Excavating to Answer Research Questions

Hi everyone, 

    My name is Emma Maher and I am a junior at WMU majoring in anthropology and minoring in public history. Over the past few weeks my partner Hollie and I have been excavating our unit, located at N10 E3. We have been finding many exciting artifacts such as lead shot, various types of beads, window and bottle glass, nails, wampum, pipe stems, an upholstery tack, part of a stone pipe bowl, and lots and lots of bones.

 

You might think we just got lucky to be finding these things, but in reality, choosing where to start digging is a decision that requires some careful thought. When we were all looking at where to place our units, we had to consider where past units were and what they found as well as consider what specific question we wanted to answer. While many of our fellow students were interested in finding the boundaries of the site to help answer the question of how far Fort St Joseph extends, Hollie and I were interested in the previously located Feature 27, a fireplace. We want to see how far the fireplace extends and whether there is in fact another structure around it. 

    In 2018, the units N9 E0 and N9 E2 were opened in order to explore Feature 27. So far, the artifacts that Hollie and I found are consistent with those that were previously found in these units. While they were able to expose even more of Feature 27 and make a reasonable assumption that it represents another structure (Structure 6), there are still many unanswered questions about this area of the site. We hope to be able to find archaeological evidence to provide more information about this area and what it was used for, including further evidence of Structure 6.

Stay tuned for more updates! 

Emma