Fresh Finds from Trench 1: A Musket Ball

 Hi friends! Chloe here to give you an update from Trench #1. My pit partner Ashley and I have been working very hard on our unit S5 E16. We have slowly made progress amidst the rain and mud that our unit loves to collect. These past weeks have proven to be challenging as we learned the ropes and techniques all while trying to do our best with public outreach through blogs and lunches. A massive part of what makes this program so special is the public involvement and our reciprocity to their generosity. It really is a team effort, us and you guys!

Mine and Ashley's Unit: S5E16

The biggest question all of us field school students are going to be asked is, “What did you find?”. Well, lucky for you guys that is what I’ll be talking about in this blog post. Our unit S5 E16 has proven to be busy. There have been many types of artifacts found like bone, calcine bone, 18^th century glass, seed beads, and lead shot. Two of the most exciting finds have been a large piece of lead, which we are currently discussing what it could be, and a musket ball!

Musket balls are super cool to find because you have to reflect on the fact that these are a massive part of the history of Fort St. Joseph. Fort St. Joseph was a garrison during most of its occupation. The French garrison was in operation from 1691-1761. Our current hypothesis is that this musket ball is from the French occupation because of the artifact's diameter, but there is also a possibility that it’s British. We believe that it is a .54 caliber and it may have been used in a trade gun. 

If you haven’t joined us for our lecture series, I would highly recommend it. We had a great lecture by Bob Myers on July 21^st where he talked about the military activity of Fort St. Joseph. Specifically, he talked about members of the garrison, musket balls and other military gear, and the political aspects of having a garrison in Fort St. Joseph. The relationships between the Europeans and Native Americans in the area were also discussed in regards to how they were affected by the military presence. The people of the post could have very easily picked up this musket ball and fired it out of their own weapon in hopes that it is a sufficient size. 

The musket ball found in our unit!

Out of all of the things we have found in S5 E16 this musket ball really reinforced the feeling of being an archaeologist for me. This opportunity to be a part of history and discover what life was like for people way back when is something I never thought I’d get to experience. At Fort St. Joseph we learn something new every single day. That kind of knowledge can’t be bought. If you’re interested in all the knowledge we have to share here at Fort St. Joseph, visit our open house August 7^th and 8^th which takes place from 10 am to 4 pm. We would love to share the incredible things we found and the hard work we have put in. 

Well, that’s all for this blog post. Hope to see you for our open house! Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram so you can follow our journey here. Thanks for reading and stay safe everyone!

-Chloe Trinka

How COVID has Changed/Affected our Work

Hi Fort Followers,

I’ve introduced myself before and written some blogs in the past, but it’s been a while since I’ve written a one so I will reintroduce myself! My name is Lucy Clark, I took the field school in 2019 and then became an independent study student under Dr. Nassaney for the 2019-2020 academic year. I graduated from Western in the summer of 2020 with a degree in anthropology and was supposed to work at the 2020 field school as the lab coordinator, but due to COVID I had to wait another year. I’m back now working as the lab coordinator for the 2021 field school. 

Due to COVID, there have been a lot of changes in the field school and how we conduct lab and field work. While there are some major changes like not living together and having the lecture series virtually, there are also a lot of smaller aspects of field school that we have had to alter due to the restrictions put in place. In the field, we all have our own toolboxes this year that we have assigned numbers for, so we don’t run the risk of mixing up tools. 

There are also specific wet screen stations assigned to specific units, so only two people work at that specific wet screen station. 

Since we don’t have lab at the barn where we usually stay, we had to completely change where we conduct all of our lab work. This year, we have to transport all the artifacts to the lab at WMU, where we wash, dry and sort them. In the lab, we have specific buckets with all the tools you’d need to clean artifacts assigned to each student with their names on them. Much like the toolboxes, this is so we don’t mix up tools or have to sanitize them every time we use them.

It might seem like all these changes are a negative, but I think that it shows how adaptable we are and that we can still figure out a way to work throughout these hard times. It was a real bummer to not be able to work at the 2020 field school, so to be able to have the field school this year with only a few changes in place seems like a small price to pay!

Thanks for reading!

Identifying and Cleaning Animal Bones Found at Fort St. Joseph

Hey everyone!

I am Ashley Mlazgar and a field school student here at Fort St. Joseph. This fall I will start my fifth and final year at Northern Arizona University, where I am receiving a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with an emphasis in Archaeology and a double minor in History and French. I am really excited to be working at this site because of my interest in historical archaeology and the colonial period. I hope to move on to grad school for a Master’s in Archaeology after I graduate next year.

