Hi everyone! I'm Becca Stoddard and I'll be a junior at WMU this upcoming fall. I'm an anthropology major with a minor in public history and just as I was hoping, this field school is an affirmation of my passions in study. This is my first  field experience and I'm loving almost  every minute of it.

Removing the last of the roots.
(photo by John Cardinal)

                If you've been keeping up with our blogs you probably know that the past week has been rather stressful for me, my unit partner, Austin, and the group as a whole. You may have read Austin's blog, where he talked a little about our unit and our battle with roots. As a little follow up for you, I'm happy to share that we've finally moved past the root problem! Being excited to move into a new unit only to have a rough start was a little disheartening and created some stress on me and Austin, always feeling like you've done so much work only to find out that you've just  cut out one of your many roots was not very fun. However, like I said, by going deeper in our unit we've moved pass the root problem and we're excited to keep moving forward. Along with our personal stress over our unit, the group as a whole has had a few rough days.  I think it's safe to say that no project can be complete without a few bumps along the way. From the flooding of the site over the weekend to the business of moving sites, getting new partners with new units and picking up the pace of our work, things have gotten a little crazy at times. What strikes me is that after the day is over, us students seem to be able to leave the stress of the field on the field; maybe with the help a quick nap or a cup of coffee. It's amazing to me how fast the group has bonded, and now as week four is coming to a close, it feels like we've been together for much longer than that. There isn't a single person here that I would feel uncomfortable talking or working with or who I wouldn't call a friend. I think that's the special thing about living in a learning community like this. Having to spend every hour of the day with each other seems to only make our friendships grow, as cheesy as that sounds. Feeling so comfortable around each other allows us to benefit from one another on a personal and educational level. Getting to know my peers on a more personal level has provided the comfort and respect that is sometimes needed on the field to critically teach and encourage one another.  If we weren't living together and only seeing one another for a few hours a day, I think things would be very different. Although we do have fun on the field, most of our bonding forms after work hours. When you have a group of equally tired college students who can bond over common interest and who are living in such close quarters, fun times are hard to avoid. We're only half way through our time at Fort St. Joseph and I'm thrilled to see how our relationships and interactions with each other will develop even further.

Guest lecturer Dr. Ian Kuijt.
(photo by James Schwaderer)

                 Yesterday marked the first Wednesday of our summer lecture series held at the Niles District Library. Our first guest speaker was Dr. Ian Kuijt from the University of Notre  Dame, he shared his research on the archaeology of 18th-20th century Irish architecture with us. What really caught my attention from his lecture was his method of ethnoarchaeology, which is essentially mixing cultural anthropology with the study of archaeology. These are two parts of anthropology that I have the most interest in so it was exciting for me to see how the two fields can work together. There will be an official summary of the lecture coming soon so definitely keep an eye out for that and join us for our future lectures, Wednesdays at 7pm!

- Becca

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...

                Greetings and salutations. I’m Jesse Westendorp, one of the students participating in the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. I’m going to be entering my senior year at Western Michigan University at the end of this summer. As a Public History major, I enrolled in the field school out of sheer professional interest. One can learn quite a lot by working with dusty tomes and the writings of long-dead poets, but I feel that if one does not, at least, have some experience in how the artifacts they work with are recovered then they are perhaps missing out on some context. My eventual goal is, after all, to gain employment at a museum or a historic site. The field school has thus far proven to be an enlightening and illuminating experience, as I had expected. Unfortunately, our digging was delayed this week and our regular schedule disturbed.

                The Fort St. Joseph site flooded over the weekend and our daily activities diverged as a result. I’m a sitting member of the FSJAP artifact display committee and under orders of the staff, we met during the resulting free time to discuss our plans for the upcoming open house. Many of you are probably familiar with the display cases that past open houses made use of. Myself and the other members of the committee, Luke and Carmell, certainly became familiar with them by the end of the meeting. We took some inspiration from their designs, but we sought to improve on them in many ways. First, we took note of their use of colorful construction paper, which had an overall effect of adding some visual spice to the display. We then noted however, that the effect was mitigated to a certain extent by the fact that the colors upon on the construction paper had faded slightly.  We elected to improve upon the design by making use of brighter colors when the time came to construct our own display case.

                But the precise design of the display case is of little use if one does know what is going in it. We compiled a list of artifacts that matched up with our exploration of the architecture of the Fort St. Joseph site. The artifacts we elected to make use of, or at least attempt to make use of can largely be broken up into two or three categories. The first includes building materials like stone and mortar, daub, and material used in the construction of posts. The second is the material that goes into the creation of locks and latches. These devices are made up of numerous complex parts, and the latches and locks themselves can be of differing types, resulting in a wealth of material. The third possible category, which is still under discussion, is the possibility of setting aside a section for the tools used to construct the housing, though this suggestion is very tentative and may well be cut before the final product is produced. We’ll also be attempting to describe the precise construction techniques the house depicted in our display employed. We hope you’ll find the subject matter as fascinating as we all do!

