May 23rd 2019 - The Excitement of Lab Days!

We spent the day in the lab and covered many topics in the hours that we were there. In the morning we started by talking about digitizing old archaeological records. Yesterday in the field, Bob was laughing because one student didn't know what a slide was, referring to photographs kept on slides that can be viewed through a slide projector. Most of the students are too young to have used them as children. When it was brought up this morning, it sparked a conversation about the vast amounts of records that are difficult to access due to the format they are stored on. In this day and age, it is difficult to view images that are stored on older technologies. Most new computers are made without a place to insert a CD or DVD, don't even try to find one that still takes floppy disks, and some even come without a place to attach a USB. As time goes on, everything seems to be uploaded to the cloud or some other type of online webpage. If you imagine yourself as an archaeologist in the distant future, you would piece together generations of people with no culture, who didn't do any art, and didn't even know how to write because nothing we create will preserve long enough to provide evidence for it.

After talking about our digital era, we got into a conversation about pseudoarchaeology. Bob explained how many people make a huge profit off of fake archaeology, whether it's through a book, television show or movie. A lot of archaeologists spend time trying to disprove these fake claims and stories, but the public loves to believe in things such as aliens creating the Egyptian pyramids. That also lead us to the topic of ways of knowing. After a student asked a question relating to why people believe in pseudoarchaeology, Bob explained that there are many different frameworks to base opinions off of when studying a subject. Humans can have many explanations for why a flower would grow in a specific place, depending if they base their reasoning off a scientific, religious, indigenous or any other other type of framework. The way you choose to view something all depends on how you grow up, what you study and what you believe.

Before lunch we also talked about the proper method of excavating. Bob spent about an hour detailing everything that we should know about excavating when we get the chance to do so at the McKenzie Creek site. The first thing he talked about was the standard excavation unit we will be using. A 2 meter by 2 meter unit is the Canadian standard, and we will be marking that area with string once it is measured out. Before any digging commences, the coordinates of our unit will be found by linking it with the site datum. A pit datum will also be created in the highest corner of the excavation unit. Attached to the pit datum will be a string that slightly extends the length of the unit so that we can attach a string spirit level to it, and make sure we are digging evenly across the entire unit. Next he explained that he will create arbitrary levels for each unit, and every new level will have its own level bag. Cultural items that are found in the ground that don't meet the criteria of an artifact for this project are put into a level bag, which is labelled with the site name, the coordinates of the unit, the name of the people working in the unit and a summary of what was found in that level. Bob also mentioned that it is very important not to step in anybody else's excavation unit. Only the people who work inside the unit are allowed in it, because you never know if they are in the middle of uncovering an important artifact. The last thing he mentioned that is of high importance is that the edges of a unit must always be straight! It is bad practice to have crooked lines, especially because you could be missing important artifacts, or be veering into another unit.

Bob talking about excavation units.

Another thing that was quickly mentioned before lunch is that the Burnaby Village Museum has a replica of an ofuro. Alyssa will most likely be taking a trip there sometime during the field school season to help her visualize what the bathhouse at the McKenzie Creek site could possibly look like. If you want to visit the Burnaby Village Museum and see the ofuro, check out their website here to see when they're open.

After lunch some people provided updates on their projects, and we made plans about next weeks schedule. We are expecting many guests to visit us in the coming weeks, so a few people also prepared for the groups who will be touring the site. On Monday, most of us will be in the field and some students who haven't gotten the chance yet, will be starting their term projects. See you on Monday!

May 22nd 2019 - Visitors Galore!

On this beautifully sunny day in North Vancouver, students once again met at the McKenzie Creek site in the morning. We all got our archaeology gear ready, and we were off to work! Everyone split into groups, and once again I got the opportunity to work with Alyssa and also Fazila on clearing moss off of the ofuro (Japanese bathhouse). Two other groups continued to dig test pits within the grid that was created yesterday, and Mitch continued working on clearing off the rock feature with Rohan and Harman. We also had four visitors join us in the morning from the North Vancouver Museum and Archive. Daien Ide, Karen Dearlove, Carol Ballard and Pamela Robertson took a tour around the site with Bob and got to look at artifacts from the McKenzie Creek collection. If you are interested in checking out the museum you can follow them on twitter here, or check out there website by clicking this link. 

