2016 Field Season Bee-gins!

Hello everyone! My name is Anne, and if you frequently read our blogs, you may have read some written by me already. During this past spring semester at WMU, I worked as an independent study student under the supervision of Dr. Nassaney. I learned a great deal about the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project throughout the semester, and worked closely with artifacts from the previous field season. Bright and early this morning, we all arrived in Niles to begin our 2016 field season. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time!          

Surveying the Lyne Site upon our arrival (Photo Credit: Austin George)

We are all super excited for tomorrow, because we will be digging shovel test pits on an “island” near the fort in hopes of finding more signs of past human activity. Today, we all ventured there and cleared the area so that we could set up points (with the Total Station) for us to later dig our pits at. A Total Station, for those of you that do not know, is an instrument that we use to survey the land and determine distances to certain points. We are also using it to overlay a grid onto the terrain to pinpoint digging locations in an organized fashion. We came out with scratches and bruises, and a few of us even suffered from bee stings and wet shoes, but that won’t ruin our spirits.

I am looking forward to learning more about the history of Niles, as well as the fort. We are sure to learn lots about teamwork as well. This will be a bonding experience of a lifetime. Archaeology has forever been an intriguing topic to me and I finally have the opportunity to experience it myself.

-Anne