Marshalltown Cage Match

By Gabriel Hrynick 

“This was my first Marshalltown trowel,” he said. “You know what an archeologist’s first Marshalltown is like? Like a major leaguer’s first Wilson glove. I dug at Pecos with this trowel, under A. V. Kidder. And at Aztec Ruin with Earl Morris. And at Kincaid with Fay-Cooper Cole. And at Lindenmeier with Frank Roberts. Son, this trowel’s been at Snaketown, and Angel Mound, and at the Dalles of the Columbia with Luther Cressman.” Kent Flannery’s Old Timer in “The Golden Marshalltown” 

Archaeologists use a variety of tools, some of which are homemade and many of which are borrowed from various trades. Carpentry tape measures and line levels, surveying instruments, some quarter inch wire mesh tacked to a wooden frame, and so on. But as Matt says, “a trowel is like a Jedi’s lightsaber” . An ordinary Marshalltown pointing trowel, the same kind used by masons, is slightly sharpened with a flat file, and then used by archaeologists to shave thin layers of soil in a controlled manner. 

This year at E’se’get, we have a new type of Marshalltown, to supplement our older Archaeological Survey of Canada trowels and personal trowels. The new Marshalltowns have Duragrip plastic and rubber handles, an “upgrade” from the traditional wood handles. Archaeologists tend to wear their callouses as badges of honour, and we are uncertain of how this new type of trowel will perform. Thus, we’ve decided to commence the First Annual Marshalltown Cage Match. What kind of trowel will emerge victorious? Only time and hours of scraping will tell…For now, we’re still undecided on which trowel is superior, but we’ll keep you posted as our impressions progress. For now, here is a photo showcasing some of the variety in trowels. 

By Gabriel Hrynick 

A selection of Marshalltown trowels. In the foreground is the standard 4.5 inch pointing trowel. In the middle is the new upstart with duragrip handle. In the the background a 5 inch trowel.

CANADA DAY ARCHAEOLOGY

Just a short post today, as the crew and I need to get cleaned up to head into Liverpool for Canada Day pizza. Today was our first day digging, and it was a productive one.

We removed the sod from the units over the main midden at AlDf-30 (Midden A), and immediately encountered large quantities of broken clam shell and excellently preserved mammal, fish, and bird bone.

Gabe carefully excavates the first layers of his unit. The structure of the midden can be seen in the exposed profile, which was created by a looter's trench several years ago.

Shortly thereafter, we began to find artifacts, including stone tools, stone flakes, and a significant amount of fragmented pottery. We carefully measure and described the location of all of these artifacts using our grid system as a reference. Without that information, the artifacts themselves can tell us very little about the history of the site.  It’s a painstaking process, but the only way to produce a comprehensive record.

As demonstrated by Gabe and Natalie, the majority of archaeological work involves note taking, not digging.

Tip of a chert biface found by Natalie in Midden Level 2.

A fragment of decorated pottery recovered by Gabe in Midden Level 2.

All in all, it was a very promising first day of digging, and something well worth celebrating with pizza and root beer.

THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT SQUARE

The weather has been beautiful over the last few days, and we’ve made the most of it. On Tuesday, we began the process of creating a 1-metre grid system over the AlDf-24 site, the main target of our excavations. Archaeologists use these grids to precisely document the location of artifacts, features, and architecture in three dimensions. It’s absolutely essential that they are accurate to within a few millimeters.

During the morning we had good success locating the edges and corners of test pits that we had excavated in 2008 and 2009, and set up our digital transit over the north east peg. The base lines went in perfectly straight and all was well, or so we thought.

Feeling confident, we set up our transit over the next peg to begin setting our next line.  This is where frustration set in. For some reason, when we double-checked the position of our pegs, some were off by up to two centimeters!  Something was seriously wrong, and we spent far too much time double-checking the position of all of our pegs. Finally, we realized the peg over which we had positioned our transit was the one that was off – by about half a centimeter (errors compound when setting up grid units).  We repositioned this peg, and finished gridding both areas of the site easily.

Part of the grid system on Midden A at AlDf-24.

Today we spent the morning with archaeologists from the Nova Scotia Museum. We took them to sites we intend to excavate, as well as others excavated in the 1950’s by John Erskine. In the afternoon we went to the AlDf-30 site, where we created another grid over the midden and what we hope is a house feature. This went much better, as we were very careful to ensure our baselines were accurately positioned.  

AlDf-30 is a beautiful site located deep in the forest, covered by sarsaparilla and ringed by large trees that provide a dappled light. What a shell midden site like this it is doing so far back in the forest is a mystery we hope to solve.

Kneeling in the sarsaparilla on AlDf-30.

