1. THE PROCESS OF ARCHAEOLOGY BY MRS. CATHY RYBA

2. THE SITE The site is located in southwestern Wisconsin. It is on the upper terrace of a farm. It was once farmed, but now it is a horse pasture. Many artifacts have been found on the farm including a mastodon ulna bone and many points.

3. Tool Kit These are the items that are needed when you do a field study. Can you tell why each item is needed?

4. Tool Kit Contents Can you identify each of the items in the tool kit?

5. Other Tools Here Connie brings out other tools needed at the dig site. You see buckets, scoops and shovels.

6. Making a grid at the site The site needs a grid map so that all the excavation can be mapped. Once the site has two starting points, the site gets flagged every 5 meters. Pythagorean's Theory gets used to make sure everything is square.

7. Previous Excavations This site was excavated for 3 weeks last year. They opened up two areas, and identified some pit features that date to the Oneota culture. These features were opened up for further excavation.

8. Getting Started Before you can begin excavating, you need to make sure your tools are ready. A sharp shovel makes the work easier. Here Le Vern is sharpening a shovel with a file.

9. Start Digging With a sharpened shovel, you start taking off the topsoil. You only go down the depth of the shovel blade so you don’t disturb the soil underneath.

10. Skim Shoveling Once the topsoil is off, you skim shovel until you get to the bottom of the plow zone. It is recognizable by the lighter color of the sterile soil.

11. What Are You Looking For? Once you get below the plow zone, you look for changes in color of the soil. Here you see a dark area in the soil. That is called a feature.

12. Soil Probe To check a feature, you could use a soil probe to check what is below the surface. You push it into the area, and look to see if the feature goes below the surface.

13. Mapping Once a feature has been identified, it has to be mapped on the site map.

14. Datum Line After a feature is identified, a datum line is strung. It is from this line that all measurements will be taken. The line is made level with a miniature level and then a measurement would be taken.

15. Zones in Feature Once the feature is defined, there may be different zones. Zone A could have the dark stain or color of the feature. Zone B would be around Zone A. Each zone would be mapped on the feature map using distances from the datum line.

16. Matrix Sample You start to excavate with a trowel. First you need to take a sample of the soil from each zone. It is placed in a large plastic bag with all the provenience written on the bag This matrix sample gets taken back to the lab for further processing.

17. Levels You excavate 5 cm. below the datum line for each level. With a trowel, you skim the surface and scoop the soil into a bucket until you get a level surface.

18. Sifting Screens The soil from the bucket gets screened for any artifacts. Those artifacts get bagged and the provenience written on them.

19. Artifacts Once an artifact is found, you need to be very careful. If possible, the artifact should be keep in place or left in situ. The entire level should be removed. This will tell if there are any other artifacts that could help tell the story of what happened there.

20. Paperwork Once the feature has a level complete, you need to fill out the paperwork for what was found at that level. A new plot map is made of the level indicating where all the artifacts are. The Munsell Color chart is used to describe the soil.

21. Picture A picture is taken at the bottom of each level. The sign board shows the provenience. The arrow shows where true north is located.

22. What Next? At the end of the day, everything gets covered in case of rain and to not let the soil dry out. The next day…..

23. Back to the Beginning The whole process starts over again, taking up where you left off.

24. ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM FIELD EXPERIENCE-2005

25. Note: This PowerPoint presentation was created by a teacher participating in an ESEA Title II grant-funded project for use in the teachers' classrooms. It reflects the individual’s experience at a particular site and is not intended to accurately reflect what happens on all archaeological investigations around the country or world. The teacher participated in professional development activities provided by: Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center University of Wisconsin - La Crosse 1725 State Street La Crosse, WI 54601 Web site: http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/ http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/ All material Copyright © 2000-2005 Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse