Month: August 2022

Field Work || Part 5 – Research

Posted on by Theo Chiang

Although tabbing was the extent of our participation in the archaeological process, we were exposed to further research that took place utilizing the work we did. On Wednesday evening, Dr. King gave a presentation discussing discoveries in the Late Woodland study as well as work he conducted based on sites such as the German Site. The presentation was themed with a curious salmon-pink gradient with the white outlines of a flamingo-looking bird lined up in a strip across the screen. We later learned that this bird was a Floridian Roseate Spoonbill which represented a very notable discovery made regarding the Late Woodland period. After giving introductory information on the structural characteristics of Jersey Bluff Era mounds and discussing the Cahokians' ideas regarding the construction of the universe, Dr. King discussed how despite the bird being native to a region across North America, it was still very present in Cahokia’s culture, being represented on pottery and being present in a grave site.

Another peculiar artifact Dr. King discussed was a smoke pipe depicting a raven “speaking” to a human, with the speech being represented as a thin line that spiraled down to a man’s head. Through discoveries such as these, archaeologists have been able to theorize and piece together the cultural thoughts, practices, economic systems, and religion of the indigenous people.

I think the presentation was immensely helpful in allowing us to realize how our work plays a part in a larger academic organization through which we can theorize and understand past cultures. It was also inspiring to see the research archaeology majors had conducted in pursuing their own interests.

Field Work || Part 4 – Bagging

Posted on by Theo Chiang

The purpose of flotation discussed in the last post is to ensure that all items in a volume of soil are recovered. However, larger objects can also be directly picked from the ground and go directly to tabbing. Throughout this whole process, tags from the site are very carefully handled to ensure that the context of any artifact is retained. This is especially true during the process of tabbing.

Laboratory work consisted of tabbing, a process wherein the resulting pieces of floted soil bags are sorted. At the Center for American Archaeology Field School, students would perform tabbing nearly every day at varying times. The artifacts we bagged were relatively similar to the ones that we excavated. Many items we were given were, in fact, from the German Site.

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The 18 of us high school students were divided into groups of 3-4, each of which tackled bags of varying types. Each bag usually contained small limestone pieces, pebbles, flakes, cultural shatter, and bones. Some bags were unique. One of the most fascinating piece plots examined by a group was a miniature stone human figure showing clearly defined facial features. Many groups also found the vertebrae and teeth of predatory Mississippian fish. Once the contents of each bag were separated into piles determined by the type of artifact, each category had to be accompanied by a tag with contextual information including status, name of excavators, date, unit number (ie: sq 602-301), site name (German Site was 11C377), and specific comments. Once tags are given, groups of artifacts are put into bags based on their status number. For example, because flakes and cultural shatter have the same id number of 300, they belong in the same bag, though they are separated within the bag. I found the process of tabbing very fulfilling because we were given genuine specimens to examine hands-on and up close in ways not available elsewhere. Once artifacts are tabbed, they are boxed and stored for analysis in a lab by an archaeologist.

Field Work || Part 3 – Flotation

Posted on by Theo Chiang

On Tuesday, field students belonging to my group of units went to a separate location to filter out flote bags. In the flotation facility, there was one room of shelves full of flote bags tagged with information, one room where paperwork was done, and an outside area where two pits of water served as the flotation stations. Two groups cycled between flotation and documentation. The paperwork consisted of checking in flote bags and artifact trays.

In our group of three, one of us would do paperwork at a time, which entailed recording every action performed in the flotation facility. The other two students would grab artifact trays from the shelf that contained the dried remains of flotation. These trays would include two products from flotation — a cheesecloth bag containing fine botanical samples and a newspaper with hard artifacts — both of which needed to be prepared for tabbing.

Although this system was difficult initially, it only took about twenty minutes for us to become reasonably efficient.

The flotation station outside consisted of two barrels of water with a pipe leading excess muddy water down a ramp towards a creek. We would first remove the information tags from the flote bags, then pour the contents of the bag into a metal container with a filter screen on the bottom. When placed into the water, loose mud from the artifacts would sink through the screen while larger artifacts would stay in the container. Stray plant samples from the flote bags would float to the top of the barrel, where it was led out of the barrel into a basket. The basket held a cheesecloth that would only trap small sediments and botanical samples. Once dirt and mud were removed from the container, the container would be removed and its contents would be poured on a newspaper into a tray where the cheesecloth would also be placed. This tray would be placed on the shelf inside where it would dry and then be bagged for tabbing. Overall, I enjoyed this flotation process and discovering what items could be found in each flote bag. It was also enjoyable to learn and work with new peers.