From Field School to Today: An Update and Reflection from Moline

Hello Fort Friends!

This is Moline checking in with you. I was a student in the 2019 field school and thought I would give you all a quick update about what I have been up to since I participated in the dig last summer.

One of the biggest events was my graduation in Spring 2020 from Western Michigan University with a BA in Anthropology and English Rhetoric and Writing Studies. My honors thesis combined both of my fields of study: “The Rhetorical Functions of Levantine Burial Practices during the Chalcolithic Period: Form, Function, and Symbolism as a Pedagogical Tool.” Phew, what a mouthful! I am pleased to say that it was successfully defended, even if it was under strange circumstances (the defense had to take place virtually due to Covid19).

Where am I now? Still at WMU! I am currently working toward my MA in medieval studies at the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University. I also teach as a graduate assistant with the English department, as well as work as a project assistant for a research project with the Bronson School of Nursing. Needless to say, things have been busy (but good)!

When Dr. Nassaney asked me to contribute to the blog, I began to think about all that had transpired from the time I participated in the field school to now. Reflecting upon my field site experience, I see how much my involvement with the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project has influenced me, both academically and personally.   

I was able to try new things and step out of my comfort zone in a multitude of ways that I honestly would have never before thought possible. I want to personally thank everyone involved with the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project; I will never forget all of the kindness and support I encountered while on the dig.

Until next time, dear Fort Friends.

Happy digging!

Moline

Writing the Next Chapter

Dear fort followers, 

Who among us can say that the global pandemic has not had an impact on their lives? Many became isolated, lost jobs, and cancelled life-affirming events; some have gotten sick and even died. By those measures, my life has been relatively serene, though there have been unanticipated changes. When international travel was suspended in May, I cancelled my trip to Spain where I was scheduled for a three-city book tour to promote Fort St. Joseph Revealed, the recently released edited volume summarizing 20 years of research at our beloved fort. About the same time, it became apparent that social distancing and closures in Niles (e.g., YMCA, Niles District Library) would make it impossible for us to hold the 45th annual WMU archaeological field school at Fort St. Joseph. That also meant no summer camps, no lecture series, and no archaeology open house. In lieu of the field school I offered a course on “The Ethnoarchaeology of COVID-19” (ANTH 4970) to give students an experiential learning opportunity to apply archaeological and ethnographic methods to a contemporary phenomenon.

Michael teaching the 2015 WMU field school
students about Fort St. Joseph and its stakeholders.

While I enjoyed distance learning with this small class of seven students, I could not envision how I would uphold my teaching standards with three classes totaling more than 150 students in the fall. When WMU offered senior faculty members a voluntary early retirement option, I accepted it and was granted emeritus status, effective September 1, 2020. I have since met with WMU administrators who still have a strong interest in the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project. They invited me to stay involved with the Project and assist in planning, maintaining, and promoting the current partnership with the City of Niles. What form this will take remains up to the partners. I know the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Advisory Committee will be making a recommendation to sustain the Project for the future. 

While in-person lectures and conferences, like the one pictured    
above, may be on hold right now, Michael continues to discuss 
his work virtually to colleagues and members of the public.

I also hope to remain connected to the University and keep honing my anthropological and historical interests in various ways. I will be presenting a number of virtual lectures and webinars over the next several months. I edit Le Journal for the Center for French Colonial Studies; chair the Michigan Freedom Trail Commission; and edit the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective series (University Press of Florida), now with a co-editor. I will also be assisting WMU in managing the archaeological collections recovered by my colleagues that consist of over 400 boxes of artifacts, samples, field notes, maps, and photographs. To do so I will supervise students to organize these materials, establish their ownership, and arrange to transfer them to a permanent repository since they are no longer in active use yet remain a priceless resource. 

I continue to chair and serve on graduate student honor’s thesis, M.A. thesis, and doctoral dissertation committees. I am also maintaining my relationships with the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi to assist WMU in reaching out to Native peoples in the region to enhance collaborative efforts to promote Native scholarship among faculty, students, and members of the community. 

The FSJAP lab space at WMU provides a space for faculty and
students to preform research on artifacts recovered from the site.

