Weekend Archaeology Pics

It's the weekend so I thought I'd share a picture or two from a site I worked on in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

     

     The first photo is of the field crew troweling down the floor of the main excavation block in order to get a "clean" surface examine for any possible prehistoric features. The archaeologist's trowel is sharpened, like a knife, in order to cut the soil. If it were dull, the delicate soil layers would smear together. 

     I have always valued the connection between archaeology and the community, and here we have two volunteers Ken Gayman and Carl Maurer. Both of these gentlemen are members of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Mon/Yough Chapter #3. Ken is clearing soil from around a stump's roots, before it can be removed. Carl is screening for artifacts.   

     In this photograph you can see two more members of the Mon/Yough Chapter #3 analyzing artifacts in our lab located in the Monongahela River, Railroad, and Steam Museum in Brownsville, PA. Don Rados and Jim Barno are analyzing each individual flake from the site above. We recovered more that 8,000 Native American artifacts and flakes from their tool production. 

Establishing a Site Grid

Hello Everyone,


     A question that I often get when people stop by and visit a site that I'm excavating is, "Why do you dig square holes?" I'll look around the site for a minute, observing all of the different squares in various forms of excavation and think to myself about how much archaeology is art, well designed art that is. "Imagine yourself standing on a giant sheet of graph paper", I explain. 
     So I will explain to the rest of you as well! In order that we know exactly where every artifact comes from when we excavate, it is important to keep control by strictly recording their position in the ground. Before an archaeological excavation, the most important tool in the archaeologist's tool box isn't a trowel or shovel, it is the datum point. The datum point is simply the starting point for the grid that will be laid out over the site, using a series of nails and string, to help us keep track of where those artifacts came from. 
     The datum point is arbitrary, we are archaeologist place it where we think we will get the most squares to excavate to cover a site. Often times, we use some type of survey equipment and a known point, say on the corner of something that isn't going to move, like a bridge, or USGS (United States Geologic Survey) Benchmark point and triangulate it into our site datum. 
     Once the site datum is established, I like to pound in a wooden stake or piece of metal re-bar, an archaeologist can start to think about his grid. Here in the US, we use the metric system for prehistoric sites, and the Imperial for historic sites (people build their houses and buildings here using feet and inches). The smallest square we can have for grid during a site excavation is 1-meter. I like to use the 2-meter square. So lets try to make a grid for a hypothetical site.


1) Establish a datum and give it a number denoting an X and Y axis.We are going to work in Northings and Eastings. So our datum will be, North 100 E100 represented as N100 E100.
2) On my grid, I use the South West corner of each square as the Unit Datum.
3) That means the next unit to the east is N100 E102 (Remember we are working in 2-meter units)
4) If we move north on our grid, it would be N102 E102
5) If we move south on our grid it would be  S102 E102    


Here is an example of a grid that we might use:

     So that was a quick lesson on setting up a grid for excavation! On a final not, we use large nails for the four corners of each square and attach string around it to make a neat square and as a digging guide. Here is an example showing surveyors pins marking the corners of a excavation test unit:

Have a great day folks! 

P.S. Grid map example was created with LibreCAD and Inkscape software.

Gas drilling threatens archaeological sites!

Image via Wikipedia An interview with Archaeology Dude (Marc Henshaw)
As taken from the Washington, Pennsylvania Observer-Reporter on 10/09/11:

As drilling expands, area archaeologists worry that historical sites will be undone

By Christie Campbell Staff writer chriscam@observer-reporter.com

As land is leveled, access roads built and impoundments created for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling sites, some fear that significant archaeological sites could be lost.

But archaeologists are on staff or accessible to local gas drillers and processors, who say the professionals assist in determining optimum places to drill or lay pipeline in order to avoid historical areas.

Because Pennsylvania laws do not require archaeological surveys for sites under 10 acres, natural gas drilling pads, which take up about 4 or 5 acres, are exempt.

That concerns archaeologists like Marc Henshaw, president of the Mon-Yough Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology in Brownsville. Natural gas extraction operations usually encompass multiple sites such as drilling pads, staging areas and water impoundments, and the acreage is not added together.

Henshaw, who also operates a private survey company, has undertaken archaeological studies prior to the construction of roads, shopping centers and cellular towers but has yet to receive a call from a gas extraction company.

That could be because archaeologists are employed by the industry. Mike Mackin, communications manager for Range Resources, said the company's archaeologist combs through state records and databases to determine if an area has significant archaeological importance before determining where to locate a drill site.

"Which would we rather do, stop a pipeline and notify the (Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission) or do it on the front end, pick a clear spot, and go?" asked Robert McHale, manager of environmental regulatory affairs for MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources. The company has an archaeologist who reviews preliminary pipeline routes. Environmental inspectors can be found on job sites but, noting that pipelines often are going through agricultural lands that have been tilled over many times, McHale said finding something is "on the low end."

