May 16th 2019 - Surface Survey

The sun was shining today and everyone was very appreciative of it. All of us were prepared for another rainy day in the forest, luckily most of our raincoats could stay under the tarp. In the morning, students finished clearing the ferns that were covering some of our possible excavation sites. While we were clearing, Bob looked for the site datum so that when we start test excavations, we will be able to write the coordinates of our unit in our field notebooks. If you don't know what a site datum is, it is the centre from which all measurements are taken. Bob first created the one for the McKenzie Creek site when they started excavating there in a previous field school. Once we finished clearing what we needed too, we took a break for lunch. 

Aza and Kirsten enjoying their lunch!

We had a surprise visitor come stop by to watch us eat during our lunch break.

Special visitor at lunch time, a northern raven!

After we finished our delicious lunches, students were split into four groups, and we began doing a surface survey of the entire McKenzie Creek site. Each group was given an area to examine in detail, and we found so much cool stuff! Ali found the first complete bottle of the season, and she also found a fully intact can sticking out from underneath a log. Each group had someone responsible for placing and numbering the flagging tape while also recording it in their field book, and another for taking pictures and drawing a map of the placement of items on the site.

Ali and the bottle she found. Picture Taken by Bob.

With all of the moss that has grown over since the last field school in 2013, it was quite difficult to spot cultural items, but with the whole afternoon dedicated to the survey, we could take our time and look under every fallen tree and branch.

Angus and Rohan looking carefully under large fallen trees during the surface survey.

We also encountered many spiders and other bugs, but the one organism that seemed to be hanging out everywhere were slugs. It seemed like almost every tree had a slug living on it somewhere, but the harmless creatures don't seem to bother anyone too much.

Banana slug hanging out on a tree.

As the end of the day approached, we all gathered under the tarp to discuss our finds from the survey. Most groups ended up finding pieces of metal, some barrel rings and other scrap metals, and pieces of broken glass from both bottles and lanterns.

Due to a holiday in British Columbia on Monday, the next blog post will be up on Tuesday May 21st. We will be in the field completing some test excavations.

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!

May 14th 2019 - Rain Rain Go Away!

This morning we were welcomed to camp by a downpour of rain. For the first week we had beautiful weather, and all of us hoped it would last much longer, but nevertheless, we worked in the rain for hours. Though the rain soaked through most of our gloves and 'waterproof' gear by the end of the field day, we all had a fun time completing our activities.

The walk to our site today. 

After putting all of our rain gear on, students spread out around the McKenzie Creek site to mark boundaries for surveying and remove some recently grown plants off of important features. Myself and five other students went to the west side of the paved path and measured 10 meters deep into the forest for 40 meters along the path. The south border of the survey area started where one student found some broken pieces of glass yesterday, and moved north until the water system mentioned in the previous blog post. The six of us walked in a straight line from one end to the other through soft mossy ground, over and under fallen trees, but as we ventured through the survey area, nothing was spotted. The ditch next to the path was also searched to check for anything that could have washed into it, but it was difficult to spot anything due to the heavy rain creating a 4 inch deep mud puddle at the bottom of it.
Another group of students worked on creating a surveying site on the east side of the cedar plank road that runs through the McKenzie Creek site, and it ran 20 meters into the forest. Once groups were finished with their flagging tape, for the rest of the day we all helped clear overgrown foliage off of features that we will be studying this term.

Students huddled under the tarp taking a break from the rain.

Two students also helped organize our equipment into two containers for daily and non-daily use, which will help us in the coming weeks. All of the grunt work, such as clearing organic materials and creating borders with flagging tape must be done in order to work and study in an organized fashion. Tomorrow is a lab day where we will most likely be looking at artifacts found by past field school students, and on Thursday we will be back in the field, hopefully with some better rain protection.

May 13th 2019 - Clearing our Path

We started off our morning with a nice hike to a place called Mid Valley after everyone arrived. Mid Valley is the hub to a lot of movie and TV productions in the lower mainland. Movies such as Twilight and The Revenant, and the TV show Supernatural were filmed in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. The Valley is approximately half way to the dam, which is why it's called Mid Valley. It is There is a nice gazebo structure along with two lawn chairs and a beautiful view.

Mid Valley

We saw two deer walking and eating along the path in close proximity to us, they glanced over a few times, but didn't seem to be bothered.

Deer in Mid Valley.

On our journey there, we stopped by a site where a single stone chair sat against a tree. Due to the placement, it is presumed to be built more recently than the McKenzie Creek camp since the tree it was built against is second growth. Bob mentioned that it is difficult to date because there is no trash found in the surrounding area.

Stone Chair leaning against a tree.

We also stopped by a butterfly garden which didn't currently have any butterflies in it, most likely due to the season, but Bob said it was probably built to make up for a lost habitat during the construction of a trail in the LSCR. Once we got back to camp after our excursion, students started clearing all of the sticks and newly grown trees off of pathways and certain features at the McKenzie Creek site. After about an hour of clearing, we gathered for lunch and Karoline collected our garbage for the waste audit.

Students clearing the Cedar Plank Road.

After lunch, we visited a site called the cabin on the hill. Two students found and cleared a somewhat easy path from the road to the site in the morning so it was easier for students to get there. The cabin was likely not part of the McKenzie Creek camp shown by the presence of wooden floor boards that have not yet decomposed.

The Cabin on the Hill site. 

Like the stone chair, this site is also hard to date. A metal lid of some sort and a few broken pieces of bottle glass were found years ago by some students, still not giving enough information to date them. The border of the site is marked with nails and string.
After Bob finished explaining the cabin on the hill, we ventured over to a water hole/system that was used to collect and carry water to the McKenzie Creek site. The giant rectangular hole with remnants of cedar planks lining the walls is on the west side of the paved path, and it is also where one border of the McKenzie Creek camp lies. When Bob asked his students to excavate the water system years ago, one woman volunteered to clear out all of the foliage that was thrown into it, most likely by construction workers when building the asphalt path close by in the early 2000s. A wasps nest was also removed from the hole, and I am sure that all students working in the area appreciated the other student getting rid of it. The cedar planks that made up the walls of the water hole have decomposed due to their exposure to the elements after the students a few years ago uncovered it, but the hole stills remains along with the ladder Bob built to get down into it.

The exposed water hole and ladder built by Bob in a previous field school.

We finished clearing giant logs and branches from our site in the afternoon and ended the day by filling in our yellow notebooks. Tomorrow we plan to scan the entire site in groups of two or three and flag all cultural items found on the surface, such as ceramics, bottles and nails. Hopefully it doesn't rain too hard tomorrow, and if it does, I am sure we will appreciate the wonderful weather we've had so far.