Ground was broken today, for the first time this season, at
the Fort site. We will be moving our work there from the Lyne site on Monday
and we will all finally begin the archaeology that we have so longed for.
However, before we can move our work to the Fort site we have to finish our
work at the Lyne site. This meant that every pair of hands was working
feverishly with a new fire of aspiration lit under the archaeologist attached
to them. Today, these hands, the hands of every person working in the Fort Saint
Joseph Archaeological project excavated with an accurate intensity and the goal
of digging the fastest and hardest they have yet. We’re going to finish these
units and we’re going to dig the Fort.
Where did we leave off from yesterday when we started
these units? Less than twenty centimeters down!? It’s go time. These hands are
ready to move. With a newly developing muscle memory this work is becoming
second nature and we’re prepared to make it the last twenty centimeters by the
end of the day. A challenge that we’re all up to; digging hard and digging
well. 
Shovels and trowels working in a flurry, removing a
centimeter of earth with every shovel-full. Buckets filled with soil faster
than we were able to screen it. One person digs and the other screens. A
non-stop flow of Archaeology ensued. Like the workers on the Henry Ford
assembly line, our hands moved with skill in a new effective system of constant
activity. Before you know it, you’ve finished your level and are ready to begin
mapping. 
Measuring tape and levels. Make sure the floor is even.
Put those fingers to work at clipping away those last few roots and mapping in
the ones too large to take out. What’s the soil matrix? Note the change in the
color and texture. Are we already that deep? Make your measurements precise and
don’t miss a thing. Just because we’re working fast doesn’t mean we can be
sloppy. Note the artifacts we’re finding; a handful of flakes, a few nails,
bits of charcoal, some fire-cracked rock. Jon and Sue found some iron and lead
shot! That’s good, but don’t get distracted. The paperwork is approved! Get
more paperwork and get ready to go down another level. Back to digging.
After an
hour of repetitive motion, your hands seem to form to the handle of the shovel,
of the trowel, of the handle on the 1/8 inch dry screen. Eyes are constantly
scanning while hands are constantly moving. Is that a culturally significant
piece of altered stone, or just a beautiful example of a 
And then you find it; an artifact that takes your breath
away and causes your heart to skip a beat. For me, it was the tip of what is
possibly a bi-facially chipped projectile point or stone drill. For Sue and Jon
it may have been the projectile point that was discarded mid-production. For
Adam and Annie it may be the bullet casing that had visible English printing on
it. You see the excitement of other peoples’ faces when they get to see and
touch what you just pulled out of the ground. These were made and altered by
human hands hundreds of years ago just like our hands working so eagerly to
recover what may have just been cast aside. 
At these
moments, you take a step back, you give your hands a rest, you take it all in
and remember the significance of what it is your hands are doing and touching.
We are finding objects that time had forgotten and bringing them back to life
and relevance with our own amazement, interpretations, and wonder. The
excitement takes you once again and you return to your work with a new zeal and
respect. You now have in mind the feeling of what a single artifact can give
you and your mind begins to race with the thoughts of the amazing things we
have yet to uncover within the Fort site. Monday couldn’t come fast enough. 
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