Michigan Archaeology Day

Hey Buddy! Raegan here, and just as excited about archaeology as ever! On October 13^th, the Fort St. Joseph team and I were able to go to Michigan Archaeology Day and discuss some of the research that we have been working on. When we first got to the Michigan History Center and set up our table it was really neat to see how everything was thoughtfully organized. For example, the Fort St Joseph booth was placed near the French fur trade exhibits and the flint knapping demonstration was placed near the geological exhibits.

Earning bronze throwing an atlatl!

During the day it was really cool to sit at the table and have the public, as well as other archeologists, stop by and get to know a little bit about the Project. Everyone that came by was really interest in the artifacts and the history behind the fort. They asked a lot of questions about what made Fort St. Joseph special and how the fort was discovered. There was also a scavenger hunt for the kids and our table was one of the stops along the way. The kids had to stop by and ask a thoughtful question before they got an archaeology themed key chain (they were actually super cute and I definitely didn’t grab an extra for my own keys).

I also had a chance to go around to the different booths and check out what other archaeologists from around the state were working on. The flint knapping booth was one of the cooler demonstrations and showed how many different stone tools were made. Knapping is a chipping method used to make stone tools with a hammer stone and can be used on many different types of stone, not just flint. There was also a station outside where visitors were able to throw atlatls! I took a couple of shots at it and no big deal, but if it was an Olympic sport, I would at least take the bronze. There were lots of other booths set up that showcased different excavations all over the state and it was really cool to see just how much archaeological work is happening so close!

One of the major highlights of the event was a presentation on the Edmund Fitzgerald by Chris Winters from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society. It was a really interesting to see his perspective of the Edmund Fitzgerald and how that played a part in his book The Legend Lives On. Overall, Michigan Archaeology Day was a really terrific experience and I am so glad that I was able to attend. It was a great chance to show off all of the cool work that we’ve been doing and get to see what else is happening in the world of archaeology! A big thanks to everyone that came out to Lansing and stopped by!

See ya later, buddies!

Raegan

The 14th Annual Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference

Dr. Nassaney delivering his lecture at the MHAC.
 Photo by Stacey Camp.

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project was well represented at the 14^th Annual Midwest Historical Archaeology Conference in Chicago, IL, October 19-20, 2018. The conference theme, "Contested Sites in Archaeological and Contemporary Contexts", was an opportunity to hear presentations on various sites and projects in which alternate interpretations co-exist. Among the FSJAP veterans in attendance were Amelia Harp, Aaron Howard, Gary Thompson, and myself.

Amelia Harp’s presentation, “Cross-Cultural Concerns in Collaborative Contexts,” was based on her M.A. practicum completed at Georgia State University earlier this year. She discussed how collaboration occurs at Fort St. Joseph and the ways in which involvement in the archaeology at the Fort differs between interest groups. She suggested that academics should examine the factors that limit stakeholder involvement, if they aim to be as inclusive as they claim.

I also provided some reflections on collaboration in my presentation “Public Archaeology: A Two-Edged Sword?” While archaeology has benefited from increasing public interest and involvement, public participation in and opinions about archaeology can heighten the likelihood of divergent interpretations of the past and lead to contestation. I briefly discussed two case studies in which local constituents rejected my archaeological efforts and their results. I concluded that it is difficult for archaeologists to be accountable to all the publics they potentially serve when various groups hold different and competing values.

The Pullman Clock Tower (1880) at the Pullman National Monument.
Photo by Rebecca Graff. 

After our presentations on Saturday morning, we spent the afternoon touring contested sites in Chicago. Jackson Park was home to the 1893 Columbian Exposition and has been chosen as the site of the new Obama Presidential Center. Those is favor of the Center at this location appear to be less concerned with the nineteenth-century heritage that will be destroyed by construction. The Pullman National Monument is another place where divergent histories can be constructed due to the diversity of people who occupied this industrial town and the interests of a wide range of preservationists. Work at this site will soon commemorate Pullman and his workers of all nationalities and racialized groups.

Those of us on the tour braved stiff winds, rain, and even a little snow to see these sites and discuss the contested histories they endanger. The conference underscored the idea that many people are interested in heritage, though often for different reasons. Conflicts are most likely to be resolved when relations of trust can be built and lines of communication are left open.

Michael S. Nassaney, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Western Michigan University

Fast Times at WMU Archaeology Lab

 Hi everyone, my name is Cameron and I am an anthropology undergrad here at Western Michigan University. This is my senior year and I will finally be graduating this spring. My plans after graduation is to work as a field technician, traveling around the country doing cultural resource management. This past summer I took the opportunity to attend the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Field School. This was very rewarding, as I learned excavation techniques, and gained some experience while working in the field. This was essentially on the job training that will allow me to be employed as a field technician, and I am very optimistic about my future career in archaeology. And this semester I took the opportunity to gain more experience, by working in the lab as an independent study student.

