End of the season wrap-up!

Lance explaining his unit.

Hi fellow Fort St. Joseph fans!

Our Open House last weekend was a huge success! We hope you were able to make it out to speak with the students, see the excavations and artifacts, interact with the historical interpreters, enjoy some lunch, and partake in all the other great events and activities. Here is a generous helping of snapshots from those two days:

Larry talking canoes and voyageur life.

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Erica D., Theresa, Zach, and Brian demonstrate wet-screening. 

Public Scholar Tim Kent discusses the fur trade.

French Marine Ray engages the public.

Devora and Xiaomeng at the children's craft tent.

Barbara explains a beaver pelt.

There are many more photos in our Picasa web album so be sure to follow the link on the bottom of the page to see more snapshots of the event.

Greg and Rachel ready for guests at our great artifact display!

As usual the peak of the Open House is followed by the sadness and relief of the end of the Fort St. Joseph field season. Monday through Wednesday were spent filling in the units, packing up the trailer, finishing paperwork, and heading back to Kalamazoo to organize the lab and say good-byes until next time. So, be sure to mark your calendars for August 11-12, 2012 for our Open House next year! In the meantime check back for occasional updates from the lab, and feel free to post comments or check out our facebook page to stay in touch.

Me with long-time Fort supporter and
gracious host/friend Barb Cook.

On a final note thank you to everyone in Niles and the surrounding areas of Michiana for all of your support and interest in the project this year; you make it possible to continue to discover life at Fort St. Joseph. Also, thank you to all of the students and staff of the field school this year--there were some tough, long days out there but everyone did a spectacular job, especially when it came to bringing everything together at the Open House. Thank you all again.

Until next time!
Kelley

OPEN HOUSE TOMORROW!

Hi folks,

The Open House is tomorrow and Sunday from 10-4! There will be food, archaeology, historical re-enactors, kid's activities, artifacts, public lectures, and lots of tents to keep all of us dry just in case we have a bit of weather (special thanks to the folks that stayed on site to help with setup)! Please bring your family and friends for a day of fun, and be sure to say 'hi' to some of the students and staff!

Hope to see you there!

Kelley

The Open House Approaches!

Hi all,

As we come into the last weekend before the big Open House we are all very excited about the continuing coverage of the project in the Niles Daily Star, WMU News, and elsewhere. For those of you just getting familiar with the project or unaware of the Open House Event I thought it might be a good idea to elaborate on this experience! First the logistics:

Open House
August 13th and 14th (Saturday and Sunday), 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
St. Joseph River Park at the intersection of Fort and Bond Streets in Niles, MI

Check out the wet-screen!

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Open House was first held in 2004 to give the public an opportunity to learn about all the hard work field school students have completed and give the students a chance to speak to the community about their experiences. In addition to ongoing tours of the excavation units there will be wet screening demonstrations, artifact displays, and Fort St. Joseph Merchandise. Also, lectures from Western Michigan University professors and others provide more in-depth information about specific aspects of the excavation as well as this year's theme: The Fur Trade. Speakers this year include Tim Kent, a historian and living history enthusiast, Barbara Schwaderer and Bob Myers, who will discuss the process of making clothing items out of pelts, Terrance Martin, an expert in faunal (animal bones, etc.) analysis, Michael Zimmerman, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and native language speaker, Jessica Hughes, a former WMU student researching smudge pits, and Michael Nassaney, the principal investigator.

Artifact displays.

To round out the event and draw in the public a group of living history interpreters (re-enactors) has teamed up with the project to give demonstrations on 18th century ways of life. These folks are extremely knowledgable of their subjects and bring history to life with with spectactular dress and props. Do not miss out on the opportunity to see a Jesuit Priest, finger weaver, French Marine, and many others! The day will also feature a couple of canoe landings, book sales, a table hosted by Support the Fort, touchable animal furs, children's activities, a chance to try on voyageur (French trader) clothing, food, and more!