WMU has allowed me to keep my current office (1014 Moore) and lab space in Moore Hall for the foreseeable future as I complete some my current projects; orient new faculty, staff, and students who take an interest in these activities; and sort through the detritus of nearly three decades of research, teaching, and service activities. 

As you might guess, the pandemic has had a silver lining. In addition to providing me considerable time for writing, editing, and reviewing, I have been able to reassess some of my personal and professional goals. Just as the shutdown occurred (March), my wife, Nadine, and I put our Kalamazoo house up for sale. When relators resumed showings in May, we received an offer the very first day and we closed five weeks later. We moved permanently to lovely South Haven on June 6. In some ways, I don’t see retirement so differently from my life before September 1, perhaps because I loved my academic 

Michael at Fort Michilimackinac in 2009.

position and the opportunities it afforded me. As I quipped to someone recently who tried to describe my new status (ex-professor?), “once a professor, always a professor.” Indeed, some of our new neighbors in Miami Park have taken to refer to me as “the professor,” a title I proudly own. 

I hope to see you at a future event virtually and maybe even face-to-face someday soon. I miss the mud of the St. Joseph River floodplain, students’ excitement of their first find, the throngs of attendees at the open house, and the warmth of the Niles people who have welcomed me into their hearts and homes since I first began to search for the fort in 1998. I am so fortunate to have been invited to join you in building one of the best public archaeology projects in the world. My thanks go out to all of you who played a part in this adventure, however small. I am forever in your debt. 

Sincerely, 

 

Michael S. Nassaney

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Western Michigan University

Principal Investigator, Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

Cam, the Man Behind the Blog

Hi Fort Followers,

 

This is Cameron Youngs checking in amidst all the craziness of 2020. I, along with Erika Hartley, have been organizing the “FSJAP Alum: Where Are They Now” series throughout this summer. For those of you that don’t know me, I was a field student during the 2018 field season. After working in the FSJAP lab at WMU for the 2018-2019 school year, I graduated that spring and returned to work for the Project during the 2019 field season as a Field Assistant. Shortly after, I also began working at the Niles History Center in Niles, Michigan. Once the 2019 field season came to an end, I transitioned to the position of the Fort St. Joseph Museum Intern in September. I was supposed to work as the intern for the Project until May, but I never expected it to end the way it did due to a pandemic. 

Cam excavating half of a unit during the 2019 field season. Photo Credit: Hannah Rucinski. 

During March, I was actively working as the Fort St. Joseph Museum Intern until the threat of Covid-19 started to get serious here in Michigan. It seems like things escalated really quickly, as I recall the Kalamazoo police shutting down parties to stop the early spread of the virus, to a statewide shut down by the end of the month. Right before the stay-at-home order took place, I took a bad spill on my skateboard and broke parts of my left shoulder, and I had to have surgery the first day of the order. After a hazy month of post-op and roughly three months of physical therapy, my shoulder is almost like new! 

Cam giving a pit tour at the 2019 Fort St. Joseph Open House. Photo Credit: Hannah Rucinski.

            My plans before all of this were to either work for the Project during the 2020 field season or to find a job in Cultural Resource Management as a field technician. But, between the cancellation of the 2020 field season and my shoulder injury, neither of my plans panned out like I expected them to. Around May when the field school was cancelled, Project members began brainstorming ways to maintain public engagement throughout the summer despite our current situation. We decided to reach out to the Project’s alumni to hear how they have been doing, so we could share their stories with you. The blog series “FSJAP Alumni: Where Are They Now” was started so that our followers could hear how twenty years of archaeology in Niles, Michigan impacted the lives and careers of the Project’s alumni. This series has taken place over the last 11 weeks, with past members spanning as far back as 18 years ago. With August coming to a close, we have a couple more weeks of blogs planned to update you on other Project initiatives, and members are working hard on providing additional online content for our followers. 

Alive and well, masking up during Michigan's shutdown. Photo Credit: Cameron Youngs

As for me, I’ve been working for the Project in some sort of way since my first field season back in 2018. Maybe not a full consecutive two years given a few small gap months, but close enough. After this blog series, my time with the Project will come to an end as I start the next chapter in my journey. My shoulder is almost at a complete recovery, and I am searching for my first job as a CRM field tech. At this rate I would be happy to find any job in the industry, but my hopes are to make my way out west to get away from the humidity, towards a drier climate with plenty of mountains on the horizon. 