But Henshaw fears there may be thousands of archaeological and historical sites that have not been recorded with the PHMC. The chapter has been working on recording sites in Greene County and over a period of 50 years has identified 296 of them.

Speaking for the Marcellus Shale Coalition in Southpointe, Travis Windle said that if an artifact is found, the industry is required to notify the Bureau of Historic Preservation, which has 180 days to complete a site excavation.

Henshaw was part of a survey of a Monongahela People site discovered in 1997 when construction of the Strabane Square shopping center began. The village dated to 1400 A.D., and two burials were found at the site.

Archaeological teams from Indiana University of Pennsylvania studied the site, and developers even relocated two stores in order that the entire site could be left intact. Today, it lies buried under the center's parking lot, thus further preserving it, Henshaw said.

The chapter is not opposed to gas drilling, said Henshaw, but wants it done safely, lawfully and with care to minimize impacts to archaeological sites.

According to Howard Pollman, spokesman with the PHMC, the 10-acre rule is the result of a policy agreement between the commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection when much land across Pennsylvania was being developed in the 1990s.

"People think it's an exemption for Marcellus Shale, and it's not," he said. It does not apply to sites on the National Register of Historic Places or a project receiving federal funds.

Although the PHMC is not a regulatory body, it does make recommendations for property owners wishing to lease their land for gas drilling, advising them to require gas developers to protect historic resources. It also calls on drilling companies to check with local historical societies or a county planning office for maps of known historic sites or cemeteries.

Doug McLearen, PHMC's division chief of archaeology and protection, acknowledged that as the number of Marcellus Shale projects increase, there is a greater probability that a significant site could be impacted.

That possibility concerns history buffs like Carl Maurer, the archaeology society chapter's vice president, whose eyes light up when he talks about digs he's been on. If sites are destroyed, the knowledge and the motivation to learn more could be gone forever, he said.

"In 50 years, students may want access to something, and it won't be there," he said. "We don't even know what we're losing."

Related articles

• PA Fracking Fluid Blowout Sparks Outrage: Citizens Join Marcellus Shale Oil and Gas Litigation Group in Demanding Temporary Drilling Moratorium (prweb.com)

The Angel Site

Hi everyone! Our adventure is just starting into the realm of archaeology. For those of you following me on Twitter, I've already said that 90% of all archaeology takes place not excavating, but doing research in libraries, archives, and historical societies. However, in the late spring, that ground has thawed from a long winter, and the smell of fieldwork is in the air!

Today I visited the Father Angel Site where a very good friend of mine is conducting a field school to teach budding anthropology and criminal justice majors the art of archaeological excavation. The field school is a joint collaboration between California University of Pennsylvania and West Virginia University where students from both schools get the opportunity to get some "hands" on training.
The first video in this series is an interview with Dr. John Nass from California University of Pennsylvania who is one of the lead instructors on the Father Angel Site. As he explains, the Father Angel Site may be one of a variety (or combination) of site types. In Pennsylvania, archaeological sites are submitted by people (land owners, amateur archaeologists, contract firms) to the state on a very specific form known as a PASS Form (Pennsylvania Site Survey Form). On this form Dr. Nass tells us, the site has been described as possibly Late Prehistoric earthwork.


Paleo-Indian Period (10,000 to c. 8,000 BC)
Early, Middle, and Late Archaic Periods (8,000 to 1,000 BC)
Terminal Archaic Period (2,000-1,000 BC)
Early, Middle and Late Woodland Periods (1,000 BC- AD 1,000/1050)
Late Prehistoric Period (A.D. 1000-1580)-possibly the Father Angel Site!


There is also a rumor of speculation the site maybe a French and Indian War encampment or a settler's fort from the 1770's. The great thing about archaeology is that every site is a mystery waiting to be unraveled.
Why is the Late Prehistoric important? There are several reasons, the first one being that the Monongahela Indians that occupied the Monongahela River Valley never directly made contact with white European settlers. As one can see from the dates, the Late Prehistoric extends well into the contact period after 1492 AD (when Columbus sailed the ocean blue...). It is possible to find European trade goods such as beads, copper, wampum, glass, and ceramics that point to a complex trade network where European goods passed from one native group to another. The second important feature of the Late Prehistoric is the migrations and incursions of native groups into areas where they traditionally had not moved before. During this time period, Monongahela people's villages become larger, and heavily fortified with the addition of palisade walls, perhaps to protect them and their lands from pressures exerted by other Native American peoples moving into their territory.

I urge everyone to watch the video, it is the first in a series that highlights archaeological survey and the equipment that archaeologists use in the field. The Father Angel Site is important in piecing together the prehistory of southwestern Pennsylvania, and helping to give voice to those Native Americans that time has muted.