Children who play on an athletics field at Appalachian State University’s Camp Broadstone in Valle Crucis may not realize the history that lies beneath their feet. This summer, university students in Appalachian’s archeology field school found a 4,000-year-old cooking hearth and a small vessel nearly as old about two feet underground.

Carefully digging, scraping and sifting. It's how archeologists seek clues into human history. Students at Appalachian State University learn these skills - and find cool artifacts - in a field archeology course each summer.

Accurately forecasting snowfall can be a hit or miss proposition in North Carolina's mountains as residents and visitors can attest. Professors from Appalachian State University, UNC Asheville and N.C. State University hope to change that by collecting a range of data to refine computer models used by weather forecasters to predict snowfall.