picture the spark of pride when a tool was finally shaped just right?
Now picture something unexpected: a whistle, carved from the hollow wing bone of a wild turkey. It fits easily in the palm of your hand. Blow across it, and suddenly a sharp, haunting sound cuts the air.
Why does this matter? Because whistles weren’t just tools—they were instruments of meaning. They may have been used in ceremonies, signaling to others, or even for music. This small object reminds us that ancient communities valued sound, ritual, and expression just as much as survival.
At ARI, every artifact is carefully mapped, studied, and pieced into context. Alone, a shard of pottery is just a fragment. Together with others, it becomes a pot. A pot becomes a household. A household becomes a community.
That’s how soil turns into story.
At the Archaeological Research Institute (ARI), we believe the past isn’t just something to be studied — it’s something to be experienced, preserved, and shared with our communities today.
Every artifact uncovered in the soil of our region tells a story. A stone tool hints at ingenuity. A pottery sherd carries the fingerprints of the person who shaped it. A centuries-old fort wall reveals how people built lives, defended families, and connected with their environment. Together, these pieces form a human story that stretches across generations.
Yet history doesn’t speak for itself — it needs stewards. That’s where ARI comes in.
Founded on the principle that archaeology should be open and accessible, ARI works at the crossroads of research, education, and community engagement. Our team of archaeologists, educators, and volunteers uncover the stories of our shared past and bring them to life for students, families, and history enthusiasts across the tri-state region.
Through hands-on experiences, a monthly speaker series, walking tours, and more; we invite people of all ages to explore history not as something locked away in textbooks, but as a living, breathing story beneath their feet.
For many students, a visit to ARI is their very first encounter with archaeology — and the spark can be life-changing. Field trips, summer camps, experiences and events available throughout the year are designed to ignite curiosity and wonder.
Further, by blending history with science and technology, ARI helps young learners see the past in exciting new ways. These experiences plant seeds of exploration, problem-solving, and stewardship that can last a lifetime.
Archaeological sites are fragile. Once disturbed, they are gone forever. That’s why ARI is dedicated not only to uncovering the past, but also preserving it. Every excavation, every cataloged artifact, every conservation effort ensures that the stories of the past will remain available for generations yet to come.
Our work is about more than digging into the dirt. It’s about digging into our shared identity and ensuring that future generations have the chance to learn from it.
At ARI, we don’t do this work alone. Volunteers, educators, students, donors, and community members are all part of the story. Together, we are preserving history, inspiring curiosity, and building connections that reach across centuries.
When you support ARI, you’re not just supporting archaeology. You’re supporting education, community, and the idea that our past matters for our future.
Because why ARI matters is really a reflection of why we all matter — in the great story of human history.
Liz Sedler is a person who doesn’t mind getting a little dirt on her boots in the pursuit of her passion. Two years ago, the Bright native opened the non-profit Archaeological Research Institute to provide the public an opportunity to experience the numerous reasons she digs archaeology.
As many as 20,000 are buried in an overgrown cemetery in West Price Hill known as Potter’s Field. The cemetery dates to 1852, when government officials began using the site to bury people who …
Southeast Indiana is full of diverse and interesting archaeological sites, and now there’s an organization working to preserve that rich history.
As many as 20,000 people are buried in an overgrown cemetery in West Price Hill known as Potter’s Field. The first steps to developing a management plan for the area began Wednesday, with ground …
The National Park Service has awarded $34,694 in funding through a History of Equal Rights (HER) Grant to the non-profit Price Hill Will. These funds will be used to contract the Archaeological Research Institute, Inc. (ARI), a nonprofit corporation based out of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to conduct an archeological survey of the site.
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