Muck Is Love, Mud Is Life.

Hello again Fort St. Joseph Blog readers! 

Here I am wet screening; this is
perhaps the cleanest I ever was doing it.

I’m Owen Wittbrodt, and I’d like to end this field school season by talking about my favorite portion of the artifact unearthing process, that being the one that gets your clothes the dirtiest, your hands the muddiest, and the artifacts the somewhat cleanest. This is my little talk on wet screening. 

If you are in need of a refresher, wet screening involves us taking the dirt that we either trowel or shovel skim from our units into cat litter buckets over to the mucky trench area where the wet screening stations are located. These of course being the wooden quad-pods that support the wire mesh screens of about two degrees of fineness. The water is provided by an electric pump system that feeds the hoses water from the St. Joseph River itself. I have to say I’m surprised by how clean the river is! There were some really scorching days and afternoons when I would be standing up there at the wet screening stations, and I’d spray my arms just to cool off! Anyways, the next step involves pouring about half a bucket’s full into the top screen. Overall, there is a three layer system: the 1/4'' mesh top screen catches the larger artifacts and debris, the 1/8'' mesh middle screen layer collects all the finer debris and smaller artifacts, and the last 1/4'' mesh screen layer acts as more of an area to set things, like our butter tub bins, small rocks, sticks, etc. Spraying water from the hose is of course involved, and this is what makes it wet. The water will trickle down all of the silt and sediment, landing in the second layering of mesh. Ultimately, the soil is collected into large tubs below. 

This handprint was of my doing.
It looked squishy and it was squishy.

This leads to one of the best parts involved with wet screening, and might possibly beat out the finding of awesome artifacts. These containers of squishy mucky joy have to be de-mucked once said muck blocks the water drainage holes that are drilled into the sides of the tubs. This process involves a shovel, a wheelbarrow, and a positive attitude! One day I was curious as to what this muck felt like, as on the surface it looks very squishy and inviting, so as per the second photo that isn’t me half attempting a nervous smile, I put my hand in it. Readers, my results are that it is cold, squishy, and maybe good for one’s skin, though do not quote me on this last part because I am not a doctor. 

At the end of the day, wet screening leaves one with dirtier clothes than what they started with, more recovered artifacts to catalog, and I’d even say a happier self. Though this last part may not apply to all, as standing in the sun looking for things in mud may not be appealing to all. However, I, in fact, will stand on the hill that wet screening is an enjoyable experience. I would like to end this off with a thanks, thanks for all of the public and local community support this year by reading our blogs, and have an excellent rest of your summer!

- Owen