 

Sincerely,

Cameron Youngs

FSJAP Alum: Kelley Berliner

Hi everyone,

            I hope you all are staying safe and healthy during this year full of uncertainty. My name is Kelley Berliner and, while technically not an alum of the FSJ field school, I did work as the Public Outreach Coordinator for the 2011 field season at the fort. Wow, that was 9 years ago! I have kept pretty busy since then between a few moves, academics, and jobs.

Kelley at the 2011 Archaeology Open House. Photo Credit: Unknown.

I absolutely loved history from a young age. It probably helped that my dad has a passion for antique trucks, tractors, and most any other kind of rusty equipment that brought us to a lot of flea markets and history events in my home state of Maryland. When I left home to attend the University of Toronto I focused my studies on history, anthropology, and ethics. You can probably tell I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do! It took an introductory to archaeology course with a great professor to make me realize archaeology was for me. Finally, a way to combine history with working in the dirt! My next step was to volunteer with the Archaeological Society of Maryland during a field session at the 17^thcentury site of Port Tobacco in Southern Maryland. After picking up some excavation, mapping, and identification skills, I worked for a small cultural resources firm doing archaeological testing in advance of development. I credit a lot of my knowledge to this time and was grateful for the opportunity to learn an assortment of field, lab, and academic skills, from how to deal with tick bites to presenting a paper at my first conference! 

Kelley excavating at Port Tobacco. Photo Credit: Unknown.

Flash forward to 2011: I was finishing up classes at the College of William and Mary for my MA in Historical Archaeology. My interest has always been in public archaeology and outreach, so when I saw the opportunity to be the Public Outreach Coordinator for the FSJAP I figured I would take a chance! A short while later I was driving from Virginia to Michigan, where I stayed with longtime supporter of the project Barb Cook (you probably remember having dinner at her house and visiting Summerville Mounds!). Between excavating at the site, handling outreach, and preparing for the Open House, I helped Barb around the farm with feeding dozens of peacocks and rescuing ducklings out of the corn crib. Barb is a delight, with a love of history and a no-nonsense attitude! I will always cherish my time spent in Michigan with the project, and am fortunate to have made some lasting friendships. One of my FSJ projects was starting the blog as a way for field school students to engage the public, and I am thrilled that it is still used today! 

The 2011 Fort St. Joseph field crew. Photo Credit: Unknown. 

After the Open House, I moved to Montreal, Canada where my fiancé had gotten a job (he’s from Montreal). Over the next 6 months I worked on my MA thesis which addresses public outreach in archaeology, specifically highlighting the site where I got my start in archaeology, Port Tobacco in southern Maryland. Once that was completed, I picked up a number of odd jobs between taking intensive French classes. I taught conversational English as a Second Language for adults and worked with the Redpath Museum at McGill University. The Museum deals with more natural and world history than archaeology, but I was still able to work with indigenous groups and develop public outreach programming, like a scavenger hunt for kids (I used The Fur Trade activity booklet from the FSJ Museum as inspiration! I think this might have been developed by Erica Kirk?). 

We spent three years in Montreal and then moved back to Maryland when I was offered a position with The Archaeological Conservancy, where I have worked for nearly seven years. The Conservancy is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of archaeological sites. We preserve these sites by acquiring them through donation or sale, and we then manage them as permanent open-space archaeological research preserves. We preserve all types of sites, from Paleoindian through historic industrial. It has been a great fit for my interests in archaeology and public engagement, since a lot of my work involves educating the public about the importance of saving sites. While I do not do as much excavation work (only occasional testing and monitoring), I do a lot of research on archaeological sites in the eastern United States. Through this research and partnerships with state preservation offices, Native American tribes, professional archaeologists, municipalities, and universities, we work to identify important sites in need of preservation. In the United States there are very few protections for sites on private property, and many are lost to development, looting, and other destruction. 

Kelley doing a check on one of the Conservancy's preserves in Virginia. This field is the site of a Late Woodland Period Native American village. Photo Credit: Unknown.