As an independent study student, I am working in a team with both of my pit partners from the field school, under the direction of both our lab manager and Dr. Nassaney. As a team we are all very comfortable working together, because we have all lived, worked, and sweated together in the summer heat for two months during the field school. Our goals are to organize the information and artifacts that we have acquired from this past field season at Fort St. Joseph. This includes doing artifact inventory, writing the annual report, and making brochures for next summer’s field school. I have been tasked with doing the artifact inventory for two projects, the artifacts from the Fort St. Joseph 2018 field season and artifacts from an excavation of the Ellen G. White residence in Battle Creek.

Artifact inventory consists of systematically cataloging and recording the artifacts we have recovered, so they can be researched further in the future. For the past three weeks I have been coming to the lab for two days each week, doing artifact inventory with Dr. Nassaney for the Fort St. Joseph artifacts, and with my pit partner Raegan for the Ellen White site artifacts. A typical day consists of opening a large bag, full off smaller bags, that are full of artifacts sorted by their type. The large bags hold all the artifacts from a specific provenience, in other words, the various types of artifacts are held in a bag from the exact depth that they were excavated from. The smaller bags contain artifacts of a specific type within that provenience. All of these small artifact bags are recorded together in the provenience bags in order to understand them in their context. Meaning, all these artifacts are associated with their depth below ground, and the spatial relationship they share with each other. This is all a part of systematic research. When I go through each provenience bag, I empty a small bag of artifacts and count them. After they are counted they are entered into a spreadsheet, where they are recorded by their accession number, unit number, level, depth, material, function, description, count, and weight. For example, 18-2-1, north 22 west 10, level 1, 0 to 10 centimeters, bone, food remains, fragments, 26, and 120 grams. This may sound tedious, but believe me it’s a blast and time really flies.

I am a month into the fall semester and I have been really busy, but making time for independent study has been both rewarding and a lot of fun. It has been teaching me the hands on skills I will need for my future in archaeology. But, all of this aside, handling artifacts is awesome! Holding onto each individual artifact feels special. I can’t really put this feeling into words, but holding onto something that someone had lost over three hundred years ago is as trip. When I hold an artifact it acts as a medium that transcends time, because in that moment of contact there is a connection between the person who it belonged to and myself. When I contemplate this thought, it can feel very surreal. And speaking of surreal, my time as an undergraduate is almost coming to an end. I look forward to working more in the lab this semester, and for what my future holds when I graduate.

Peace and Love,

Cameron

Finishing Up Field School

August 16, 2018

Hello again friends! Shelby here with the latest from the 2018 Field School. We are back at Western Michigan University and getting a head start on our lab work that will take the rest of the year. Our lab work is tedious, but it is so important that it’s done right. This year, we have an extra component to our lab work, we have four flotation samples; one from last year and three from this field season. See Andrea’s blog for more about that process.

The family wearing our matching shirts graciously given to us by Neil. 

As for being back in Kalamazoo, it is definitely weird being at the school, but doing the same things we had been doing in the field. We have all spent so much time with each other for the last five weeks, that it is hard not going to bed with roommates, eating as a community, or just overall spending every waking moment together. To think that we only have a day and a half left together is actually a weird thought and one I didn’t anticipate having at all, let alone so soon. I never thought that I would be saying this, but I am going to miss everyone here so very much. We drive each other completely nuts, but in the end we are a family and a part of a legacy.

Lab work in the field was time consuming, yet easy. We washed all of the artifacts as they came in from the field; minus iron because, you know, rust. Sorting came next as the artifacts were dry. We were pretty fortunate that almost all of the sorting got done from the comfort of the stables and that we really didn’t have too much to do back at the WMU lab; that isn’t to say that these last few days are being spent twiddling our thumbs. We are slowly and surely checking off the items of a very extensive to do list that is forever getting longer.

What are we doing in lab, you ask? Simply put, a lot. We finished sorting the artifacts by type and accession number. This makes it so much easier during inventory, because we have to count and weigh every artifact with others of its type; for example: 16 white seed beads weighing in at 6 grams. We are also digitizing the notes we painstakingly wrote throughout the excavations. This means retyping everything, word for word, in a template. We started our inventory process with the artifacts uncovered at our STP (Shovel Test Pit) site from the beginning of the season. So far, we have logged over 160 entries and counting! We are also finishing the last of our blogs for the field season and reorganizing everything for next season.

Independent Study is an opportunity for each field school student to earn 1 to 4 credits; furthering their involvement in the project. Students learn lab skills in an academic environment that will propel them in their careers as archaeologists. Along with learning key identifiers for various artifacts, we also learn the history behind them. We attempt to identify specific objects based on the fragments we uncover. To do this, we consult a wide array of texts and research articles from other like sites. We often reference Fort Michilimackinac’s uncovered artifacts, since Fort St. Joseph often reveals similar artifacts.