Our morning visitors looking at artifacts found by previous field school students. Photo by Bob.  

Once everyone had spent a couple of hours working on their morning tasks, and the tour of our morning visitors was completed by Bob, we were called to lunch. Like most days at lunch we talked and joked around, but many students also began to fill in their field notebooks. Yesterday we were given tips from Bob on how we can individually improve our note taking skills, and many people were trying very hard to create the best notes they could.

In the afternoon, a few lucky students got to begin excavating 2 meter by 2 meter units. They began by removing the litter mat, which is all of the moss and twigs that cover the soil. While they were removing the upper layer, other students got to sift through it to make sure no artifacts were hidden within the moss. Once the litter mat was gone, students began excavating in the dirt slowly with their trowels, while the other students continued to sift through the dirt that was being taken out of the ground. 

One student excavating her 2m by 2m unit. Photo by Bob. 

While that was happening, Fazila, Alyssa and I were clearing the ofuro of moss and dirt. We used our trowels and brushes to gain better visibility of the rocks so that Alyssa can complete a more detailed sketch for her project.

The uncovered ofuro.

We also had another visitor join us in the afternoon who used to do archaeology with Bob many years ago, and is now a lawyer. Jane Luke was also given a tour around the site and helped do some tidying around the ofuro. Jane and Bob did a field project together many years ago and I hope that she enjoyed being an archaeologist again for the afternoon!

Jane helping out around the ofuro with her Marshalltown trowel.

Mitch also continued working on clearing the stone feature in the upper north side of the site. He also began some preliminary sketches of it to get a better idea of how the final drafts of his drawings will look. Ali, our site line drawer/sketcher also spent the afternoon sketching people working. Hopefully soon I can get some of those sketches to post on the blog. At the end of the day, we all packed up camp and made sure everything was secure for the weekend because we won't be back until Monday. Tomorrow students will be working on their projects in the lab and going over some excavation procedures. 

Don't forget to check out the different projects that students will be completing during the Lower Seymour Archaeology Project 2019! You can find that information on the right hand side of the blog or by clicking here!

May 21st 2019 - We're Back!

After a nice long weekend, we're back working in the field. In the morning we split into three groups to start planning out where our test pits were going to be, and measured out different grids around the site. One group worked on the west side of the paved road, while the other two worked on the east side of the path. My group created a grid which was 20 meters North/South by 35 meters East/West, placing a marker every five meters.

Students measuring out a grid system to create test pits at the McKenzie Creek site.

We also had our first visitors come to the site this morning which was super cool! Our guests included Christina Crane Finlay, Shane Finlay and Steph Halmhofer. Christina works at the National Trust in the United Kingdom and studies many important sites such as Stonehenge. Her husband Shane has a degree in cultural anthropology, but we forgave him for that and let him help excavate anyways. Steph is a bioarchaeologist who has a masters degree from the University of Toronto and you can check her out on twitter here!

From left to right: Christina, Shane, Steph. 

Bob gave our guests a tour of the McKenzie Creek site and showed them some artifacts that had been found in previous years.

A few artifacts found by previous field school students including a large bottle, a few smaller bottles, some ponds cold cream containers and some bowls. 

After lunch, we split up into a few more groups to continue test excavations around the site, and two students also started working on their projects. Mitch and Alyssa started planning out their sketches of the rock structure and ofuro, and also started to remove moss from those features. Rohan helped Mitch with some measurements and planning at the stone feature, while Alyssa and I worked on the ofuro. Before disturbing the features, we both got our site photographer Nikki to take detailed pictures of them, and we sketched them in our field notebooks. By the time Alyssa and I started clearing the moss off of the rocks making up the ofuro structure, everyone was packing up to leave for the day! Time goes by so fast and I wish I could have stayed longer to uncover the ofuro!

A single rock on the ofuro with the moss scraped off, many still covered around it. 

Luckily we will be back at the site tomorrow to continue with our test pits, and even start excavating! Soon everybody will be working on their projects and hopefully discovering many interesting things about the site. See you tomorrow!