May 15th 2019 - Assigning Projects

Everyone met in the lab today to discuss many important topics such as student projects and excavation objectives. To start off the day, we took all McKenzie Creek artifacts out of the lab storage room and placed them on to tables. We also removed all field notebooks and written projects from past years for students to look at later in the day.

Artifacts including cans, bottles, ceramics and industrial materials removed from boxes.

After everything was organized, students sat down and Bob went around explaining each 2019 student project to us. Every student is working on one project for the next several weeks, which include things like artifact cataloguing, estimating the minimum number of bottles and lanterns on the site, and writing up detailed descriptions of features and artifacts. I have created a separate page that can be found on the right hand side of the blog, or by clicking this link. That page labelled "Information about Student Projects" details all of the projects and the students who will be working on them. Future blog posts will contain updates on those projects.
Other than the assignmemts listed on that page, possible ones for students to complete during the field school include finding a minimum number of cans on the site, collecting and dating ponds cold cream jars and studying shoes and boots.

Two tables full of shoes found by past field school students.

When all of the projects were designated, and students were clear on the main goal of their task, Bob started to explain the objectives of our 2019 excavations. The hypothesis for the McKenzie Creek site is that people continued to live there after its initial use as a logging camp for a few years around 1920. It was supposedly used as a secluded residential camp until the 1942 internment of Japanese people in British Columbia. Our main goal is to find evidence that can date people living there in the late 1920s and 1930s. We are also looking for proof of women and children living at the camp. So far, the only substantial evidence we have of women living there is a shawl pin. One more thing that we are looking to identify while studying the site is evidence that shows a clear presence of national identity by the Japanese. Hopefully we will find those things in the next five weeks, and help solidify Bob's hypothesis of the McKenzie Creek site.

We took a lunch break, then continued to look at artifacts found by previous field school students. Bob moved across our long table filled with artifacts and picked out a few items. He provided us with more details about them, and found some items that he wants more research conducted on by students.

A few of the cans found at the McKenzie Creek site. Cans mostly held food or evaporated milk, but some remain unknown due the condition they're in. 

A shoe that was found above ground on the site. Most shoes were found underground during excavations, but this was found on the surface. 

Industrial metal pieces that include a saw blade, parts of stoves, and files to sharpen tools.

Some metal pieces, featuring a mostly intact kettle.

Once Bob was done describing some important pieces, students were instructed to find materials that would help them with their projects. We all then split up and found things that would give us background information on our projects, whether it was past projects on the same topic, or artifacts found by previous students that relate to what we're studying. 

At the end of the day, we packed everything back into their boxes and placed them in storage to be examined later. Our plan for tomorrow is to finish clearing the last bit of foliage off of areas we will be studying at the McKenzie Creek site, then do a complete surface survey in groups of two or three. We will be flagging and recording everything found on the surface, then possibly starting some test excavations. If we run out of time to do test excavations tomorrow, we will start them early next week.

Don't forget to check out the list of 2019 student projects on the right hand side of the page labelled "Information about Student Projects" or by clicking this link!