Looking back on this experience as a whole, I can honestly say that I am so glad that I did this field school. The staff is beyond knowledgeable and they make it a great learning environment. We learned the steps required to complete an excavation and we got a taste of what happens when things go right and when things go wrong. We were given firsthand experience of some of the stresses of archaeology and why it is paramount that things are done properly and notes are detailed. Having done this field school, I would be confident enough to go out into the field tomorrow and begin again.  

What in Flotation do we have here!?!

August 15, 2018

WOW-WOW-WE-WOW everybody!

Unit N11 W4 southeast corner full of oxidized soil, ash, and charcoal.

Andrea here, and today I am going to get down and dirty on float sampling. But first, let me give you a little background on how our sample came to be. It was the 3rd of August 2018, and the day before the annual Fort St. Joseph Open House (and for the record our unit floor was extremely level at this point). Our south east corner was looking rather oxidized, ashy and full of charcoal. It was decided that our unit would be sampled. To begin, we measured and marked out a 45cm x 75cm square. We needed to fill a 10 liter bucket. We literally chunked up large pieces of sediment to prevent compromising any of the organic material that may be in the soil sample. Our purpose for taking the float sample was to hopefully gather remains of any organic material consumed or utilized by the inhabitants of Fort St. Joseph. So, we filled our bucket, but we may have forgotten to keep in mind we weren't going to go past 45cm below our datum point. As we cleaned up our South East corner it was clear we had gone too deep approximately 47cm below datum. And that's how we came to have our undulating (uneven/really bumpy) floor...

Undulating floor.

Austin teaches students how to use the flote-tech flotation machine.

Flash forward 2 weeks later, our hideous floor has been buried and we are out of the swamp and back in the lab at WMU. Today, a past field school student came in to show us how to use the flote-tech flotation system machine (there was no manual and the video was on VHS). This machine looks like a hotdog vender cart turned into a fancy wet screen operation.  It consists of a water reservoir, flotation tank and a water pump. The machine is split in half and the pump is used to move the 100-gallon water supply in a closed loop from the water reservoir into the floatation tank. One half of the machine houses the coarse-fraction screen and the other the fine-fraction screen. The machine gyrates and separates the organic material (fine-fraction) from the soil, it then floats to the surface while the heavier particles (coarse-fraction) sinks to the bottom. The floating material floats over the lip of the flotation tank and into the fine-fraction screen. As we began to process our sample the water movement was non-existent. We drained the tanks and began to disassemble the loop of PVC pipes for the pump system. The system was clogged! We blasted the slimy clay like silt from the pipes and every nook and cranny with the hose.  After reassembling the system, we started to process the sample again and boy did it make a difference!  We were cooking with gas and organics were floating to the surface with a purpose. After all of the fine-fraction organics have floated over and all of the soil has completely filtered out of the coarse-fraction screen we removed both screens. The fine-fraction screen is tied up to dry to await analysis (most likely under a microscope) and the coarse-fraction screen is set aside for further screening. When you pull out the course-fraction screen many artifacts are immediately visible for example lead shot, seed beads, and bone; these artifacts will be bagged and sorted like usual. After we finished processing all the samples we tore the machine down and flushed it out for the next guy! All in all, it was a great day and another archaeology skill in the playbook.

Austin and Gary cleaning the flotation machine. 

Fine-fraction and coarse-fraction samples after screening.

Diagram of the Flote-tech flotation system machine. 

Fine-fraction organics floating into the fine-fraction screen. 

Andrea and Gary fluffing the coarse-fraction ( I like to imagine he is a proud papa!).

Austin and Gary clean out the pipes.

I Really Dug Field School

Hey gang, it’s Gretchen again. As the 2018 Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Field School comes to a bittersweet end, I thought I would share with you what a privilege it has been to work with my peers, as well as, be a part of an actual archaeological excavation.

If I had to sum up what I learned in the field school, it would be patience. From troweling meticulously to living and working very closely with seventeen roommates, we all had to work on our patience. Even though we may have had our small differences throughout the last six weeks, we learned valuable skills about working with others and complimenting each other’s strengths and weaknesses. It was definitely easy to become very comfortable with one another very quickly while living so closely. We had to learn to deal with stress, while having such a routinely packed schedule. The best way to perfect the skills required for archaeology both in the field and with your colleagues is to be fully immersed in the field. We are all self-selected for this program and gave up a good six weeks of our lives for this intense learning experience. Dr. Nassaney has stressed deep listening this whole field season, teaching us to sit back and absorb what others are saying instead of thinking about what we’re going to say next all of the time, a valuable skill in the workplace. Archaeology is an extremely collaborative science on small and large scales. In the field, it is far more difficult to not dig holes in your unit than you would think. We have to carefully trowel across our unit floors keeping everything even within a centimeter at a time. When you think you’re being patient enough and taking your time, you’re not. A point I have brought up several times this season is that archaeology is extremely scientific but can feel very blue collar, which is quite humbling.