Once these sites are identified the next task is to reach out to the property owners and see if they are interested in working with the Conservancy to preserve the site. As you might imagine, this can be tough! My most important skills have been being able to talk to a lot of different people and share with them the importance of archaeology—something that was a big part of my job at Fort St. Joseph. I am fortunate to travel to a lot of different places (my territory covers Maine through North Carolina), and meet a lot of different people who graciously share their local histories. This year is the 40^th anniversary of the founding of The Archaeological Conservancy, and I am happy to say that we have preserved over 550 sites across the country. Feel free to check out some of our work here: https://www.archaeologicalconservancy.org/. Our magazine, American Archaeology, actually featured Fort St. Joseph years before I even joined the project! 

I will always be grateful for Dr. Nassaney giving me the chance to spend a little bit of time in Michigan, as well as to the field crew that year and to all the wonderful local residents of Niles who helped me further understand the importance of sharing archaeological research with the public. I look forward to crossing paths with all the FSJ alumni out there! 

Best Regards,

Kelley Berliner

FSJAP Alum: Andrew R. Beaupré

Dear Fort Followers, 

Hello from balmy Arkansas. Andrew Beaupré here.  I imagine few of you will remember me, as it has been quite a few years since I plied my trade on the banks of the St. Joseph River. I have since lived in four states and held multiple academic posts. 

A recent pandemic photo of Andrew at the Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Station at Toltec Mounds Archeological Park. Photo Credit: Arkansas Archeological Survey.

I arrived at Western Michigan University to begin my masters in the fall of 2007.  I had recently graduated from the University of Vermont and was drawn to the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project and Dr. Nassaney’s work owing to my interest in my own French Canadien heritage. I served as Public Education Coordinator for the Project in the summers of 2008 and 2009. In this role, I was responsible for the Project’s summer camps and lectures series, among other tasks.  This role really taught me what public archaeology was all about. Dr. Nassaney gave me the leverage to develop the camp program as I saw fit. We held three weeklong camps; one for teachers, one for junior high and high school students and one for adult members of the public. In this role, I was able to define the type of publicly engaged researcher I would become. In parallel with my work as the Public Education Coordinator, I completed my thesis on religious material culture on the French colonial frontier. 

It was through Dr. Nassaney and the FSJAP that I met Dr. Reginald Auger of Université Laval. Dr. Auger offered me a position at Fort Saint-Jean in Quebec in 2010. Fort Saint-Jean was originally founded by the Carignan-Salières regiment in 1666, and the site is still occupied by the Canadian Military as an officer cadet training school. From 2011-2017, I served as field scientific director for the project. My experiences at Fort St. Joseph gave me the tools to liaise with all interested parties at Fort Saint-Jean, including the Canadian Department of National Defense, Parks Canada, the onsite museum, Université Laval and members of the public. Simultaneous to my work at Saint-Jean, I enrolled in the PhD program in anthropology at the College of William and Mary. My work at Fort Saint-Jean was the basis for my dissertation which centered on French settlement border theory along the Vermont/New York/Québec frontière. My research at Saint-Jean and throughout the Lake Champlain Richelieu River Corridor was shown on PBS in the first season of America from the Ground Up. For those of you that missed it, Fort St. Joseph was also featured in this program.  

Andrew speaking to teachers and students at the Arkansas School for the Deaf during an recent archaeological project on their campus. Photo Credit: Arkansas School for the Deaf. 

Following the completion of my PhD, I took a year teaching at the Community College of Vermont. This year, ‘at home’ allowed me to be the primary caregiver for our baby son. In the fall of 2018, I was the inaugural post-doctoral teaching fellow at the McCormick Center for the Study of the American Revolutionary Era at Siena College in New York’s capital region. Finally, I have been able to continue my passion with public archaeology (and follow in Dr Nassaney’s footsteps) by taking a position at the Arkansas Archeological Survey. I currently serve as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the Research Station Archeologist at the Arkansas Archeological Survey’s University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Research Station. I am now the State of Arkansas’s point of contact for archeology in eight counties including the Arkansas Post founded by French explorer Henri de Tonti in 1686. 

Andrew excavating in with ‘assistance’ from his son.  Photo Credit: SUNY- SCCC Consulting Archaeology Program.