As we have been excavating our first levels in the units, several of us have already found animal bone fragments. The bone fragments are generally quite well preserved because of the St. Joseph River and the relatively small amount of time they have been in the ground. Animal bones are usually discernable visually, however, they sometimes look like rocks or wood. Wood differs in that it is much softer and squishes between the fingertips while wet. Rocks have a different texture than bone, which has led to the age-old lick test, though we as archaeologists use other means for identification.

Identifying bone fragments by hand at the unit is an important and useful skill for archaeologists because of the time it saves and the prevention of potential damage to bones from wet screening. When we wet screen the bone fragments, they become soaked and can take several extra days drying, slowing down the entire process. Identifying them in the unit also helps preserve the context of the fragments, especially when we are able to spot the bones before disturbing them. If we do see animal bones still in the dirt matrix, we pedestal them for photos and mapping. To the left is a photo of a bone fragment currently being pedestalled in unit S5E16.

Bones that are not being pedestalled, but have been picked out before the wet screen, are cleaned by hand in the lab. We use a variety of tools including toothbrushes, dental picks, strainers, and sometimes, a little bit of water. Once the bones are all clean, they are placed on Styrofoam trays to dry. The image to the right shows a collection of animal bone fragments, and a couple 20th century artifacts, drying in the lab after being cleaned.

This is the process of how we find, excavate, clean and thoroughly dry the bones we find at Fort St. Joseph

Thanks for reading!

-Ashley

First Day in Lab: Cleaning Artifacts and Identifying Bones

Hi everybody! 

I’m Rae Daun and I’m a senior at Western Michigan University! My major is in Biology, and I have a minor in Psychology. After I graduate, I am hoping that my background in the aforementioned subjects and my field school experience will allow me to pursue a job in cultural resource management, and eventually return to obtain my master’s degree in anthropology! This is my first field experience in archaeology, and I’m excited to see where this opportunity will take me!

This week, we had our first day in the lab – how exciting! My classmates and I split into two groups. In my group, we began our day by learning how to clean artifacts. This is a huge part of learning to be an archaeologist. We do more than just dig and play in the dirt! Sure, that is what people traditionally think is our job, but there’s so much more to it. A dentist would be jealous of the tools we have, from picks to toothbrushes; we’re use these to clean the artifact to the best of our ability without destroying its integrity. It’s a finely tuned art that all of us had the privilege of learning and continue learning throughout the lab sessions we’ll have this semester!

After lunch, we switched with the other group and met with Dr. Terry Martin, a zooarchaeologist who is an expert in identifying animal bones from just fragments! He has worked on many different archaeological sites throughout the states, and we are lucky to have him on our team at Fort St. Joseph! After a brief lecture on how bones are identified, we got right to work! This wasn’t just any workshop with some bones that had already been identified, we were able to sort through bones collected at Fort St. Joseph and figure out what animal had left them behind.

Some of the fragments have grooves and margins that make them easier to identify, while others are just shards that can’t be identified without further analysis. Many of the bones we find at Fort St. Joseph are White-tailed deer, or Odocoileus virginianus, but there are some other cool species that we’ve identified like black bear or otter!

For this bone lab, my partner Reid and I were able to identify over 30 different bone fragments! It was an awesome experience and I know for sure that I will never forget what the distal end of a deer tibia looks like (we had a ton of these).

Llelo wasn’t much help in this lab, but he certainly was interested in the tasty looking bones.

Picture was taken by his handler!
He also did not consume any bones

Bonus points for anybody who can guess what this bone is!

Thanks for reading! 

Overcoming Challenges at Fort St. Joseph

Hi everyone, 

My name is Audriana Skonecki, and I am a field school student this year at Fort St. Joseph. I am a 4th-year student studying Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Chemistry and Anthropology. One of the things I have worked on since being at the site is overcoming the many challenges our team and myself have faced so far. These challenges included becoming a team, the weather, and issues on the unit my partner and I work on.

On the first day of orientation, we joined together at a table as a group of people who hadn't even learned each others names yet. That quickly did not become an issue anymore because we would soon form a bond through our experiences, knowledge, and passion. This bond is what makes us a team, such as being at the site, for example. On our first couple of days at Fort St. Joseph, most of us were very new to the experience and unsure how to go about it. We had to learn about the materials needed for each unit, how to set up a unit, and the steps/tool/techniques for excavating. Help from instructors like Erika, Lucy, Gary, and Dr. Nassaney gave us advice and insight on how to best move forward with our excavations. As we ended our days at the site, we all struggled to clean up, bring materials back, and packing up the trailer. Yet, over time with lots of practice, we all became familiar with the process and developed an excellent system to get it all done much more quickly.

Catching rain to try and keep everyone dry during lunch.   