                During the afternoon, as our meetings were winding down, it was decided that, as the site was still waterlogged, that it would be appropriate to take a trip down to South Bend. The History Museum located at South Bend has a long history in the context of the Fort St. Joseph project. Some of the first artifacts unearthed from the site made their way to the museum well before Niles founded their own facility. They also host a lovely exhibit about the St. Joseph region. This was the primary attraction of our own tour of the facility. This exhibit is titled “Voyages: The History of the St. Joseph” region. It covers the history of the region from prehistory (dating back to 600 million years ago) to the 1600’s, the beginning of the French presence within the region, and finally, to the modern day.

Students observe the collection of Fort St. Joseph artifacts
at the History Museum in South Bend
(photo by Austin George)

                It seems that little expense was spared when it came to fleshing out the exhibit, as many parts of the history of the land are restored in convincing mockups of the terrain and scenery of the region. In the part of the exhibit that deals with the 1600’s for example, one would find depictions of hardwood forests and grasslands. In another part of the exhibit, titled “New Order of the Land” which deals with the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, you see depictions, both textual and otherwise, of the founding of the South Bend trading post and the forcible removal of the native Americans in the region. One then moves on to an impressive recreation of the marshes that were drained dry during the march of industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is also worth noting that the exhibit contained a half hour, award-winning documentary on the African American community within the region. Due to our limited time however, were not able to partake fully in this.

             The final part of the exhibit, titled “Wheels of Power” tells the tale of the region's continued growth well into the 19th century! As you can tell from the summary above, the coverage of the Fort St. Joseph region is extensive and quite in-depth. If you have an interest in learning more than a mere summary can tell you, I’d suggest you drop by the museum yourself and take a look. 

Overcoming Difficulties in the Field

My name is Austin George and I am a sophomore at Western Michigan University. I am currently an engineering student but this field school is really making me rethink my major for several reasons. First when we arrived at the stable we are staying at I bonded with several of the other students quicker than I thought I would. I have been more involved and participated in several hands on activities that have made me think more about archeology. I also feel like all of the students here can relate with their passion for history which brings us a lot closer together.

The root we pulled out
(photo by Erika Loveland)

Last week we moved from the Lyne site which was our learning site to the flood plain, our final destination. We were given a new digging partner and that really changed a lot because we got so used to our first partner and found our strengths and weaknesses now we had to start over. It shows that sometimes in life things are going to change but you just have to keep digging. After clearing the site we were assigned our units. It’s exciting because we got to sit down with the teaching assistant and look at field notes from previous years as well as the site map so we had a little bit of a say in where we would be digging. When we looked at the unit my partner and I were given, we realized it was very near to a live tree and it had a large stump at the north corner that took up a big portion of our unit. Seeing this, we were a little let down and not too positive about starting to dig. We knew from the begging it was going to be trouble but we were ready to dig and that’s what we did. We thought that the big root would be our biggest problem but after a few swings of the axe we took it right out.

The bigger problems are the large roots that keep appearing. Cutting roots is a very exhausting task that takes time and wears you out quick. The lower in the unit we go the less small roots we are finding but we keep finding much bigger ones.

Flooded site
(photo by Austin George)

Friday we had a bad storm pull us out the field early and that’s when the chaos began. It rained for almost three days which we knew would be a problem since it is a flood plain. The amount of rain we received brought the river level up far enough to flood the site. We went down on Saturday to check the site and found out that all of the units had flooded and there was standing water everywhere. Because of the flooding, we had to take Monday off and today we worked at bailing out some of the units. We have to wait for the river and water table to drop before we can even think of digging. The pumps we have to lower the water table were too close to going under so we had to pull them out. Hopefully the river gets low enough for us to dig tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

-Austin

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project Receives An Award!

                Recently, the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project was registered with the Register for Professional Archaeologists Field School Certification Program. In 1974, the Society of American Archaeology passed a resolution stating, “no site deserves less than professional excavation, analysis, and publication,” and noted that while teaching the next generation of archaeologists is critical to the field, all archaeological fieldwork should have a serious research commitment to the resource.  The Register for Professional Archaeologists (RPA) recently awarded a $1000 scholarship from the Society of American Archaeology to the field school they felt best met the following criteria:

• The field school includes strong hands-on learning components in both the field and laboratory.
• The field school provides information on the culture history of the site as well as that of the surrounding region through lectures, tours to other archaeological sites, and if possible interaction with native/indigenous/traditional groups living in the area.
• The field school teaches students how to communicate their (technical) findings through written journals, blogs, etc.
• The field school teaches students to interact with the public through open houses, public days, or other outreach programs.
• The field school includes educational components designed to teach students about archaeological ethics and their responsibility to the various constituencies that they will serve in their careers.

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project is immensely proud to announce that we are the recipients of this exciting award!  In particular, the SAA was impressed with the program’s focus on community service learning.  We selected two students to receive the $1000 scholarship.  Here is a little bit about both of them:

Amelia Harp is a non-degree graduate student studying anthropology at Western Michigan University. She is also pursuing her M.A. in Anthropology at Georgia State University. She received her Bachelor’s in Anthropology from Kennesaw State University, and completed an internship with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Department of Language and Culture. Her research interests include historical archaeology, public archaeology, and Native American studies with particular focus on the Great Lakes region. She is currently studying architecture and critically analyzing the relationship between academia and other various stakeholders, including Native American tribes, in the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project as part of her thesis work. She has participated in previous archaeological studies at Fort St. Joseph, the Dabbs Site in Georgia’s Bartow County, and Fort Daniel in Gwinett County. She has also aided in analyzing historical artifacts that were uncovered during the 1970s in archaeological excavations associated with the MARTA subway system in Atlanta.

Erika Loveland is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at Western Michigan University. She received her B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Michigan and completed her archaeological field school at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. Her research interests include historical archaeology, public archaeology, colonialism, trade, and regional analysis. She is currently examining the architectural components of Fort St. Joseph, a French mission-garrison-trading post complex. She has participated in research projects for the pre-historic Garden Creek Site in North Carolina and the Undocumented Migration Project in Arizona.

Congratulations to Amelia and Erika and a very big thank you to everyone who has contributed to making the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project what it is!

Welcome to the Floodplain

                Hello everyone, my name is Liz Mantyck, and I will be entering my senior year at Western Michigan University in the fall. I am majoring in both criminal justice and anthropology, my ultimate career goal is working in partnership with a law enforcement department as a forensic anthropologist. I have enjoyed every minute of this field school so far. After a long and relaxing holiday weekend, the 2015 Field School was eager to return to Niles and get back to work! On Wednesday morning we finished all our paperwork and closed up our units at the Lyne Site, before packing up our equipment and heading down to the floodplain.

Me laying in points with a theodolite
(photo by John Cardinal)

                Upon our arrival at the floodplain, we cleared out some of the grass so that we could begin to plot our units. One of the first things we did was survey the site. A survey is an archaeologist’s way of collecting information or data about the geography and physical space of a specific site. There are certainly a number of ways an archaeologist can go about conducting his or her survey. One of these ways is using a theodolite. And with the help of one of our graduate assistants James Schwaderer, I was lucky enough to help and try my own hand at it.

                Theodolites are becoming more and more popular at archaeological sites nowadays. But what is a theodolite and what does it do? A theodolite is an instrument that is used to measure distance and elevation change. By imputing the location of the theodolite on the site grid, the height of the instrument, the height of the target which is a prism on a pole, and setting the horizontal angle in degrees from north, the theodolite can determine how far away the prism is from the unit along with the change in elevation. This means that a theodolite can measure any point at a 90 degree angle. When we choose our excavation units, we plot them on a grid and use a North and West coordinate to identify them. The theodolite helps us find these coordinates.

Survey at Fort St. Joseph
(photo by John Cardinal)

                For someone like me who has had no prior experience using an instrument like this, it seemed to be a daunting task. Thanks to James, I got the hang of it pretty quickly, though. The first thing you have to do is set up the tripod base and check to make sure the instrument is level. Then one person stands behind the theodolite while another person stands in close proximity of where we want to plot certain coordinates on our grid. This person will hold a rod with a prism at the top of it while keeping that level, too. My excavation partner, Stephan, was holding the rod while I looked through the view finder on the instrument to sight him in line with the cross hairs of the view finder. Once he was sighted in and positioned in the right place, I pressed the “observation” button on the theodolite’s display screen. By doing this, the device calculates the coordinates Stephan was standing at by shooting an infrared beam at the prism. Based on that calculation, I was then able to direct Stephan where to move to ensure we were on the right coordinates.

Welcome to the floodplain!
(photo by John Cardinal)

                After our coordinates were all set, we were finally able to map out and string our units. Today Stephan and I began our excavation and reached the depth of 20cm. We are all very excited to begin finding artifacts, but even more excited to share all of our knowledge of Fort Saint Joseph with all of you!

-Liz 

Late Woodland Era Pottery

For the first two weeks of this field season, we have been excavating a smaller site about one hundred yards south of where Fort St. Joseph used to be, known as the Lyne site. The Lyne site is close to the river and has been used for camping well before the Fort was constructed in 1691, and the artifacts we have been finding definitely prove this theory. Perhaps some of the more significant finds at the Lyne site are several pieces of pottery from the late Woodland era [500 C.E.-1200 C.E.], these pieces of pottery not only prove that Natives have been camping here for quite some time, they also give us insight as to how they were living.