Aside from the foundational educational experiences that I gained at Fort St. Joseph and WMU, I want to stress the personal connects I was able to make with a great group of people. I first met my best friend, Andrew Robinson, while visiting the dig in the summer of 2007. Robinson is now an archeologist in North Dakota. I fondly remember sharing a beverage with Dr. Terry Martin on the back porch of the old field house at the Stables. Dr. Martin and I are currently collaborating on some Arkansas based research. It was during the summer of 2008 that I had the pleasure of instructing now fellow William and Mary alum and blog writer Cathrine Davis when she was but a FSJAP summer camper. Cathrine would later work with me on the Fort Saint-Jean Archaeological Project as well, and we remain close colleagues. Dr. LisaMarie Malischke, now of Mercyhurst University, was a collaborator in public engagement at Fort St. Joseph and has also remained a close friend and colleague. Beyond those of us that continued in archaeology, I made many friends that have pursued other careers at home in Michigan and around the globe. The atmosphere of teamwork and esprit de corps that was fostered in Niles and Kalamazoo has remained with me and my FSJ teammates as we have found our way in life. 

Over the years, I have kept up with Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project through the blog, meeting with Dr. Nassaney and the successive FSJ teams at conferences and reading the published project outcomes. It is wonderful to see that the Project has continued to thrive.  The training that FSJ has provided archaeologists is a boon to the field.  

Air-conditioned wishes from south of the Mason-Dixon, 

Andrew R. Beaupré

FSJAP Alum: Brock Giordano

Hi Everyone,

My name is Brock Giordano and I was part of the Fort St Joseph Archaeological Project beginning in 2002. That year was the first year we found structural features and could definitively say we “found the Fort.” As a graduate student studying under Dr. Nassaney, it was very exciting for all of us. It set the stage for my graduate work, and really opened my eyes to how the study of material cultural expresses the practices of individuals, society, and the culture they belong to. 

Brock participated in the 2002 field season. You can see him kneeling, second from the left. Photo Credit: Unknown.

Throughout my time at WMU, I made some great friends working at Fort St. Joseph. We traveled presenting our research at conferences, and spent hours and hours reading and talking about each other’s work. To this day I still continue to speak to many of my fellow alumni. To come full circle, Dr. Nassaney was gracious enough to have me contribute to his most recent volume, “Fort St. Joseph Revealed,” and two years ago I had the privilege to come back to the site to see the operations and sit with all the students. It was a great experience and I was so happy to see how far the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project has come. It’s truly one of a kind!

After graduating from WMU I returned to my home state of New Jersey, where I have been since. I have worked at several cultural resource management and engineer firms all over the northeast. Through those experiences I have been able to work on a multitude of archaeological and historic preservation projects. In 2012, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, my archaeological experience took me on a new path in disaster relief working for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As a Federal agency, FEMA is responsible to consider the potential effect on historic properties for any FEMA funded actions or projects per compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA). FEMA also carries out other Environmental and Historic Preservation (EHP) compliance. This includes similar laws and Executive Orders such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and Executive Order 11988-Floodplain Management, just to name a few. I work for FEMA Region II and am the EHP Supervisor for the NY Hurricane Sandy Disaster (known as DR-4085). Our office is located in One World Trade Center, NY, NY. It’s an exciting office to work in and often filled with high emotions. I believe it’s something not to take for granted. 

Brock's view from North side of the 53rd floor of the One World Trade Center in New York. Photo Credit: Brock Giordano.

Brock's view from the south side of the building. Photo Credit: Brock Giordano.

           While FEMA is known for its immediate responses to help disaster survivors, FEMA also invests to make communities more resilient to future disasters. Resiliency projects for NY Sandy include such things as school renovations for emergency power, elevations, bridges replacements, wastewater treatment plants, flood berms, walls, and engineered wetlands to protect venerable emergency facilities and communities. In regard to Section 106, EHP assesses the potential of the project to effect historic properties, defined as archaeological sites, buildings, structures, districts, and/or objects listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. For NY Sandy we have reviewed thousands of projects of all sizes.  

            In March of this year as COVID-19 began to really impact NYC and the metropolitan area, FEMA EHP staff (as with most other agencies and companies), were ordered to work from home. As the FEMA and Region II Administrator’s stated, FEMA is always open. As a disaster response agency, FEMA staff are equipped and trained to work in remote locations at any given notice. The transition to full-time telework (working from home) was nearly seamless in order to maintain operations. Now during this pandemic, FEMA EHP is reviewing projects for FEMA funded COVID-19 operations. These come in the form of such things as emergency supplies to testing centers. The nature of these FEMA funded projects is still taking shape both in Region II and nationally but are true to the FEMA mission to helping people before, during, and after disasters. 