We have all had a great opportunity to be immersed in such a passionate, generous, dedicated community in Niles. We have free food up to our necks throughout the season as well as volunteers/donors of time and money in and out of the field. To see the effect our work has had on the community of Niles is truly amazing. Back to archaeology being a collaborative effort, we could not do this project without the support of you, Niles, and WMU, so for that I thank you all. Special shout out to our volunteer of the year, Gary, he’s the best ever. Public archaeology is so fulfilling; we know that by seeing everyone’s interest and contagious enthusiasm. The Open House was such an amazing experience even as exhausting as it was. Several participants were astonished by the amount of shared enthusiasm at the site. I almost wish the Open House would have lasted longer. Being surrounded by mutually passionate people makes for a happy, healthy, encouraging environment. People with all different skills sets were available at the Open House for people to learn about all different aspects of archaeology as well as history. It seems like everyone is intrigued when they hear the word archaeology, but for different reasons. There really is something for everyone in the field of archaeology, whether you just love dirt or you love lead seals ;). We all had many opportunities to create networks with the people of Niles, and professionals in different aspects of archaeology such as our zooarchaeologist Terry Martin, and field-school-veteran/ lead seal expert, Cathrine Davis. Having so many good resources, a growing network, and interested residents keeps us very motivated (so do all of the free cookies). 

I’ve never been to summer camp, but this is probably what it’s like. This week we are finishing up some mapping and soil records to wrap up and move out of Niles. My heart is full and I feel like I’ve found my people. We have all learned a lot about each other and the world of archaeology, forming lifelong friendships. We learned several field techniques, personal skills, and even each other’s home recipes. I have thoroughly enjoyed the field school and am extremely grateful for all of it. I want to thank every contributor to the project big or small, and I will see you all next field season in some way shape or form.

"Speaking of Dirt..."

Sami Brown, the field school student speaker, at Media Day.

Hello everyone, it sure has been a while since I last wrote, my name again is Sami.  Due to the popular demand by the people, I have decided to write out my Media Day speech for your enjoyment.  I hope everyone has had a fun filled summer, because we sure did.  With out further ado. . .

“First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming out today to support us.  Without the prolonged and continued support of individuals from the community we would not have the opportunity be standing here today.

My name is Samantha Brown, or Sami for short.  I was born and raised in a small farming town in Pennsylvania, called Munster.  Upon completing high school, I decided to enlist in the United States Air Force.  Through my 6-year military career I have lived in Texas, California and North Dakota.  I spent most of my military career as an Aerospace Service Medical Technician working on ambulances.  When it came time for me to separate and relocate my husband and I quickly agreed to move to his home state of Michigan, where I enrolled as a full-time student seeking a biology major.  A few semesters in, I care across an amazing opportunity to work for the Walt Disney Corporation at the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida as a character attendant.  So, my husband, two bonus kids, and myself left Michigan behind to become residents of the sunshine state for 3 ½ years.  Eventually the magic of Disney wore off, believe it or not, and we decided to return home to Michigan once again.  Having missed my time as a medic in the Air Force I decided to go for a degree change and pursue a major in biomedical sciences and a minor in chemistry at WMU.  So how exactly did the archaeology bug bite me well. . . 

My childhood home was originally an early 1900 saloon, where they would literally throw any garbage out the kitchen window or take it to a large hill on the western side of the property, about 10 yards from the establishment.  My father would spend many days with me and my brother digging threw this ruble.  We each got to shovel and dig in our own separate holes, all hoping to find something.  We mostly found glass bottles intact, Johnson and Johnson metal containers, and a few skeleton keys, all 20^th century items or newer.  But the thrill of the find wasn’t the only exciting moment, you see my Dad would play this game with us.  With every object we found we would have to create a story to go along with it.  We had to give the object and owner, the owner a name, and take a stab at what the object was used for.  Being silly and young we usually picked names of loved ones and had very crazy and imaginative uses for the items.  For example, one time my brother found a blue glass bottle, he said it belonged to Bruce Wayne who used it to catch fireflies, so he had a light source all night long.  He was a major Batman fan.  I didn’t realize it then, but my Dad was preparing me in his own way as a junior archaeologist.

