by Sarah Coffey

Field blog for 8/21 and 8/23

For this semester’s Field School class, we are hoping to find the sites of the houses occupied by people living around Fort Tombecbe during the French and Spanish habitation, as well as any features left by those pre-existing houses or middens left by the houses occupants. We are beginning the semester by performing shovel tests in different areas around what remains of the Fort’s perimeter. This week, we began on the South-West side of the Fort to begin our first batch of shovel tests.

Before we can shovel test, however, we have to lay out our transects (long, straight lines) to make our grid. We are laying out as large of a grid as possible since we are going laying out our transects to the North and West, which mostly has not been shovel tested. Shovel tests are initial tests to see if there are any artifacts in the area being surveyed. To improve the likelihood of finding more artifacts over a wider area, we broke up our area into 10 meter squares, which means we have to lay out more gridlines, or transects. Once we finish laying out these transects, we will carefully dig a hole to a depth no more than 30 centimeters to survey for artifacts in each grid square.

On Tuesday, we started out at the Fort by working on our pace for measuring out 1 meter distances. After figuring out the best way to measure 1 meter distances over an extended distance, we found the datum we will be using in the first area to the South-West of the Fort. The datum is the point used to base all of our measurements from, whether it be to lay out our transects to form our grid, or to record where artifacts were found in the area being surveyed.

Using the datum, we measured 50 meters due North, placing flag markers every 10 meters. Afterwards, we measured 50 meters due West, placing flag markers every 10 meters. We checked these two measurements by measuring the hypotenuse from the North marker to the West marker. The needed distance was 42.42 meters. We measured 41.52 meters, which was almost a meter short.

Dr. Dumas showed us the best way to plot a square of any needed size by measuring 1 meter from the datum to the North, placing a marker, placing the tape at the North marker and measuring out the same 1 meter distance, then measuring out 1.414 meters on the tape placed at the datum and overlaying the two and placing a marker. To find the last marker, we placed the tape at the North-West marker and measured 1 meter South, then placed the tape at the North marker and measured out 1.414 meters and overlaid the two tapes.

As we were packing up to leave for the day, Sparky got the compass tangled on the strap of his backpack and needed help getting it off his backpack. It took almost five minutes before he decided to work on it as we drove back to campus. Poor Sparky.

On Thursday, we worked to lay out more of the grid we started on Tuesday. The gridline running due West from the datum was labelled Transect 1. After double checking that gridline and the one were measured due North from the datum, we laid out Transect 2, which started at the 10 meter marker due North of the datum, and were able to measure out and mark a total of 130 meters due West before the end of the day.

After we got back in the van to head back to campus, I found nymphs on my shoe – I had stepped in a tick nest. And later while I was spray my shoes and backpack, I got locked out of my dorm and had to wait for the RA to let me in. Thursday wasn’t my day at all.