June 07 2013 - The Beginning of the End.

The rain returned today, which made meeting in the lab that much more enjoyable. The fact that Waves continues to provide coffee for us every Friday didn't hurt either. Thank you Waves, we really appreciate it!

A collection of artifacts from past and present field schools.

An enthralled class.

The beginning of the morning was spent primarily with a review of some of the artifacts discovered this week. We focussed on the Bovril bottle, the probable sumi-e inkstick, the possible gaming piece, and the metal lid with the etching of a Japanese landscape. We have been fortunate as two students- Wendy and Tiana, are quite familiar with Japanese culture, including inksticks, the Japanese game of Go, and what appears to be the etching of a famous Torii gate in Japan that was on the metal lid.

Possible sumi-e piece found by Caitlin.

 

Tin lid etched with Totti scene, found by Tiana.

Possible "Go" gaming piece, found by Amanda.

Following the artifact review, using the blackboard, Amanda led the summary and discussion of the emerging features and important artifacts discovered in the area where she, Kelsey, Tiana, Cameron, and Nathan have been excavating. This area has revealed the only location of a  building with visible floorboards (i.e. decomposing cedar planks with nails) and an assortment of artifacts including the metal engraved lid with an etching of a Japanese landscpe, a gaming piece (go), coin, bullet, shells, workboot and more.

The joys of archaeology.

An in situ glimpse of the ceramic door knob found by Richard.

 Afterwards, Richard used the blackboard to summarize and lead the discussion on the important finds of the area where he, Nadine, Stuart, Wendy, Kathleen, Erinn, Jeneva, Ananda, and Emma have been working, highlighting the many ceramics, cans, and bottles coming from that area. Besides diagnostic bottles and jars, one of the most interesting artifacts that we discovered in this area was what appears to be a ceramic door knob. We then briefly shared the progress we are making in our personal projects. Students will continue  breaking up their time, spending some time in the lab, and then some time in the field.

Richard captivating the class, and explaining what was found in one area of the site.

A couple of bottles which Nathan is working on finding patents for.

Stuart, Nathan, Kathleen, Tiana and Wendy getting to work.

We wrapped up the class by outlining the logistics for the two remaining weeks of the field school. Some students stayed behind after the lab to work on their projects. Kelsey worked on her line drawings, Stuart weighed and recorded waste results from the week for his audit, Kathleen and Nathan took some pictures to help in deciphering dates for the artifacts, Ananda worked on the field school Facebook page ( new photos uploaded ), and Tiana continued to catalogue the artifacts.

Richard and Tiana finding the lighter side of gluing the artifacts back together.

A sample of Kelsey's line drawings.

Kelsey doing what she does best.