by Ashley Dumas

It's unusual that we're able to excavate at Fort Tombecbe twice in less than two years, but a good cohort of Anthropology minors at UWA needed the field school course, and, frankly, I need to get out of the classroom to feel like an archaeologist. We will be at the fort every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon until mid-December. Each of the students will be contributing a blog post for the next few months, and we hope you will enjoy their observations and musings. You can look forward to hearing reports from Sarah Coffey (Chemistry comprehensive, forensic track,major), Michael Hornsby (History), Daniel Rhodes (History), and Connor Sparks (History). 

Our objectives this season are to complete the shovel testing of every parcel of land owned by UWA and The Archaeological Conservancy. All of the land has been inspected and collections made from the surface, and portions have been shovel tested during previous field schools. Shovel testing involves digging a small hole at regular intervals across the land; screening the soil for any artifacts; and then mapping the results on a map. A piece of land where shovel tests yield artifacts is likely the site of past human activity. At Fort Tombecbe, we are looking for evidence of activities such as gardening or trading or the construction of houses. Historic records indicate that a Choctaw village relocated, presumably from the west near the heart of Choctaw homeland, to near the fort in the early 1740's. One record suggests that the village was "within musket shot" of the fort, which could be as close as 300 yards. Another possible find are small, individual homesteads, where European soldiers from the fort or traders might have had a Choctaw wife and children. Construction styles and artifacts could tell us much about how this cultural contact worked. It is doubtful that we will have time to excavate any such finds, but knowing where they are will make for exciting future research. 

We hope you'll keep up  with our regular weekly posts and photos. As always, we'd love to have you visit the site. Just make an appointment by contacting me directly.