SALEM, Mass. - Against all odds, a tiny house in York, Maine that originally had two small rooms - a hall and a parlor - is still standing and holding clues to what life was like for this country's settlers.

During a two-phase site study in June and July, Salem State College professors Dr. Peter Sablock and Dr. Emerson "Tad" Baker will lead a team of 18 upper class geology students on an excursion that will search for those clues.

The first phase will run from Thursday, June 12 to Wednesday, June 18 when students from Sablock's "Geology Field Studies" class at Salem State College will use state-of-the-art remote sensing equipment to search the land around the Bragdon-Ramsdell House on Lindsay Road in York.

Students who have been accepted into the advanced class are: Matthew Almeida, John McRobbie, Tracey Dionne, Jennifer-Lee Van Dyke and Rebecca Wronkowski of Peabody, Lisa Shaw and Heidi Stortz of Reading, Tracey Arvin of Stow, Daniel Binkney of Newburyport, Todd Dyer of Haverhill, Kevin Kitchin of Salisbury, Don Lac of Malden, Penny Lapatovich of Boxford, Loren Martinuk of Lynn, John Michaud of Beverly, Richard Rizza of Saugus, Michelle Souza of Danvers, and Richard Souza of Middletown, R.I.

In the second phase, Baker will lead a team of volunteers back to the site on July 18 where the data provided by Sablock's students will be used to conduct test excavations around the house.

The remote sensing equipment, purchased with Title III grant money, can detect disturbances underground without the use of a shovel. The radar and "induced polarization" methods allow students to identify objects underground that may have significant impact on studying the house's past. "We'll record the data, analyze it and produce a very accurate map," said Sablock, "and when we're done, we'll turn the information over to the Old York Historical Society."

The students will write reports on the data they collected as part of a graduation requirement. Two Salem State College graduate students will work with York's GIS software to create a map of the house site.

" This is a rare, if not unique opportunity to get a glimpse of what life was like for the common man in the early days of York," said Scott Stevens, executive director of the Old York Historical Society. "What is truly remarkable about this house is its size," Stevens added. "It is much more representative of York's early houses than the larger and grander homes that have survived," he said.

Over time, most of these modest structures have been turned into storage sheds or razed, Stevens explained. None has remained so structurally unchanged.

It is estimated that as many as eight family members lived in the two-room house at one time.

For more information, call the Old York Historical Society at (207) 363-4974, Baker at (978) 542-7126 or Sablock at (978) 542-6493. Also, information is available on-line at oyhs@oldyork.org or http;//www.salemstate.edu/~ebaker/volunteer.html