Well I finally started doing something productive this Spring/Summer (not counting the 4 days I was hired to harass people in B.C. about the elections and helping my parents with a bit of yard work). I finally made it to Brandon last week Monday from a great long weekend in the Northern wilderness of Ontario. I have found a very cheap place to stay with a Dyck. Audrey Dyck - a cousin of mine. I have found a back porch to sleep in, nestled between the freezer and a stack of used paint cans. It was actually more than I expected, and quite comfortable.
The first week of the field school was going over things I have learned from 4 years of university and at least 25 years of living in the country. Like which way is North, what is the equator, what is soil, and how to wash your hands properly. The funny thing is, is that I was the only one not copying this information in my notes.
This last Monday we finally got to go to the site, which was about 10kms straight East of Brandon in the middle of a cow pasture. The site is apparently a bison processing site dated to as late as 2000 BC. It would have been a place where they butchered their bison they killed. Also means they could have camped there on numerous occasions too. Anyways, yes, digging in shit - I have been on the ground in cow shit for the whole week. At least it is last years shit. I'm not looking forward to when the cows are put into the pasture probably sometime next week. The first day digging I didn't actually dig. I volunteered myself to tarp duties, since I have had my fair share of tarppings (not a real word, but I like it and will use it) in typhoon and blizzard related weathers in the Ontario wilderness. That pretty much took all day, plus I helped move an outhouse, which I was told I must use! (They are watching me closely, to make sure I don't walk out of the site with a shovel draped over my shoulder) Phil and I also started mapping out some new grids by the cliff side where him and I found numerous bison bones, plus a flake which was found by our assistant, Andrew.
Tuesday till now we have been digging in our 1m x 1m square. I hate metric! I have already been given a lecture about using the imperial system at our site (It is hard to switch over). The second day last week I did a whole activity in inches, and apparently she didn't like my imperial skills. It took me 2 days to dig almost 10cms. I can't even estimate what 10cms is, I got to get a tape measure out every time - just tell me 4 inches! Yes, metric is good,and I do understand why they want everything standardized in the field, so I will stop my Metric rant. Anyways I have only found bits of crap in my unit so far - some charcoal pieces (probably from a forest fire), some bone fragments (probably from a rodent), some rocks, and a lot of dirt. I have to catalog every piece I find 3 times, so now I am starting to try not to find anything in my site. Most of the pieces of bone I have found I would have thrown away if I found it through one of my field walks. I just want to grab a shovel and start tearing up the ground, maybe rent a backhoe or something to get it done faster. Such tedious work. If I would have spent the time field walking instead of digging I would have found 10X the amount of artifacts I'm finding in my 10cm deep hole.
But, I do still enjoy it. It is still fun being outside, plus when I do get my hole a bit deeper and find more things I can provenience them. Placing the things I find in time - something I could never do while field walking. Phil, the guy right beside me has already found a piece of pottery, a flake and more bone than I, so am not worried about not finding anything of interest - it will happen. Doesn't really matter anyways, I got better artifacts at home than I could find in these holes anyways. Unless I found a Clovis point - that would be sweet. Now I'm just being an Anthro-nerd.
Hopefully more stories to come.
