Hi everyone,
Our first day at the Western Michigan University Field School held at Fort St. Joseph was a eventful way to blast into the 2025 dig season. We woke up early in the morning, coordinated everyone into getting ready for a hot, long day of work ahead, and headed to the site. We arrived by 8:15 AM and quickly got to work on preparing the site for the rest of the field season.
We began by splitting up into two separate groups. One group would begin to reestablish the site grid by plotting out coordinate data points using the Total Station. The device helps us plot multiple points over the site, making it a bit easier then stretching out long tapes in the tall buffalo grass. The other team began by roughing it in the mud and working hard to dig a trench for our wet screening stations. We quickly learned how unique the floodplain environment where the fort is located was to work with. The teams would switch back and forth allowing all students of the field school to experience both aspects of the site prep.
After these tasks were completed and everyone had adjusted to the environment a bit more, we got a chance to take core samples and wet screening previously excavated dirt from a few of the open units on site. Collecting core samples turned out to be a hefty task that was physically challenging. Wet screening, however, was a pretty interesting break from the more physical preparations we conducted during the day. We were able to wet screened multiple buckets of soil and made a few fun discoveries. I uncovered two glass seed beads: one white and the other blue. I also uncovered a few bone fragments and a small piece of lead shot. By the end of the first day in the field, I had a better understanding of just how much prep goes into an archaeological dig. After a fun, and successful day we enjoyed a fantastic spread of delicious food from members of the community at the Niles District Library. A special thanks to them, we really appreciate it! There is plenty of time left in the season, and I know we are all looking forward to sharpening our minds and our skills in archaeology.
-Brendon
We began by splitting up into two separate groups. One group would begin to reestablish the site grid by plotting out coordinate data points using the Total Station. The device helps us plot multiple points over the site, making it a bit easier then stretching out long tapes in the tall buffalo grass. The other team began by roughing it in the mud and working hard to dig a trench for our wet screening stations. We quickly learned how unique the floodplain environment where the fort is located was to work with. The teams would switch back and forth allowing all students of the field school to experience both aspects of the site prep. 
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