 | | Archaeology Group at Farm |
 | | City Of Geneva on Lake Seneca |
For My Archaeological Field School I went upstate to the New York Finger Lakes Region, Specifically the City of Geneva on Seneca lake (See First Picture). This course lasted 6 weeks and consisted of set-up, geophysical surveying, digging, labwork, and research paper; This experience added up to a Columbia Course of 4 credits.
We lived in the city and commuted 5 minuites to a farm, our archaeological site. Above is a Group picture. Our group consisted (From Left to right) of Mara, Kurt the Crew Chief, Olivia, Wallis, Vera, Heather (Second-in-command), and Myself.
We were trying to find archaeological remains of habitation structures from The Seneca Tribe, one of the Five Iroquois Nations. To see one type of Indian house, one weekend we visited a reconstructed Indian Longhouse, see picture below!
 | | Archaeology Group at Longhouse |
OUR PROCEDURE:
We began by using Geophysical Surveys. (Running remote sensing instruments over the ground to try and get a picture of what is under the soil.) These data from this survey are interpreted, and areas of interest are chosen. These are tested by a Core sample (1 inch diameter sample of soil, going as deep as we could go). Next, if this showed any interesting soil changes we opened the area up into a 1 foot diameter "Shovel Test" which went down to a sufficient depth to see if the area did have any "FEATURES" (Term for archaological remains that "can't be carried away" if it can be taken, its an "ARTIFACT")
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| BOB |
Data |
Maggie |
Shovel Test |
B.O.B.= "Big Orange Bastard" an annoying instrument, the "Conductivity meter" which measures soil conductivity- That's Mara holding it.
Next is a snapshot of me recording the Data from an instrument.
The small pict is of Olivia with "maggie" the Magnetometer which measures relative magnetic fields in the soil and surrounding area.
The last picture is of a finished Shovel Test.
Shovel tests with possible features were further opened up into the "Archaeological Standard Test Unit", a 1 meter by 1 meter square hole, dug carefully in stratigraphic layers with a Trowel.
Here are two pictures of such "Units"
The first picture is me proudly sitting on my first unit.
The second Shows an "official" archeological photo of a certain layer within "Test Unit Two" The plaque spells out the location of the unit and its depth, the trowel or tape measure ALWAYS points north in archeological pictures.
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My First Unit |
Test Unit Two |
FIELD SHOTS
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| Kurt and Heather |
Set-Up T.U.#2 |
Set-Up T.U.#5 |
These pictures Illustrate the FLAVOR of the archaeology field school, a monotonous field edged on two sides by woods, in the first picture you see Heather and Kurt sitting on a folding chair and a bucket, recording data and talking about what to do next. in the second shot, Dr Nan Rothschild is helping Charlotte, Olivia, and Wallis set up their Test Unit (Its bottom at 43 Centimeters Below Surface (CMBS) is shown in the "Test Unit Two" Picture above) and lastly, another unit is being set up, this time with Kurt, Heather, and Vera. On the right side you can see one of the types of screens we used to sift dirt and find artifacts as we dug.
Niagara Falls and Canada Trip
- For fun one weekend, Mara took Myself, Olivia, Wallis, and Heather on a roadtrip in her white Saab, affectionately known as "Snowy".
 | | Us At Niagara Falls |
- First we went up to Lake Ontario, then Fort Niagara, and finally The FALLS, here's a Pic!
- Next we took off across the border around 6pm smuggling many illegal possessions and no-one but me carrying a passport =)
- In Canada, we drove to Toronto and Parked, by 8:30 pm we were in Chinatown proper, illegible signs abounded, but we sat ourselves at a vietnamese restaurant and dug into delicious food!!! By the time we left, we saw the cook pulling the last live fish out of his fish tank, and realized it was someone's dinner: poor fish.
- We got to a hotel and it was full, we had not booked a room so we called for 1/2 hour to every 800 number in the phone book, all hotels were full... Oops!
- So we hopped in her car at 11:30pm and drove out of the city, there was a HUGE traffic jam (WHY oh WHY?) and we didn;t leave the city until we were out of Gas and it was 12:45am...
 | | Canadian Hostel ! |
- After driving an hour back toward the states and checking every roadside bed & breakfast and inn, we gave up and decided we had two choices, 1)Drive all night back home or 2) Sleep on the roadside.
- at 2:30 am we ended up across the street from a sewage treatment plant, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and slept there! Here's a picture of our "campsite"
 | | Canadian Border |
- The next morning after sufficient sleep (4 or 5 hours) we went to McDonalds to brush our teeth, wash up, and eat a healthy breakfast...
- And while the rest went to Niagara falls caves, I gambled at Canadian-side Niagara casino!!! Of course I lost but had fun and someday I'll be back, oh yes... someday those blackjack tables will be mine!! Muhahahahah!!!
- So I walked back across the border and told the border guard when prompted "Where did you spend the night" .... "In a PARK!!" she looked askew and let me through!!
The End
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| Taughannoch Falls |
"Checkers" |
- WE CAME, WE SAW, WE DUG....
- The first picture depicts another beautiful gorge and waterfall we visited. The second shows Wallis and Heather digging a checkerboard pattern of Test Units to reveal an entire feature, which brings me to the results of our survey and dig:
- Inasmuch as we dug, we found practically NOTHING, Our most common find was chert chips which are possible flakes from arrowheads. After all our Test Units in the field, only one was opened to more units, this is depicted above, and what we found was a nonconclusive dark soil layer.
 | | Ash Deposit |
- We did, however, go into the woods a lot during this field school. we set up a grid of transect, cut by machete and clippers along North/South and East/West grid. We did surveying, which was mostly inconclusive wth the exception of some metal detecion hits which revealed shotgun shot, old barbed wire, and a few older iron piecesof differing age and origin. The best finds were within our many SHOVEL TESTS dug at ten-meter intervals within these woods-transects. We found many with ash, charcoal, or both. This hints at the possiblility that the wood floor is relatively undisturbed and Indian Hearths and such may be found here through further excavation.
In the picture, you can see ash in the shovel test wall, circled in red.
Any comments? Please Email Me At: sam@samoppenheim.
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