Flash forward to a college student sitting in a lecture hall taking on of her general education classes, Lost Worlds of Archeology.  It was the first class I ever took that I was actually excited about going to.  The professor was so excited and into the material it was very difficult not to catch the enthusiasm it was at this moment I decided to double minor in chemistry and anthropology.  With each passing anthropology course, I took I felt myself wanting to take more and learn as much as I could.  That’s when I found out about Intro to Archeology and ultimately the Fort St. Joseph Project.  Memories of me and my Dad spending many days digging in the dirt all began to resurface.  With each Intro to Archeology lecture Dr. Nassaney liked to challenge us to think outside of the box, utilize every source we could think of, and when we were out of ideas he challenged us to think of even more.  It was part of the reason I wanted to attend the Archaeology Field School this summer here in Niles.  The other reason stems from my heavy biology background, the want or need to tangibly touch or work with my subject.  What better way is there for an anthropologist to do this than conduct field work?  By getting the chance to leave the typical classroom setting and gain the experiences of a hands-on setting.  I honestly had no idea of what exactly I was getting myself into.  I knew for sure that we would not be doing Indiana Jones or Laura Croft type of work.  Instead, I was in for an experience of a lifetime.  Over the last five weeks I got the opportunity to unearth and touch history, like actually pick-up., examine, and think about an object, or artifact as we archeologists call them.  These artifacts actually belonged to someone at some period of time, and to be the first person to see or even feel them in 200+ years is an exhilarating feeling.  I can honestly say I will never forget the feeling I got when I picked-up and examined my first lead seal.  But, I quickly learned that archeology isn’t about filling museums with artifacts or even about finding artifacts in general, it goes so much deeper than that and let me tell you the amount of paperwork was surprising.  It’s about discovering history, giving voices to the voiceless, learning as much as you can about a topic only to find out there is always more to learn and ultimately, it’s about being able to work with others and forming bonds with those you work with.  Much like the family bonds we have grown to form with one another and will continue to form with others as we pursue our own archeological careers.”

Again, I want to take a few moments and thank everyone from the city of Niles, the WMU community, and all the surrounding areas for everything you do.  From the donations to the amount of time everyone donates to us, without you we would not be able to accomplish all that we do.  It really does take a village, and all of you are ours.  So here is to another 20 years, may we continue to strengthen and grow together, FSJ forever.

OPENing the Doors to my HOUSE Away from Home

Hello Fort St. Joseph community! This is Melanie writing to you all about the archaeological event from last weekend. Open House weekend is the culmination of the Fort St. Joseph archaeologists’ summer work, and this year we were all so excited to share our findings with the public. After a few weeks of working and living together, learning about archaeology and the history of the fur trade in Michigan, we acquired new knowledge and an enthusiasm about the project. Being able to interact with the public and inform them about our endeavors delving into the past was a unique and incredible experience. For this year’s Open House, students and staff organized a variety of activities in order to present our discoveries to the community in a fun and educational way. From pit tours to children’s activities to artifact cases, the Fort St. Joseph archaeologists, along with a few dozen historical interpreters, brought the eighteenth century fort to life once again.

FSJAP student Melanie rocking her 2018 Field Season Shirt and prepping for pit tours.

Every day in the field, students practiced explaining their units to the rest of the group and any guests visiting the site. Along with communicating new and important information, this allowed us to practice how to explain archaeology to those who do not know anything about it. Over the course of the last few weeks, we have had many visitors who came to the site and listened to our interpretations of what we have been finding. The local Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi brought their youth to the site, and our summer campers also participated in pit tours during their time working with us. Getting accustomed to talking in front of a group of curious people and explaining our newly acquired knowledge of the history of Fort St. Joseph increased our confidence and our eagerness of sharing historical information. During Open House weekend, we had continuous pit tours throughout the day where students presented information about their assigned unit to any interested guests. We utilized our summer’s worth of new information, as well as interpretive maps, to piece together a picture of the fort for the public and future archaeologists.

Historical reenactor and all around awesome ally to the FSJAP, Lynn!

One of the most exciting parts about the Open House was how interested the community was this year about the Project. There were many in-depth questions that guests asked us during the Open House at every station. One of the children’s activities, bead bartering, encouraged the kids visiting the site to ask questions to students, staff, and reenactors. We allowed young children to participate first hand in learning archaeological activities to introduce them to interpreting the past. I was able to cement my newly acquired knowledge by answering questions, and I even learned new facts about the fort from inquiring guests.

The historical reenactors also played a major role during the Open House by teaching us all about eighteenth century life. I was able to speak with quite a few of them, and they were happy to explain the activities that they were doing. One of the ladies was spinning thread and explaining the development of the various technologies that were used in the past. Another reenactor was a black smith, and he told me about the technologies that he uses to work an iron object. Free canoe rides were also available for the public during the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Open House. The rides were led by a reenactor who used chants that the French fur traders of the eighteenth century would have used while paddling the St. Joseph River. From dancers to priests, the historical interpreters really made the past tangible to us living now in the twenty-first century.

The 18th-century partners with the 21st century for dancing lessons.