            I hope everyone is safe, and I can’t wait see the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project get back into the field! Until then, we all know there is always plenty of lab work and analysis to do, in order to keep this important project moving forward!

All the Best,

Brock

FSJAP Alum: Tori Hawley

Hi everyone,

Wow it has been a long while and many miles, but I am Tori Hawley. You may remember me from the 2008 field season at Fort St. Joseph as a field student, and as the staff photographer in 2009. Though I am known by many friends and colleagues as being the camera woman, I also have a reputation for maps. My journey in archaeology has gone so much further than expected, and mapping is what really got me there. Over the years I have moved over 30 times, and that is without counting the numbers of hotels I have stayed in as a field technician. I have traveled to two European countries, five states, and most recently the U.S. Territory of Guam.

Tori enjoying island life as an archaeologist working in Guam. Photo credit: Unknown.

My nomadic life started when I was five weeks old, when my family moved from where I was born in Oklahoma, back to my mother’s hometown in Michigan. My mother, who has a degree in teaching history, has been my inspiration from day one. During my childhood my family explored over 30 states, hitting historic landmarks along the way. In order to keep myself occupied in the car as I got older and as a way to help out my single mother, I was taught how to read maps. There was no looking back, as I was immediately hooked on history, traveling, and maps. 

A Geographic Information System (GIS) map, with lines indicating all of the places Tori has been during her career as an archaeologist. Image courtesy of Esri Basemaps.

At Fort St. Joseph, I was often taking photographs, but I was also known for being exact in my profile and plan view drawings of our units. My pit partner would say, “its 11 centimeters, just call it 10.” To which I would reply, “well is it 10 or 11 centimeters?” My pit partner would then say, “11 centimeters.” After taking our measurements, I would then try to replicate that to scale on our sheet of graph paper. My thought was that the closer I get to an accurate measurement, the more accurate the maps can be for others to interpret in the future. This has been a thought that I have carried on with me to this day.  

After a brief interlude, I started on a highway bridge project in East St. Louis, where we excavated literal city blocks worth of Woodland, Mississippian, and Industrial American homes. I mapped and remapped, as excavations progressed to over 50 features, ranging from houses to pits, all stacked on top of one another. This was common across the project. It was truly a special experience that created memories of a lifetime, and archaeological reports and papers for years to come. 

A satellite image of the site Tori worked on in East St. Louis. Each of the black rectangles are tarps used to protect the excavation units from the elements. Image courtesy of Google Earth.

After too short of a time in East St. Louis, I applied to grad school and shipped myself off to Denmark for Maritime Archaeology. In Denmark, there was a lot of new mapping techniques to learn. It is where I started to learn GIS and other digital mapping and drawing techniques. 

Tori using Rhino software to record the front of her university courtyard in 3D. Photo Credit: Unknown.

Tori's class talking to a local archaeologist about what part of the ship's timbers to draw, in order to record and research their origin. Photo Credit: Tori Hawley.

After all the mapping and diving in Denmark, I returned to the US and spent some time working as a field tech again. But shortly after this, I found a full-time position with the Indiana National Guard. It was my dream job, as I had to do both field and office work. I would use GIS for months on end, updating the files for over 500 sites and their corresponding features. I had also created my own archaeology, which grew from a couple dozen visitors to a couple hundred, and before me they had less than ten visitors. That was in no small part due to my time at Fort St. Joseph. 

So why give up a dream job, close to home, with fieldwork? Well, Indiana doesn’t have a lot of water for a maritime archaeologist. By near accident, I applied to another dream job that requires a lot of GIS, working on government territory alongside the Navy through a very reputable CRM company, CEMML. 

This is how in early February of this year, I travelled through Japan to Guam. Using a lot of hand sanitizer and wipes I arrived safely, only to have the island locked down within a couple weeks. But despite all of this, my new adventure is only just the beginning. 