However, the biggest challenge, as a team, we we have had to face thus far has been the weather. On July 13th, we experienced hefty rainstorms that challenged the guests we had on the site as well as our team. Thankfully, we were able to get the tents up, which allowed everyone to seek shelter and continue lunch when the heaviest of the rain came. During the storm, the field students and instructors worked hard to catch any rain falling through the cracks, while Erika came up with a plan on how to spend the rest of our day. When the rain became too much and it was clear we wouldn’t be able to work at the site anymore for the day, we decided to leave and head to the Niles Public library to dry off, work on notes and watch a canoe-making video. Even though the day was crazy, we were able to work together to keep everything (mostly) dry, so that our excavating and public archaeology experiences would not be hindered.

After leaving the field we dried off and started some
research at the Niles District Library.

Unit N18 E29: Cutting out the dozens of
wires coming from the 20th century landfill.

In addition to the other challenges, in our unit N18 E29, Reid and I struggled to prepare our unit on the first day at the site. We knew our unit would invade into the trench wall, along with a pipe, a large piece of metal, and endless wires in the way. It took us a day and a half to finally set up our unit because we had to widen the trench and take out a decent-sized chunk of wire. Once that challenge was completed, it was on to the next one, such as leveling our unit. Because our unit is located in the 20th-century landfill, there has been a substantial amount of trash found and enclosed. Our unit is at currently 20 cm BD, and we have been able to slowly dig pieces out and cut through a lot of Styrofoam, but hopefully, that will change as we dig deeper. We are both excited to see what we can discover from our unit as we continue our excavations.

One Person's Trash is an Archaeologist's Treasure

Hello everyone, 

My name is Reid and I’m a senior anthropology major at Michigan State University, with a concentration in archaeology. I’m interested in historical archaeology in the United States between the 1850s and the 1950s, and I’m specifically interested in how the politics of memory affect the way our society does archaeology, conservation, and the presentation of information regarding sites that have experienced a genocide or other violent conflict. For me that means studying how the United States has processed the political conflicts before, during, and after the Civil War. I have also done field and lab work with MSU’s Campus Archaeology Program relating to 19th and 20th century trash on MSU campus. Through this work I’ve acquired a real fondness for trash and what it can tell us about people of the past. This study of trash, sometimes affectionately called “garbology”, is what this blog post is going to be about!

Most of you probably know in 2019 the FSJAP confirmed that part of the Fort St. Joseph site is situated under a 20th century landfill. This information was gleaned from the excavation of several 1 x 1 m units placed in two trenches that were dug by removing landfill items. In both Trenches 1 and 2, where the field school is excavating this summer, we have been working on clearing several centimeters of landfill debris in order to get to the 18th century occupation level. While the FSJAP isn’t focusing on this trash, I wanted to share a couple of artifacts that have been identified in the landfill deposits with everyone because I think that they’re deeply humanizing.

The first artifact is a Gravy Master bottle. Gravy Master was established in 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression by the Dryden & Palmer Rock Candy Company. It was conceived as a concentrated browning and flavoring agent that was affordable and easy to store-- important considerations during an era where most households were looking for a way to cut. Its popularity during WWII rationing was also a testament to the product’s ability to make difficult meals more palatable. Because Gravy Master contains no meat or meat byproducts, it was marketed to Catholics who had given up meat for Lent! The Gravy Master bottle found around 20 centimeters below the surface level in unit N18 E29 provides a little snapshot into a kitchen in Niles circa the 1930s/1940s.

The second artifact is a milk glass (opaque white glass) cosmetic jar that most likely dates from the second half of the 1930s or the early 1940s. During this time period milk glass jars were most commonly used for cosmetics like cold cream. A woman from Niles might have incorporated this jar into her daily skincare routine. This jar is a relic of quiet, domestic moments that are often not recorded in historical records. 

Here, archaeology, and specifically garbology, can provide a connection to the mundane, human history. Next time you’re in the bathroom look around at the containers for the different products you have on your sink, your counter, or in your cabinet. In a couple of decades someone might be as excited about your toothpaste tube as I am about this cosmetic jar and glass bottle. We all create history and archaeology every day, and I think that’s beautiful.

Works Cited

“Gravy Master Advertisement.” The Gallery of Graphic Design, gogd.tjs-labs.com/gallery-view.php?keyword=GRAVY. Accessed 16 July 2021.

“Gravy Master Lent Advertisement.” The Gallery of Graphic Design, gogd.tjs-labs.com/gallery-view.php?keyword=GRAVY. Accessed 16 July 2021.

“Our Pioneers.” Gravy Master, 2021, gravymaster.com/pages/about. 

Discussing My Time at FSJ

Hi everyone,

My name is Alec Kaminski, and I wanted to tell you about my experiences at Fort St. Joseph in a video blog. I wrote down a few questions that I wanted to reflect on and asked Lucy to interview me so I could share my thoughts. For my next video blog, I will go a little more in depth about what I am learning from the artifacts we are finding!