With the help of our various supporters, the staff and the field school students were able to successfully teach nearly nine hundred people about the archaeology of Fort St. Joseph. All of us put in a lot of time and effort over the past few weeks in order to host an educational and interactive Open House for the people of Niles. We enjoyed seeing the community as excited about the past as we are, even though the heat was almost unbearable. Each year, the Open House is where all of our work comes together—from previous field seasons and the most recent—and we are able to pass on our enthusiasm to the public. Together our understanding of the fur trade and life at Fort St. Joseph gets deeper with every passing year. Over the past twenty years, there have been many questions that we have been able to answer, and many more questions that arise from these new answers. There is still a lot of work to do, and a lot more information to learn, and we look forward to continuing our research of the site and sharing that knowledge with all of you.

A Wonderful Weekend

The 2018 field crew enjoying a ride
 in a birchbark canoe.

Hello Fort followers, it’s Meghan! After a wonderful weekend on the floodplain I am back with an update of the Open House!

Overall, I would say the Open House was a huge success even with the intense heat. We had just about 800 attendees in the 90+ degree weather. Throughout the weekend attendees could enjoy eight wet screening demonstrations; six colonial dances; eight historical walking tours; four French sing-alongs; multiple living history demonstrations; multiple discussions from Dr. Michael Nassaney and Cathrine Davis, MA; and FREE canoe rides! Also, the staff and students all had a wonderful time discussing the excavated units, our findings from this field season and our “ghost structure”.

As attendees walked down reenactor alley it was as though they were transported to the eighteenth century. The reenactors were demonstrating colonial baking and cooking; eighteenth century fishing; colonial dancing and music; blacksmithing; coopering; quill writing; and Jesuit priest and voyageur life! Cathrine Davis, our guest speaker, even took some time to demonstrate laundering. As guests continued to walk down towards the site they were greeted by Dr. Terry Martin and Fernwood Nature Preserve. Dr. Terry Martin, the zooarchaeologist for the Project, was discussing animal identification and had an array of animal remains displayed. Farther down the site, our “Technology Then and Now” banners were exhibited along with our artifact cases. This Open House we had a special artifact case completely dedicated to lead seals, due to the larger quantity of lead seals we have recovered this field season!

Open House guests observing
a reenactor use a spinning wheel. 

The Open House is the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project’s opportunity to share our findings with the public and we are more than happy to invite the public into our world. As a long-term, multidisciplinary, community-based project, it is one of our major goals to have the public not only visit but become engaged and involved in our research. For example, the construction of our “ghost structure” would not have been possible without the help and support of the community.

Thank you so much for a successful weekend! We look forward to seeing you all at the 2019 Open House!

Meghan

Talking With A FEMA Archaeologist

Hi everybody, my name is Cameron Youngs and I am a field student here at the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, and a student at Western Michigan University. This is my fourth week excavating here in Niles, Michigan, and I am having the experience of a lifetime. I have met many wonderful people, I have ate a lot of good food, but most importantly I have learned a lot about Fort St. Joseph and working in the field. Each day has been a new adventure, and by the time Friday comes along I don’t want to go home. Last week we had a guest who came to visit us at the Stables and gave a lecture at the library. His name is Brock, and he was a former field student here at the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project.

Brock told us all about his career working as an archaeologist, and how he is currently employed as a FEMA archaeologist working in New York. FEMA archaeologists are responsible for making sure a particular location does not have any archaeological sites before FEMA builds an emergency structure. Since FEMA is a federally funded agency, they are required by law to comply to the National Historic Preservation Act before a structure is built. If there is historic or archaeological significance present, they either have to excavate or advise to change the location of their emergency structure. I thought this was very interesting, and I had no idea such a career even existed! Also, I did not know that FEMA was even required to build around archaeological sites under the National Historic Preservation Act. To me it sounded like a very fulfilling career to work as an archaeologist while contributing to disaster relief.

Brock Giordano at the
Niles District Library last Wednesday. 

At the lecture Brock talked about his work at the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project as a graduate student at Western Michigan University. He talked about the exchange of goods between the French and the Native Americans, but more specifically he focused on the concept of repurposing trade goods in a way that was completely unintended by the item’s original manufacturer. His focus was on tinkling cones that Native Americans would construct out of brass or copper, which they used to adorn their clothing. Tinkling cones are constructed out of scrap metal, usually from worn out brass kettles traded to them from the French. This metal was cut from the kettles, and then they were bent into a conical shape. Native Americans were the originators of crafters of tinkling cones, but we are not exactly sure if blacksmiths began to craft them too. Tinkling cones have been found in the archaeological record at Fort St. Joseph. I haven’t found any yet, but I would be very stoked if I did. (After Cam finished this blog he recovered a tinkling cone in his unit. (Edit: Meghan Williams)).

Tinkling cone found in Cam's unit.

