June 18th 2019 - Nikki the Photography Expert.

This morning four students came into the lab, a few others joining in the afternoon. Shaunti, Nikki, Sepideh and I all worked on our projects as the sun came out from behind the clouds.

Nikki worked on cataloguing artifacts found in the 2019 field season, and also distributed pictures to a few students of artifacts she captured in the past few weeks for their projects.

All of the artifacts found in 2019. Photo by Nikki.

Shaunti worked on writing up the report on all of the information about artifacts she has researched in the past few weeks. She is using some of Nikki's photos, including one of 'Stevens Comfort' foot warmer. Siobhan is also using some images from Nikki of ponds cold cream jars in her research report.

Stevens Comfort foot warmer. Photo by Nikki.

Ponds cold cream jars. Photo by Nikki. 

Sepideh got some images from Nikki to use in her video, while also working on sorting through level bags. Bob created a project for a few students to take one of each item from all level bags to keep in his collection, so the storage situation doesn't get out of control. Most bags contain multiples of nails, bottle glass and small metal fragments, and because they are all logged in level bag reports, there is no need to keep everything.

Angus came in this afternoon to start putting back industrial artifacts from the display case in the lab. When he was assigned his project on barrel rings and other metal artifacts, he put a bunch of them in a small display case at the back of the classroom. Because we are getting to the end of the term, him and others are beginning to clean up.

Display case of industrial artifacts.

I spent the day working on writing up a report on the blog. I looked into the statistics of the website and found it very interesting. It showed that most of the views on this blog come from within Canada, but people from other countries are also reading it. 

Working on today's blog post. 

How many views we have gotten from each country on the blog so far.

Tomorrow, some students will be going to try and find the Hastings Seymour Camp in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, and others will continue to work on their projects.

June 6th 2019 - And Then There Were Six.

Today was the last day of excavation in the field. Only six students hiked into the field today, while all others worked in the lab. Many began writing and drawing up reports for their final projects in the classroom, while students in the field focused more on finishing up excavations. On the McKenzie Creek site, we have a total of 7 open units. We wanted to be able to close all of them today, but before they're closed, we made sure the unit hit a sterile layer. When a unit is sterile, it means there is no more evidence of culture such as nails or glass. In the morning, Nikki, Karoline, Mitch and I took our buckets and trowels to our excavation units to get as much done as possible. Aza continued to work on her cedar plank road project, while Alyssa spent time measuring and finishing up sketches on the ofuro.

Mitch sifting dirt in a beam of light. Photo by Nikki. 

Nikki found a rock feature in her unit last week, and she spent a couple of days excavating around it. Today she had the chance to remove the rock feature from her unit, and surprisingly she found the tops of some bottles underneath it. She mentioned that they are likely the tops to bottles that she found a few days ago in the unit. She also got to remove some cans that Sepideh found in the unit next to hers, so that we could close it.

In the eastern units, Mitch found the cap of a tube of toothpaste 40cm below the pit datum. While he was sifting through the dirt from that area, he also found the rest of the tube rolled up in a tight cylinder. He also managed to find a complete aqua glass bottle with the stopper buried 60cm below the pit datum in his unit. He was on a roll today!

Top of a tube of toothpaste found by Mitch.

Bottle found by Mitch.

Karoline and I found almost 100 nails between 20cm and the sterile layer in our 2 by 2 meter unit. We also found an incomplete file, some broken pieces of glass and a large metal bolt with the nut still attached.

Four eastern units.

We also had some guests visit us in the morning. Lisa Uyeda and Trevor Wideman from the Nikkei Museum and Archives came by to visit the site. Bob was very excited to talk to them about what has been found on the site, and the insight they had to offer.

Bob, Lisa and Trevor looking at artifacts.

Lisa provided extremely useful thoughts about what may have been happening at the camp, such as it being mainly for women and children while the men travelled to work in the surrounding valley area. There is another Japanese camp about 4km away from the McKenzie Creek site that was shown to be occupied by mostly males, which fits perfectly with her suggestion. She also explained to Bob about how the Japanese prepared for internment, by telling him what items people would choose to take with them, and what they would decide to leave behind. If you want to follow her on twitter you can do so here. Trevor has been working with documents that were recently donated to the Nekkei Museum that belong to Tadashi (Jack) Kagetsu, who was the son of the person who established the McKenzie Creek camp. Bob was pleased when Trevor told him that he had letters and emails that were made between Bob and Tadashi before his death about 10 years ago. If you want to follow Trevor on twitter you can do that here.

After our lunch break, everyone went back to excavating with the exception of Aza, who continued to finish up her measurements of the cedar plank road. Alyssa joined us in the eastern units, finishing up excavating what was previously Phoenix's unit. She found a few nails and bits of glass along with a large piece of barrel ring.

Overall the day went quite well and we got lucky with sunny weather once again! Bob said that this is one of the driest field seasons he has ever had in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, with a record of only ONE day of rain so far! On Monday we will all be in the lab, and everyone will be jumping into their projects to try and get them done.

June 4th 2019 - Nails Galore!

Today we had an amazing day on site with wonderful weather! A few students spent the day in the lab, but most were at the McKenzie Creek site working on their projects, and in our seven open excavation units.

Students working in their excavation units and sifting dirt.

Students in the lab had time to work on their projects. Kirsten spent time identifying and researching some of the plants found at the McKenzie Creek site, and Rohan continued to research buttons and clasps from the artifact collection.

At the McKenzie Creek site, most spent their time in excavation units with the exception of Aza and Fazila. The two of them worked on the cedar plank road to try and uncover the remaining planks while the weather was still nice. They uncovered 13 planks today, adding up to a total of 38 on site. Aza suspects there to be a couple more hidden closer to the creek on the north side of camp, but she will go back soon to access the situation. Siobhan and Shaunti worked in a tough excavation unit with many roots today, finding one nail in the afternoon.

Siobhan working in her unit and Bob helping students measure in the background.

On the other hand, Mitch found almost 200 nails in his unit today. Allyah and I also found almost 40 nails ranging from very small to very large, and in both Mitch and our units, we found charred wooden planks. The wooden planks in my unit were 10cm below the site datum, while Mitch found his about 20cm below. I also found a few shards of glass, some being from a lantern and others from bottles. Bob gave Mitch the nickname "Nails" due to his large find today!

Mitch and his bag filled with nails.

We had one visitor with us all day. Laura Ng is a PhD student from Stanford University who is studying Asian American communities. Recently she travelled to China to compare and link home communities there to Chinatowns in California. Bob gave her a tour around the site, and she gave students advice on their excavations. She answered all of our questions with enthusiasm and excitement! You can check her out on twitter here!

Karoline was absent today due to an injury, but we still collected all of our project and lunch garbage. She will be working in the lab tomorrow and will be able to add it to her catalogue then.

Our Garbage for the day. Photo by Nikki.

Tomorrow a few of us will be working in the field, but most students will be working in the lab or from home. We are hoping for good weather tomorrow, but the forecast calls for rain. You can find out if we get soaked on the blog post tomorrow!