Orientation: Getting Ready to Excavate

Hi Fort Followers,

    My name is Mady. I’m a recent graduate of the University of Michigan- Dearborn (am I allowed to say “Go Blue” here?) where I double-majored in Anthropology and French. I am now preparing to apply for graduate school where I will focus on French historical archaeology. This is my second field school in this subject, and I am beyond excited to get started! This past week, we began our field season here at FSJ! A two-day orientation was held on Western Michigan University’s campus on July 1 and 2.

     During orientation, we gathered in Moore Hall to learn about the history of the fort, fur trading, past excavations at FSJ, and everything we need to get started soon. My favorite activity was when we went outside to practice field methods. We worked in groups to determine our pace (how many steps you take in 15 meters- mine was 23), to map objects in situ, and to set up units. Setting up units is always tricky because you need to take very exact measurements, but working in groups makes it a lot easier. This was both a good way to refresh my memory from my last field school and to get me excited about doing it in the field!

    The picture above is from us sitting together in Moore Hall. This was taken near the end of the second day when we were talking about our plans for getting to FSJ on Tuesday. I am sitting the furthest to the right!

Thanks for reading- see you in the field soon!

Preparing for the Archaeological Field School

 

Hello to all the Fort St. Joseph followers! 

My name is Lynn and I'm here to let you know that the 2021 archaeological excavations at Fort St. Joseph started on July 6. I've helped with the Project for 6+ years and it's great that we will have students in the pits this year. Before the students get here, there are some preparations that need to be done and I am going to tell you about them in this blog.

Dr. Michael Nassaney, Erika Hartley, Gary Thompson, Neil Hassinger, and I started this season on May 15, 2021 by spending the day cutting up fallen trees, cutting down dead trees, and clearing the debris that had over taken the site during Covid-19. We also assessed the damage that two winters had inflicted on the dewatering system and the site in general.

On June 12, Erika, Gary, Neil, and I had another long day removing the backfill soil and tarps protecting Trenches 1 and 2. The trenches, in the old dump, are 30 meters long (about 100 feet) and 2 meters wide (about 6 feet). Each trench was dug by the City of Niles in spring 2019. That year, the field school encountered intact eighteenth-century remains relating to the occupation of Fort St. Joseph. After the backfill soil and tarps were removed, Erika and Gary located the old 2019 pits and added a few more for this year's archaeological field school. They used the total station to shoot in points on the site's grid. 

June 26 found Gary, Neil, and I back in the trenches replacing pipes for the dewatering system that were ruptured by the two previous winters. Somewhere between June 12 and June 26, Gary spent an additional two days by himself clearing the floodplain and the section above of the tall grass.

Neil and Gary returned this past holiday weekend and carried two pumps down to the floodplain for the dewatering system. They connected 10 fire hoses that run through the woods and are used for discharging the water from the trenches to the city’s water treatment plant. Next, the dewatering pumps were hooked up and they started the system, fixing any kinks along the way. Each of us take time out of our day throughout the season to check on how the system is running and make sure that everything is still ready to go for the students.

Talk soon,

Lynn Christensen