After the lecture I asked Brock some questions about his career, and some advice for a budding archaeologist. He did not hesitate to tell me about his experiences, and what jobs I should expect to find with an undergrad in archaeology. He told me that I could find lots of work traveling around the United States through Cultural Resource Management. Cultural Resource Management or CRM, operates under a similar process as FEMA archaeologists. When a large federally funded structure or roadway is being built, CRM archaeologists must make sure that there are not any archaeological sites in the area before the structure is built. This is really exciting for me because it gives me an opportunity to travel, and work with artifacts. He told me that most undergrads do this kind of work in their twenties, and it is a good way to get familiar with working in the field. I look forward to my future of working and traveling across the United States as an archaeologist. Working at Fort St. Joseph has given me the opportunity to learn some of these field skills, and I am grateful for this opportunity. I also want to thank Brock for speaking with us, and everyone else during field school who has helped me navigate a future in archaeology.

It’s a bird! No, it’s a plane! No, it’s the Fort St. Joseph archaeologists at the Air Zoo!

Hello Buddies! Its Raegan Delmonico back again with another archaeology and kids camp crossover blog! This past Thursday, Meghan, one of our public outreach coordinators, and I had the opportunity to go and present to a middle school camp that took place at the Air Zoo. Working with kids is always something I have enjoyed doing and having another chance to get kids involved in archaeology was great.

Teaching the Air Zoo campers 

archaeological techniques.

We arrived at the Air Zoo and went straight to the classroom. The kids were all between the ages of 11 and 13. They were a really energetic group and were excited to learn. We started off by doing some archaeology and paleontology flash cards with them and seeing how much they knew about archaeology. Most of them had a pretty good grip on the difference between archaeology and paleontology already! We followed up by doing an “other people’s garbage” activity and did some inferences based on what objects were in a bag. One bag contained a few coffee cups and some fast food wrappers, and the kids were able to hypothesize that the items probably belonged to a busy person who was running short on sleep. In the second bag there was a box of crayons, a receipt to a toy store, a jar of baby food, and an eraser head. They guessed that this was a person who lived a completely different lifestyle than the person who produced the items for the first bag. They also anticipated that this person probably had two kids that were different ages.

            Next, we showed off the artifact cases which highlighted some of our amazing finds from our units at Fort St. Joseph this past year. The campers were full of great questions about the artifacts and where we found them! They were very interested in the processes and methods used while excavating. Later in the morning we were able to go outside with them and do some mock excavating in a kiddy pool. The campers mapped out their units and carefully troweled away the soil. They took measurements from their mock datum lines and wet screened all of their sediment. They found “artifacts” that had been hidden by their camp counselor, Katie. It was a great hands-on activity for the kids to practice actual excavation techniques without visiting an excavation site.

The students and campers use
 trowels just like this everyday.

            Visiting the Air Zoo was a blast! Sharing my passion for archaeology with anyone, especially kids is so exciting. The campers were a ton of fun to work with and were pumped to hear more about the archaeology at Fort St. Joseph. It was a great opportunity to teach more people about the excitement and importance of archaeology. Thank you so much to the Air Zoo for the chance to present to some of your summer campers! We hope to come back soon!

A Word From Our Principal Investigator on the Open House

Greetings Fort followers,

Michael Nassaney, then, at the Orendorf Lab, Canton, IL (1978).

I’m writing to invite you to the 2018 Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Open House! As always, the staff and students of Western Michigan University’s 43rd annual archaeological field school have been hard at work investigating material traces of Fort St. Joseph. Since this year’s theme is “Technology Then and Now,” we are focusing on technology in the eighteenth century and the ways archaeologists use technology today to decipher the meaning of the past.

As you probably know, the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project is one of the nation’s premier long-term, multidisciplinary, community-based research program. Our aims are to investigate and interpret the history and archaeology of the fur trade and colonialism in the St. Joseph River valley. Public participation in the Project has been central since 1998 when community members asked WMU archaeologists to help them find their long lost fort. The public remains involved through our summer camp program, lecture series, community meals, and, of course, the Open House where visitors can witness life in the eighteenth century and learn how archaeologists work to reconstruct the past.

When we think of technology, we may think of telecommunication devices like our phones and computers. However, technology has always been important to humans who employ tools, knowledge, and techniques to manipulate the material world around them from stone tools to ceramics, organic materials, metals and glass. This year we are highlighting how goods were made and used at the Fort and how archaeologists decode the past using sophisticated equipment like magnetic surveys and compositional analyses to determine what objects were made of.  What would you do without technology? Think of how frustrated we become when we lose electricity for only a few hours.

This year’s open house is an opportunity to think about and experience the technologies that people used to survive on the frontier of New France.  Listen to public scholars, witness living history reenactors, and interact with archaeology students in real time as they piece together the past from the detritus of the Fort. Some of our 2018 finds will also be on display to the public for the very first time. We will have several surprise artifacts for your viewing pleasure as well as new discoveries in the field. You’ll have to visit to see what we’ve found!

