Week 1, Oh yah!

Hello everybody,

The first week of the archaeological field school has truly been an informative, and at times steep, experiential learning curve. Archaeology has been a goal for many of us participating in field school, but the reality of doing contemporary and community-focused archaeological work has been an unparalleled experience. The importance of this project has more dimensions than I can list, but first and foremost, it is continuously established that it is not just what we find that is important - our pursuit is the information we glean from the artifacts and the context they lie in. We are not treasure hunters nor magpies, simply looking for a shiny bauble to spark serotonin in our brains. We are researchers, more akin to detectives than thieves and birds, investigating a scene through the fragments of evidence that we recover. 

This site is very important in the history of the North American continent, representing a deep and complex history to both the past and present inhabitants of the area. It can not be understated how learning of this site’s history has been revelatory in terms of understanding the weight of our work. Fort St. Joseph was a vital spot in the economics, culture, and relations between multiple peoples. Understanding this is key to doing good work that involves the community and honors the parties involved, as a clumsy and uninformed hand is more dangerous than a swift and vindictive one. We began the week by settling into the field house, talking with our teammates, and going over our procedures and plan for our excavatory and surveyance efforts before going over the history of the fort. 

           On the second day, we began clearing the site and preparing our stations with actions like digging our trenches for our screening stations, getting our water pumps running, and clearing the buffalo grass by the bushel. The site preparation was wonderful, as it made us feel like we were truly making this area our own space of work for the upcoming weeks. While the heat and humidity was oppressive, clearing a windbreak of grass into a clear space for breezes to meet us was a superb idea. The third day involved more site prepping and soil-coring to measure both artifact density and clear space for water table monitoring pipes to be installed, followed by plotting our excavation pits using our surveying tool, the Total Station. As some got to work on pre-opened pits, my team and another plotted new sections of excavation that would continue a pre-existing trench. On our fourth day, we began digging into the first 15-17 cm of the alluvial - or river-deposited - soil layer, scanning for artifacts as we went. Learning our techniques for the excavation is fine on paper, but it truly isn’t until you use them in the field with your own hands that they can truly click in your brain. 

        On the fifth day, it rained. So instead of going to the dig site right away, we ended up going to the Niles History Center instead, which is when the importance of the history of this place truly set in. Seeing the amassed artifacts, all with as much provenance and care allotted to them as their curators could allot, was a sight to behold. Seeing how the work of those that have been at this Project before us had actively impacted this community was the final piece of the puzzle slotting into place, as well as why community involvement is so necessary. Afterwards, we returned to our digsite to bail water from tarps and resume excavations, but the highlight of the day for the author was finally seeing the potential impact we could have on such a wonderful and historic community. 

Thank you Niles,

Z Frankhauser