Archaeology School

In college I took an elective in archaeology (the things one takes classes in as a history major in a liberal arts college). Over the ensuing decades that one class has stayed with me more than anything else I took, including history (major) and French (minor) classes. A different path might have taken me to archaeology school. I have a friend who after earning a law degree went on to earn a masters degree in archaeology. That's more of a commitment than I want to make.

As our season at Newlin Grist Mill in West Chester, PA was coming to a close last November, Keith offered a 10-week archaeology class taught on Wednesday mornings at the mill. Every Wednesday from January 8-March 19 (except when there was bad weather), we gathered to learn about archaeology at a very high level. Topics included: paperwork, soil basics, dating techniques, faunal, reporting, artifacts, glass, and internet resources. We even visited two archaeology labs: one at Newlin Grist Mill and the other at West Chester University. The university trip left me with a major case of envy--I wished I could travel back in time and take the path of becoming an archaeologist.

The plan was we would have class for two hours, then dig for a couple of hours. This winter's weather only cooperated the last two weeks. My drive time seemed to increase each week, from an hour fifteen to an hour forty-five some weeks. I really have to plan it will be an hour and a half each week, and make sure I have half a tank of gas before I leave home.

The class was very well organized, and much more fun than I ever anticipated. They are a great group of people. On our last week we enfolded another woman, who is younger than I am. 

For me the highlight of the class was when we went on a field trip to West Chester University's Anthropology Department. Department chair Dr. Heather Wholey showed off their bright, spacious lab filled with gadgets from an electronic Munsell book to a lit microscope that connects to a laptop to ground penetrating equipment to a new database and more! I kept thinking these students are being spoiled and they won't understand that until they are in the field on an underfunded project. The room had space for 32 students with two sinks for messy artifacts, and two sinks for neater reasons. Keith noted there were no chairs near the sinks, likely because they are being used by youngsters and not old people like us. The room had plenty of storage in a variety of sizes (draws and shelves), and lots of outlets. That day they were cataloging a collection of hats that were recently donated to WCU and entering the data into Catalogue It!, their new database. I would do that for free! 

They use their old Munsell books to help identify pottery colors. They also have 32
Mac laptops, and 32 PC laptops with archaeology software loaded on them. Students often use their own laptops. On the low tech side, they have a sandbox they use to line up pottery as the glue is drying.

Items are washed, then they air dry over two days. Back on the dig site in Israel, our pottery dried in a couple of hours.

WCU's anthropology department offers classes in cultural, biological, and linguistical fields. There are cases in the hallway with some of their more exciting finds.

The librarian in me loved hearing about what happens after the artifacts are found -- especially the cataloging process.  

We also visited the field lab at Newlin Grist Mill. Let's just say it is less shiny. It has furniture that was rescued from dumpsters, and many artifacts that still need to be processed. Keith is a full-time site manager, but only spends one day a week on archaeology and lately much of that time has been taken up by our weekly class.

Our class was featured in the Newlin Grist Mill newsletter. Our celebration culminated in volunteering at the March Public Archaeology Day where we were each more confident talking to the 88 visitors, including many young children. We have more answers than we had before the class, but Keith is still there to answer the ones we don't know. 

Our last class was spent applying what we learned in STPs (Shovel Test Pits). The four STPs were conducted near the archive building, each 10 feet apart, to get a sample of what lies underground to determine if it is safe to bury fiberoptic lines. More time, and perhaps we would have dug the whole line, but we did enough to determine there are no features (a collection of objects and/or soils which were caused by human activity but cannot be removed intact from the soil -- think stairs, or a wall, or post hole). We divided ourselves into two teams and worked on this for about 90 minutes after the last class. Then Keith worked with us to properly fill out the paperwork about soil levels and other information -- in other words, a real life example to use as our "final exam."

Keith estimates over the 11 years they have been holding public archaeology days, we have saved Newlin Grist Mill about $290,000 in manual labor. It is nice when you can quantify the benefit provided by volunteers.