Dr. Michael Nassaney, now, at Fort St. Joseph (2018).

Please introduce yourself to a student archaeologist, reenactor, public scholar, staff member, or visitor and join in the conversation about technology, Fort St. Joseph, and archaeology in the past, the present, and the future. At the end of the day, our Project is a vehicle to bring people together. Be one of the hundreds of people who I hope to see at this special event this weekend (Aug. 4-5). I know you will enjoy the history and archaeology of Fort St. Joseph and hope you seize the opportunity to learn about the ingenuity of the inhabitants of this special place.

 Cordially,

Michael S. Nassaney, Principal Investigator

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

A Time Capsule

Hey guys its Taylor, I’m back. I wrote the blog about our first real day of field school working on our and your beloved Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. Since that exciting first day we have all made lots of progress excavating our units in a slow but sure process. Like I mentioned in my first blog the unit coordinates for the unit that me and my partner Sami are working on are North 9 East 2. We are currently digging down to thirty five centimeters below our datum point. After we worked our way down layer by layer we slowly have amassed many awesome artifacts. There is already a full blog written by my pit partner about the amazing lead seal we found in our unit on the first week, but that was just the beginning.

 After we found the seal and continued to dig we found multiple artifacts that are just as if not even more awesome than the lead seal. The first cool artifact we found after the lead seal was small in size but not in meaning, which was a tinkling cone we found while wet screening. Our tinkling cone has a conical shape although not all tinkling cones are conical they will occasionally be asymmetrical having a small point on the bottom. Tinkling cones are made of copper or a copper alloy and were used by Native Americans as a decorative accessory on their clothes and jewelry. The second artifact we found right after the tinkling cone was a catlinite pipe bowl fragment that was found while trowel skimming. Catlinite was named for George Catlin who was a famous painter and author that specialized in painting Native Americans in the “old west”. Catlinite is a fine grained sedimentary rock that is often brownish-red in hue.

 

Copper ring found at N9 E2. 

The second week of field school we found a copper ring while trowel skimming. Copper rings have been found at Fort St. Joseph before and were previously believed to be French Jesuit rings. The story being that Jesuit priests would give them out to award people who converted like some Natives did. The fact of the matter is that we are trying to move away from associating these copper rings exclusively to Jesuits because it was not only Jesuits who brought these rings from France. Other French non Jesuit people also brought them to trade with Natives. Our ring was generally small in diameter and did not have any obvious iconography on it, just a band. In the same week we found another amazing copper artifact. The artifact was a triangular shape made up off three copper circles with what looks like stones but is actually cut glass in each copper circle. The cut glass, like the oxidized copper, is green and we think it may have been a part of a cross off a rosary or some type of jewelry.

Copper alloy and cut green glass artifact.

This week we have found two more amazing artifacts. The first artifact we found was an awesome type of bead called a raspberry bead. The bead is blue and translucent and relatively large compared to the other types of beads we have been finding like seed beads which are appropriately named for their extremely small size. The specific reason for calling the bead a raspberry bead is because since they are made from blown glass the maker will use a technique resulting in a bumpy pattern on the outside of the bead much like a raspberry. 

Right after we found the raspberry bead in the wet screen, and I mean right after, we found another lead seal! I could not believe It but there it was. Just like the first one it was a lead disk with non-uniform edges. One side had a protrusion indicating it was most likely the back while the other side had some inscription that I could not make out but nonetheless it was another seal.

Blue "raspberry" bead.

Although we can learn a lot about what the artifacts are made of and there size and what level of the unit they came from that is not the most important thing we can learn. The most important thing we can try and take away from our artifacts is what they indicate was going on in the past. We can take the raw data from the artifacts and with quality deep thinking we can recreate a picture of the past. For example, the tinkling cone, we can learn its size and what it is made of but, we can also try and learn how they were being used in day to day life during Native and French occupation. We can ask questions like who was making the tinkling cones, how were they making them, how were they were being used, and who was using them? These types of thoughtful questions about the past paired with raw information learned from the uncovered artifacts is how we can successfully create an accurate depiction of day to day life in the past.

Lead seal reverse

Lead seal obverse.

I am very fortunate to be excavating the area that I am and I am also very fortunate to be excavating at Fort St. Joseph. Not one day has gone by that we have not found something from the time of French occupation and I know this is not the case with every unit and certainly not the case with all archaeological field work. As much credit as we can take for finding these awesome artifacts it is really all the previous work others have done from the Niles and field school communities that allows me and my pit partner to be so fortunate. All the information gathered over the years has put us in the position to be told where to dig and be successful no questions asked and that is no small task. Because of this I must thank all the students, staff, and community members that have made this success possible. You have made our field school interesting and fun and worth it, thank you.