Until next time,

Tori Hawley

FSJAP Alum: James Dunnigan

Hello Fort Followers,

      My name is James Dunnigan. For those of you that don’t know me, I was an intern for the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Project during the summer of 2013. That same fall I began my Master’s in Anthropology/Archaeology at Western Michigan University under the advisement of the Project’s own Dr. Michael Nassaney. My thesis focused on the external community of French, English, and métis that formed outside of Fort Michilimackinac after 1760. 

James excavating at a Phase II Archaic site in 2019. Photo Credit: Unknown.

      From 2014 to 2018, I was an archaeology crew member for Mackinac State Historic Parks at Fort Michilimackinac. I also led a field school in Jamaica in 2016, which focused on the enslaved community of a large sugarcane plantation. In 2019, I started my career in cultural resource management. I spent that spring working across the southeast for HDR Inc. and was very fortunate to have been hired as a full-time permanent archaeology crew chief with them that same summer. Since then, I have worked on Caddo sites in Texas, to 20^th century CCC camps in Minnesota, and everything in between. 

James excavating at Fort Michilimackinac, while he worked for Mackinac State Historic Parks. Photo Credit: Unknown.

      My interest in archaeology stems from an overexposure to historic forts and archaeological sites as a kid. I was lucky to grow up playing in Fort Niagara and Fort Mackinac, probably annoying the archaeologists with all my questions. I have always been interested in the history of the Great Lakes and have loved that archaeology makes history tangible. Sadly, my undergraduate college didn’t have anyone like Dr. Nassaney and the FSJAP to educate emerging archaeologists, so I pursued my interest of colonial history throughout my studies. Eventually, I was able to begin working in the Caribbean and Virginia before joining the FSJAP. During my graduate studies at WMU, I was able to really pursue my passion for colonial archaeology and from there it has been a rollercoaster of archaeology adventures. 

James working with field students at the Fort St. Joseph site back in 2013. Photo Credit: Unknown.

      Being a part of the FSJAP gave me vital skills that allowed me to prepare for my career – from hands on teaching and supervising of students at the wet-screening station to dealing with all kinds of weather and environments (as I write this I’m deep in the bayous of Louisiana… in July ha ha). Working with a diverse group of people and living in the communal learning environment of the Project really helped me for a career where I am constantly working in close quarters with a rotating staff. The diversity of artifacts at Fort St. Joseph also prepared me for my work with colonial period artifacts. I’m very thankful for my time with the Project, and I have really enjoyed watching the Project grow and produce some great archaeologists over the years – including FSJAP alum Reagan Delmonico who was able to come tech for me this spring! 

James working with a total station during a Phase II excavation in Texas. Photo Credit: Unknown.

      Things have been a have been a little uncertain this year, but life in CRM is always hectic. I have been fortunate enough to have continued doing field work throughout the pandemic as well as writing reports when “office bound” at home. A lot of the social aspect of archaeology is gone as we adopt new safety measures. I have spent most of the spring and summer on the road running small projects in Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Missouri, and Louisiana. Flying to a project during the height of the pandemic was an experience I never thought I’d have, to say the least (there were only 10 passengers on a 747). Covid-19 has added some new dimensions to how and where we do archaeology, but it is still happening, and that’s what matters. We are beginning to approach archaeology from a lot of different and innovative angles, and on some level that’s exciting. Every day is an adventure, after all!

Stay safe and stay healthy!

James Dunnigan 

Cathrine Davis: Archaeology Summer Camper to PhD Student

Hello Fort Followers!

Me at Christmas sophomore year of high school (2007).

I’m Cathrine Davis and I graduated from WMU with degrees in Anthropology and French back in 2014! Being involved with the Project shaped my time as an undergraduate and my career trajectory as a whole. After participating on site as a summer camper during high school and deciding that archaeology actually was something I liked doing, attending WMU was a natural choice, and one that was happily endorsed by two generations of Bronco alumni in my family!

FSJ Field school 2011- a rare photo of the photographer…!

