Field school comes to an end for another year

Every week students involved in the archaeological excavation will be submitting their own account as to how things are going. Readers will have an opportunity to follow along as they unearth pieces of history. 

Ryan Jevons 

Field school has come to a close. The course was long, sometimes tiring, but incredibly fun and a great experience. I, along with my classmates, became Archaeologists by the end of the field season. We had experience in setting up quads, using the equipment, and using the finest tools to brush the dirt gently off artifacts without destroying them.

I myself have found several objects of great interest, such as a core for stone tool production, and my colleagues found other objects of great interest ranging from the stone tools themselves to posts in the ground.

I find myself missing the field school already, and I do wish I could have my experience in digging before I move on, but after just the one field season I feel much more confidant and secure as an archaeologist thanks to the knowledge that Dr. Walde imparted to me.

The field season was an experience I wouldn’t want to miss, and it was a fantastic way to spend the first part of my summer.

Gina Carroll

When you ask a child “what do you want to be when you grow up?” you aren’t just asking them a generic question…you are asking them to tell you their hopes and dreams, asking them not WHAT they want to be, but WHO they want to be. 

I remember being asked this question plenty of times as a child, and my answer rings as true then as it does now. I want to be an archaeologist. I want to peer into the past and bring people, cultures, and traditions back to life, making my place in the world by making sure the people who laid the foundation for everything we are, aren’t forgotten. 

Fortunately for me, the 2011 field school run by Dr. Walde and his T.A Lance Evans has given me the opportunity to live my dream, and the skills to pursue it into the future.  The past six weeks have taught me more than I could have ever imagined, and it’s something I am truly sad to have finished.

Luckily for me, I fully intend to take the skills I’ve learned out in the field and in the classroom and create my own little niche as a professional archaeologist sometime in the near future. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll hear from me again.

Kaelyn Michayluk

By the time the last week of field school rolled around I didn’t want it to end. This has been an incredible experience and definitely affirmed that I am studying the right thing. Once I learned the excavation techniques and became comfortable with them it was exciting to focus simply on uncovering the artifacts and features. From when we started to the end of the dig we had uncovered a large area and it was really something to see the different features appearing. 

A couple units had very prominent hearth features, which Dr. Walde explained are rare in the shape and prominence of those found at the Cluny site. I would encourage the public to visit Blackfoot Crossing and head down to the Archaeology site when it is field season. Making the connection between the knowledge and displays at the interpretive centre and what is happening at the site is pretty incredible!