Hey Fort Followers
Project staff and students just got back from the conference of the Society of Historical Archaeology in New Orleans! It was an amazing time. Being able to walk around an historic city and expand my network was an amazing experience I will never forget. From going to symposiums to the past president’s dinner to more, there was a lot of fun stuff to participate in. For me, the first day of the conference was a little bit slow since Ella and I volunteered in the book room for setup. Although this may sound boring, it was actually a great time! Industry professionals and publishing companies kept coming in and we were able to get some one on one time with them. I was able to talk with a representative from Texas A&M about my glass research and he lent me a book for a little bit. Although the book contained information about 11th century glass, the end of the book had chemical analysis charts that could be helpful with my research going forward! From the chart I found out that some darker colored glass fragments had higher amounts of lead in them than others. I also met some professors from Wayne State and the University of Michigan Dearborn and talk with them about grad school.
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| Erika and I presenting the poster at the conference. |
On the second day, I presented my poster in the afternoon. I was really nervous, but all in all it was wonderful. My poster was on the container glass recovered from Fort St. Joseph that I have been researching. Specifically, I did a spatial analysis of different containers recovered in association with the buildings at the site. While some of the structures had similar ratios of olive-green and blue colored glass, Structure 4 had an abnormal amount of clear or non-colored glass. This may be a result of the blacksmith being able to afford and have more diverse items. Everyone who came to my poster was interested in hearing about my research and some even talked with me about their own research which was super interesting. I met archaeologists from all sorts of historic sites around America, from 18th century American forts to 11th century shipwrecks; everything was really cool. After my presentation, there was a past president’s banquet. The banquet was full of important people in the archaeological industry. Other students presenting on Fort St. Joseph and I were able to network with them for a few hours. There were tables for cultural resource management, museum collections, government careers, academic jobs, and underwater archaeology. The event was very relaxed and we were able to talk with most of the people, get business cards, and receive pointers about our resumes. With the things I learned, I am going to update my resume and begin applying to different archaeology firms for a summer job.
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| Past and present FSJ staff and students. |
Friday was full of fun symposiums to go to. Carson and I went to a symposium on the archaeology of prohibition and sex work. It was very interesting. Some of the prohibition sites that were discussed were located in Detroit. We love Michigan archaeology! In the afternoon, a few Fort St. Joseph students were presenting their posters and we all went down to support them. After the poster presentations, we took a group photo and got to meet some FSJ alums. After the picture, our current student crew and I went and hit the town. We walked in the French Quarter and got dinner in the historic area. It was beautiful. The architecture in the French Quarter was old and gas lamps lit up the streets. It felt like we had been transported back in time. After a yummy dinner at a local restaurant, we went back to the hotel to go to bed. But not all was over, the annual SHA dance was happening and we just had to stop in. What better way to network amongst tenured archaeologists than to do the cupid shuffle with them! We ended up making a lot of friends at the dance and making even more memories.
By the time I got home on Saturday, I was exhausted. While I was only at the conference for three days, it felt so much longer. Suffice it to say, I didn’t want it to end. I am definitely going to further my research so I can go back again to present. The connections that I made and the friends that I met at the conference are invaluable and I was even able to get some leads on summer jobs. I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped me out with my poster and to WMU and the City of Niles for allowing me this opportunity.
Have an archaeological day,
Ian Walraven
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