A Day of Michigan Archaeology

Hello,

A picture of my Archaeology Hunt scavenger
sheet. Kierra and I were declared Jr.
archaeologists due to our wonderful sketches. 

A few Saturdays ago, I (along with other students involved in Fort St Joseph Archaeological Project) got to volunteer at Michigan Archaeology Day, which took place in the Michigan History Center in Lansing. Our table was located on the second floor next to a cannon. Dr. Martin was right next to us with animal remains from Fort St. Joseph on display and we were directly across from the Fort Michilimackinac table hosted by Dr. Evans. We showcased our updated artifact case, an artifact identification game, some coloring pages for kids, and 3D displays of some of our artifacts. It was great to show off our favorite artifacts of this season and get to tell people more about Fort St Joseph and its history. I loved seeing so many people interested in archaeology and the various projects across Michigan.

Some of the deer targets, atlatls and the
darts/spears we used to practice our hunting skills.

It was also incredible to get to see all the other tables of different archaeological projects happening across the state and to meet people with more experience in the field. There were tables for other field schools, underwater archaeology projects, a flint knapping demonstration, and much more. We all took turns working our table and walking around to see the other tables. One of my favorite parts of the events was atlatl throwing. It was my first experience actually using an atlatl and throwing the darts at deer-targets, and while I didn’t get a bullseye, I did find it addicting!

These events are a great way to show off archaeological projects, introduce kids to what archaeology is (and how it’s different from paleontology, of course), and to meet other professionals. After attending this event, I found myself wanting more and more to be involved in this field. We had some great discussions with people from different schools and projects, with non-archaeologists who were interested in our archaeology field school and summer camps, and those who enjoyed the hands-on activities and demonstrations. I hope to attend similar events in the future, and that maybe we sparked people's interest in both preserving Michigan history and our particular historical project at Fort St Joseph.

Dante