Public lectures.

Wait, did I mention that the entire event is FREE! So please bring your kids, bring grandma...well, bring everyone for a chance to see all of our new discoveries at the fort and get a taste of life as a fur trader in the 18th century. Here is a schedule of events:





Saturday

10:00  Event Opens

Living history demonstrations.

10:30  Lecture--Dr. Michael Nassaney: Background on the Fort St. Joseph Project
11:00  Arrival of the voyageurs, canoe landing
11:30  Lecture--Tim Kent: Life of a Fur Trader
12:00  Musket Drill
12:30  Lecture--Dr. Terrance Martin: Animals of Fort St. Joseph and the Fur Trade
1:30    Lecture--Barbara Schwaderer: From Beaver to Felt Hat
2:00    Musket Drill
           Lecture--Dr. Michael Nassaney: Archaeology Update
2:30    Arrival of the voyageurs, canoe landing
3:00    Lecture--Tim Kent: Material Culture of the Fur Trade
4:00    Event Ends

Sunday

10:00  Event Opens

10:30  Lecture--Dr. Terrance Martin: Animals of Fort St. Joseph and the Fur Trade

11:00  Arrival of the voyageurs, canoe landing

11:30  Lecture--Tim Kent: Life of a Fur Trader

12:00  Musket Drill

           Lecture--Michael Zimmerman, Jr.: Nishnabe, Native American Language

12:30  Lecture--Dr. Michael Nassaney: Background on the Fort St. Joseph Project

1:30    Lecture--Robert Myers: From Beaver to Felt Hat

2:00    Lecture--Tim Kent: Material Culture of the Fur Trade

           Lecture--Dr. Michael Nassaney: Archaeology Update

2:30    Arrival of the voyageurs, canoe landing

3:00    Musket Drill

4:00    Event Ends 

If you need more information please post a comment or e-mail me at kelleymwalter@gmail.com.

Hope to see you all there!
Kelley

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...

Getting artifacts ready!

It was a dark and stormy night… Well, Tuesday night it was. Hi. I’m Rachel Juen, one of this year’s field school students and a Public History graduate student at Western Michigan University. Last Tuesday I was driving back to Niles from WMU where fellow field school student Erica Stone and I, with the assistance of Ian Kerr, had been taking a break from field work to design and put together an exhibit for this year’s Fort St. Joseph Open House. We’ve put together several cases of fur trade related artifacts from Fort. St. Joseph. In addition, I’ve spent the past three months working on a poster panel exhibit about the fur trade in New France that I hope you will enjoy. Come see the fruits of our labors at the Open House next weekend, August 13th and 14th.

Possible foundation and fireplace!

Although I’m excited about our work on the exhibit, it felt good to be back in the field the next morning after three days away working in the lab. In addition to feeling the dirt between our fingers and toes and seeing our colleagues and friends again, we had some pretty cool finds. In our unit, Xiaomeng, Alex and I found a chisel and several hand-wrought nails which we believe may be associated with a metal cache found in an adjacent unit from last year. This cache may have been a storage heap for metal scraps that the fort blacksmith could have used. We are hoping that in the coming days we will be able to discover the extent of the cache, and uncover more about it.

Pottery and charcoal feature.

In the next unit over Lance, Erika, and Mary Ellen found some cut glass insets which may have once been part of a finger ring or a sleeve button. Even more exciting, their unit contains a feature which appears to have been a fireplace or hearth and shows signs of being part of a foundational wall for a building. Another really cool find—several broken shards of Native pottery— has rarely been found on the site previously. These shards, found by Tim Bober and our middle school campers, may be evidence that Native pottery continued to be used by Native women even after they married French men, pointing to the blending of cultural practices in the multi-ethnic community that was Fort St. Joseph. It always amazes me what we can learn from what we find and I hope you can come experience that wonder with us at the upcoming Open House!

Yours in Archaeology,
~Rachel Juen












Photo credits Cathrine Davis