Having constructed our grid systems, we are now ready to start excavating. Tomorrow (yes, we work on holidays!) we break ground at AlDf-30. Perhaps we’ll celebrate Canada Day with a frosty root beer – the perfect reward after another hot day amongst the sarsaparilla.

FIRST NIGHT AND FIRST DAY

I flew into Fredericton at midday on Sunday, and was kindly met by Dr. David Black, who drove me to pick up our rental van. It is a sleek black model that is far too shiny and clean for its intended use .

Our van. It doesn’t know what it’s in for…

Our gear all fit into the van (see previous post), but only just.  This is a real problem, because it seems we now have very limited space to bring our animal bones and midden samples back to Fredericton. Last year, we filled six large boxes of this material. This year we should have much more – by an order of magnitude. This is an issue I need to get sorted before we leave Port Joli, but for now I’ll just worry about getting the material out of the ground.

Otherwise, the drive to Port Joli was uneventful (all seven hours of it). We arrived at the Harrison Lewis Centre just before sundown and had enough time to pack our things in our cabins, which are very comfortable. In fact, I’ve even set up a little office space in my cabin, where I’ll be posting to the blog for the rest of the summer.  

My field office...

Today we woke early, unpacked the van, had a quick breakfast, and then left for Thomas Raddall Provincial Park, where we had a meeting to discuss final preparations for the public portion of the dig (more on that in later posts).

Later, we drove to Liverpool and picked up groceries – following an order from our cook, Laurie, for our crew of 11.

Gabe and Natalie smile at all the goodies in the carts.

My archaeological army will march on its stomach. We started our march tonight with homemade lasagna donated by my mother (as we passed through Halifax last night), and amazing garlic bread made by Natalie and Gabe.

PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY

One of the major goals of the E’se’get Project is to integrate local communities into the field work process and communicate the results in an immediate manner. This year we’ve developed a comprehensive program to engage local communities in the research.

Over the last three years I’ve developed a relationship with Acadia First Nation (AFN), who has now become a major partner in the project. This year we are collaborating to offer a field school for Mi’kmaw high school students, who will spend a week digging side-by-side with us. At the same time, the students will learn camping skills at Thomas Raddall Provincial Park and take part in cultural activities organized by AFN.

Discussing the archaeology of Port Joli with a local group in 2008.

I’ve also been asked to take part in AFN’s Kepabskitk Gathering, which will take place at the Queens County Museum on July 4^th. This year’s theme is “Heritage through our people”.  This is the perfect forum to speak with community members about the archaeology of Port Joli, and I’m thrilled to be part of such a unique cultural event.  

The Department of Natural Resources also continues to be a major collaborator. This year we are pooling our resources to provide an opportunity for local residents, tourists, and heritage groups to see an archaeological dig first-hand. Details on the public program will be posted here shortly: http://www.novascotiaparks.ca/parks/thraddall.asp. If you are in the South Shore Region in July, please come and see the dig for yourselves!

If you can’t make it in person, there is always this blog.  It will be written from multiple perspectives, with students, crew, and others contributing their thoughts and experiences.

In sum, I’m delighted by the level of community involvement in the project this year. Often archaeologists go silently about their work, sharing their discoveries and interpretations only with fellow scholars.  But here we have a real opportunity to directly engage local people as we excavate the site. There is no more immediate way to pass along information – and the sense of excitement and discovery that motivates archaeologists to head into the field year after year.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS DON’T PACK LIGHT

I’ve spent the last six weeks acquiring everything needed for the field project and on Friday I finally shipped it all to Fredericton. All together it weighed less than five hundred pounds, which was a happy surprise considering the size of the pile it made.

Included are our hand tools, screens, mapping instruments, notebooks, forms, camping equipment, and the hundreds of other items crucial to an archaeological dig. Out of all of it, I’m especially fond of the pots and pans, which I found amongst some old field gear when I first moved into my office.  They’re enameled with a delightful pink floral pattern – which probably explains why they were never used.  

The pile of field equipment outside of my office (the pots and pans are carefully hidden on the left).

Despite the size of the pile, this isn’t everything I’ll need. I’m borrowing shovels, screens, buckets and other tools from the University of New Brunswick and I have even more equipment stored in Halifax from previous field seasons. I hope it will all fit in the van I’m renting…

Gear packed and ready for shipping.

The moment your gear leaves for the field is always a relief; in this case it represents the culmination of more than a year of planning. At the same time, it comes with inevitable doubts. What did I forget? Did I choose the right tools for the project? Do I have enough tents for students? Will the crew all laugh at my pots and pans?

Over the next few weeks, I’ll answer all of these questions and more on this blog. Though I think we all know the answer to the last one.