While attending WMU I spent a lot of my spare time in Moore hall or with other FSJ archaeology students and they were a sort of second family for me. I remember helping with labwork in the old 4^th floor lab, the excitement when the new lab was put in downstairs and all of the time I spent there labeling artifacts and doing inventory with the crew. I knew all of the back passages in Moore hall so I could spend the most time possible in the lab before popping out of a random doorway in the basement just in time for class! My field school at FSJ was in 2011, and we lived in Niles High School that summer instead of the usual field housing, so my cohort and I had a very different field school experience than most alums, but with plenty of comradery all the same. Working as a student site photographer allowed me to combine my love of art and archaeology, and placed me in the fellowship of other FSJ photographers past and present who also underwent the same challenges of scientific recording and archiving memories of life on site. We keep up with each other and are often seen taking in the sights at conferences together, ever so photogenically.

Fort St. Joseph photographers unite! John Cardinal, Tori Hawley

and myself in front of the USS Constitution in Boston earlier 

this year during the SHA conference.

Working with the Project allowed me to gain the close familiarity with French colonial material culture that is so essential to understanding French presence in North America. In particular, the FSJAP fostered my interest in lead cloth seals, which eventually grew into an honors thesis, then an MA thesis abroad in Québec City, and now, the roots of a doctoral dissertation at William & Mary (Williamsburg, VA). My current primary research interest is the interplay between multifaceted identities and social networks between France and New France, particularly in the world of textile production and importation. Lead cloth seals play a part in the iconographic expression of various identities and highlight social connections that provide me with a good starting point for understanding the Canada trade. I also have started to expand my knowledge of lead seals to include those from different time periods and locations that don’t often show up at French sites. In particular, I’ve been living a childhood dream working this past year with Jamestown Rediscovery (APVA) in order to help define and organize their lead seal reference collection. When completed, this will allow others who have an interest in life at James Fort or in seventeenth-century seals to more easily access the collections for research. It’s been quite the change of scenery attending William & Mary, and a lot of colleagues wonder if I’m being seduced by Anglo-American colonial archaeology… Rest assured, I’m still working on unraveling the story of life in eighteenth-century New France and sharing it with the wider public!

Me at the cité of Carcassonne, France in 2019.

  
Obviously, things have been a bit on hold this year, and a lot of plans were thrown off. My big research trip to France this year to build on my archival reconnaissance work last year has been postponed, as have several public presentations on my work, and even a conference on seals in London, England (ouf)! However, the beautiful thing about research and learning is that it can continue even in the craziest of times. If you’re feeling the social distancing blues, try taking some time to read that book that has been gathering dust for years, catch up on your language learning app, or even attend a digital lecture and ask plenty of questions in the comments section! I have even “attended” a Twitter conference this year and connected with other lead seal experts that I would have never gotten to know otherwise. Though we might all be really missing the mud and fresh air this summer out at the Fort site (physically or virtually), it will be interesting to see how research and learning open up as a result of this pandemic in unexpected and fruitful ways. Keep looking for that silver lining and stay curious!

Meilleurs souhaits,

Cathrine Davis

FSJAP ALUM: John Cardinal

Hi folks,

      This is John Cardinal again, I participated in the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Project’s field 

school in 2013. I was also a student intern for the Project from 2014 to 2015. Since graduating from 

Western Michigan University in 2016, I worked as an archaeology crew member for Mackinac State 

Historic Parks at Fort Michilimackinac. In 2018, I was hired by Fort Ticonderoga in Upstate New 

York to build exhibits and mounts, and to assist with the archaeology of the site. 

John Cardinal, archaeologist and boat builder, working on his canoe. Photo Credit: Unknown.


Here is a first person shot of John canoeing on Lake Champlain. Photo Credit: John Cardinal.


Another canoe shot, but this time with Fort Ticonderoga on the horizon. Photo Credit: John Cardinal.


Snow covered cannons lined along the parapets of Fort Ticonderoga. Photo Credit: John Cardinal.

      During the onset of the pandemic, I was able to continue working for Fort Ticonderoga by 

building mounts and assisting with cataloging artifacts. But unfortunately, I was laid off from the Fort 

and applied to safely work part-time at a local hardware store. Eventually I was called back to the 

Fort, and since then I have keeping busy by working both jobs. The Fort has had me working on 

mounts, cataloging, along with making videos. I've been using my down time to try new hobbies, 

pick up old ones, read about archaeological theory, and look towards the future by scoping out 

graduate programs. I am hoping that the pandemic will give me the chance to further my academic 

education.


Until next time,

John Cardinal