Before excavation begins, The High School Field School (HSFS) students spend time participating in a simulated excavation in large sand-boxes. After "sim dig," the students are ready to excavate like real archaeologists. At least twice a week, the HSFS students spend approximately seven hours a day excavating two-by-two meter units in groups of three or four at the Albert Porter Preserve.

In 1988, Albert Porter donated 12 acres of land to the Archaeological Conservancy. Crow Canyon is the first organization to carry out excavation at the Albert Porter Preserve. Crow Canyon researchers believe that the Albert Porter site may have been a Chacoan Outlier because of the landscape and architecture there. This suggests that the Albert Porter inhabitants were influenced by the Chaco Canyon culture. For example, there is a multistoried structure in the center of the site that may be a Chacoan Great House. This structure appears to have kivas enclosed within the walls, which is typical of Chacoan architecture.

Using a trowel and brush, we carefully work in arbitrary levels, digging 20 cm of dirt at a time. In our groups, we screen buckets of dirt for artifacts like sherds, pottery, flakes, charcoal, and animal bones. Everyday we take measurements of our individual units, create drawings and take notes of our findings, and analyze the progress we have made.

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