 Pottery from the Late Woodland period are identified as different from other pieces of pottery by the depth in which they are found (in our case about 35-40 cm below ground level) and by the structure of the pottery itself, which is much different than from earlier periods. Generally speaking the pottery that was manufactured in this period had thinner walls with large collard rims, and compared to pottery from the Early to Middle Woodland periods would have been highly decorated with impressions made from plant cords. Because pottery allowed the Native tribes to store food, a nomadic lifestyle was no longer necessary to feed everyone, and because of this they had time to perfect their pottery making techniques, which resulted in larger, more stable, and time consuming craft objects being produced. The pottery was made by first selecting the clay very carefully; this clay would then be pounded with a hammer stone (which we have also found on site) until it had the consistency of a very fine powder. Water would be added and the powder would be worked until it was malleable, and then a tempering material like crushed mussel shells, sand, or limestone would be added to prevent shrinking when the object was fired. The vessel walls would be created by rolling the clay into a ropy shape and coiling these ropes on top of each other, the surface of the vessel would be paddled with a flat beater to bond the coils into a single unit. When the clay pots were dry they would be put on top of rocks in a fire pit and covered with manure so they would burn slowly and evenly, after several hours the pots would be removed from the fire and rubbed with grease to waterproof them and protect their contents.

This sherd is one of the largest we've found at about 4cm long.
(photo by Aaron Howard)

Pottery chips have been found in two units on the Lyne site, but my pit partner Gary and I were lucky enough to have found our pottery pieces very close to what appears to be a very old fire pit beneath the plow zone. We can only guess as to how this pottery was being used, but the presence of small chert flakes in this same area, and of a similar depth, indicate that Natives were busy finishing tools and possibly making pottery next to this fire pit, which we have labeled as “Feature 24”. Giving a voice to artifacts is a passion of ours, and we are blessed with the opportunity to do so this summer at Fort St. Joseph. Be sure to join us and check out the site during our Open House on June 27^th-28^th! Thank you for your support!

-Luke

Experiential Learning at Fort St. Joseph

 

Dr. Michael Nassaney demonstrates profiling techniques to the field school students.
(photo by John Cardinal)

                During the past week, the field school students of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project have worked at excavating at the Lyne Terrace site, which is located nearby the fort. We have found a number of artifacts from both recent and colonial times. My pit partner and I found a piece of lead shot the second day last week. Artifacts we as a whole team have found include such items like beads, fire cracked rock and a chert projectile point used for an arrow along with other artifacts. Prior to coming to Niles and the field school, I thought I knew everything there was to know about archeology. I've never been more wrong. Since coming here I've learned much about sighting our units, documenting our finds and the methods we use for both.
                When it came to sighting out our units we were given a certain area based on degrees from a fixed starting point. We call that our datum point which is where all our points derive from so that we have some kind of unit of measurement for reference.  After that we measure from our datum point of reference and get the 4 corners of our units, we start digging. Everyday my partner and I averaged close to 10 centimeters in depth. Everyone thinks it's easy and that putting a shovel down and shoveling dirt shouldn't be hard. However, we only skim off less than a centimeter at a time, constantly re-measuring the unit making sure that we hadn't gone too deep for the day. We then sift the soil through 1/8 inch mesh screens.  After that, we take the soil and record the color and texture, then document everything. We document artifacts, the soil, our units, even what we think about that day, like what we did and the experiences we learned. There is more writing in this field school than in any college class I've ever taken.  After documentation we take our findings to the lab. We clean all the artifacts carefully using both dry and wet cleaning techniques.  Then we take our artifacts and sort them, while interpreting what we found and finally documenting them for our archives.

                The work itself is not too hard but very time-consuming and tedious. But it's what we live for, and the work itself is its own reward. We find items that have been lost to the past and using these items, we are able to unravel the past and explain a story that still has many missing pages.  This field school is a great experience for me but for the people of Niles it runs much deeper. To them, it's their history and heritage. We've been given the opportunity to discover and interpret the lost past and relay the knowledge we gain to those that who are interested in it. For example, everyday during our first week at the Lyne site, we were visited by elementary students. They seemed genuinely interested in our work and they seemed excited that work like this continues. Every day with each visiting group was asked if they wanted to become archeologists. Every one of them seemed very excited about it, although I know maybe one or 2 of those kids from every group will go into the same field as me. Which is fine by me, but maybe it's not about the total conversion of the future workforce into our field. I feel that providing these kids with knowledge and background of what we're doing will interest them in all things in our life. There's something mystifying about the work we do. We never keep the artifacts for ourselves, and we're not looking for personal glory in it, but rather looking for what benefits the community that we have been working for and what we're trying to accomplish as a learning program from Western Michigan University. 

-Stephan