What an Archaeologist Does...

  Hubby is an archaeologist.  Generally those that have archaeology for a profession love it as a hobby as well (as do us historians/genealogists!) so our home is filled with rocks and books ;) One question we always get is what does an archaeologist do?  Well, since I was given the rare opportunity to actually get out into the field with hubby this last week, I'll give you a tour :)
  Archaeologists deal with past people.  Hubby went to school for an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and then a Master's degree in Archaeology.  We often get the question about if we've found any dinosaur bones - nope!  As much as we love our fossils, paleontologists deal with dinos - us, just essentially people's discarded things which become artifacts and clues to how people lived.

Some copper artifacts

Archaeology is separated into 1)locations and 2) time periods.  For instance, Hubby is a Plains archaeologist - he deals with the ancient Native American tribes of the Great Plains.  You can get some similarities with how the ancients did things all over, but archaeologists generally tend to stick to one geographic area.  There is also historic vs. prehistoric archaeology.  Historic in the New World is pretty much anything after European contact and Prehistoric anything before that.  Many archaeologists have field experience in both prehistoric and historic digs, but specialize in one or the other.
  So you ask, how do we know where to dig?  Well, all archaeologists are born with a certain sense of where to find these things... Not buying that?  Lol, well, they do it one of two ways... They know from reading historic documents or via oral tradition where a site was located (which is how we knew where the site was that we just finished up on).  For the prehistoric digs, Native Americans chose places with surroundings that provided shelter/protection and water and so if you know what to look for you can give a good educated guess on where to start looking and if you find some surface artifacts, you've found a site. Now don't just go digging up places.  Archaeology is a science that essentially destroys the site when it is uncovering it, so there are certain things that the professionals do to ensure that all the information that can be gained is recorded fully.

  If there is a site, it needs to be recorded with the state.  That way the state knows what historic resources are out there and where they are located.  Then when the archaeologist has done his/her research and has a plan the dig can begin!  But we don't just take a shovel and start digging, this is not Indiana Jones (in fact, he's a bad example - do not be Indiana Jones!). 

Our site that we worked on had each of us professionals digging in 1x1 meter square units that we gridded out ahead of time.  We chose some areas that looked promising for giving us some insight into what was going on underground and after we took the sod off we dug with trowels (Shorty wanted to try his hand, so I let him take a turn at my trowel).  The units are dug in levels (usually 10 centimeters at a time) so you can keep track of what you are finding and where.  At the end of a level then you get to draw a map of what the bottom of your level looks like.

But, you might miss something when you're digging.  Even though you're cutting through that dirt with a little trowel.  So, most often you screen all the dirt you take out of it too!  And because every artifact can hold a clue, you want to grab those too.  Can you see what I missed in my dirt?  As an archaeologist, you need good eyes - I missed 2 nails and a piece of window glass :)

  Then when you are done with your level, have all your artifacts you pack them away in a bag labeled with where you found them and how deep.  Then if your dirt is giving you clues that tell you there's more to be discovered in your unit, you go down another level!  When your time is done you map the entire site with what has been uncovered so that the head archaeologist can go back and analyze the findings. Then you carefully cover it back up so that if someone needs to come back and investigate more they can.

  Have someone in your family that is interested in archaeology?  Many states have amateur programs that offer an opportunity for a volunteer dig every year.  Hubby and I got our start with the one here in Kansas.  We have also been a part of the one in Texas (which had a great educational program aimed at kids!).  Project Archaeology is also a great resource for teaching. 

The Return of a Great Adventure: Kansas Archaeology Training Program

  It has been a couple of years since our family has had the opportunity to be involved with an archaeological excavation.  Hubby made it a point this year to add the KATP (Kansas Archaeology Training Program) dig to our calendar.  The KATP was where I met Hubby and where he received his first training preparing him to be an archaeologist so it holds a special place in our hearts.  It has been years since we've been able to attend, so it was a great chance to dive back in and reconnect with old buddies and make new friends.

  Hubby and Bubby went out shortly after the dig started.  The excavation was of a prehistoric Native American site that was about 1000 years old located near Hays, Kansas.  The dig is powered by volunteers and you can be as young as 10 (with a supervising adult).  It is a great way to "dig" into archaeology and get a hands on appreciation of the past. 
  The boys found a wonderful variety of artifacts and significant features.  On some digs you might get a square that has absolutely nothing, so it is really encouraging for the younger folks if you have a site that gives them more than a chance to play in the dirt ;)

Bubby's first arrowpoint

Bubby standing by a bison jawbone he helped uncover

  One of Bubby's goals was to use this to gain his Archaeology merit badge for Boy Scouts.  To do this he not only worked at the site, but cleaned and sorted artifacts in the lab.  The lab often gets overlooked since it doesn't seem as glamorous as digging, but it's a great way to see all the cool artifacts coming in and view them sans dirt!
  The KATP is held on a yearly basis generally around the first part of June.  This is its 40th year in Kansas.  I highly recommend it for a visit or to get involved in first hand!

Museum Crawl

  Field Trip Friday resumed today.  We were able to narrow our field of choices because we were going to pick up Daddy from the Kansas City Airport in the afternoon.  I found out that St. Joseph, MO had a "museum crawl" in August through mid-September so since we were looking at making a couple of trips in the near future to that part of the world we decided to join in!
  Our FTF companions Ducky and Gigi joined in the fun.  Boy am I glad that my folks are both retired and can come along!  It sure makes for twice the fun!  For the Crawl, you need complete 10 stops and answer 2 questions at each stop and you earn a small prize.  Our first choice was the Pony Express National Museum.  It was wonderful!  They gave us our Crawl booklets and a little magnifying glass.  Since we said we were homeschooling, she also told us to make sure and pick up a teacher packet at the end.  The museum starts with a 14 minute video on the Pony Express.  Shorty sat for a little of it and then waited expectantly to "go see the horses".

They weave you through the history of the Express and the trails in general.  Excellent displays with extra sensory things thrown in like lightning and heat and sounds.  Our favorite part was the well.  It was one that they had found while excavating the land prior to the museum building.  There was a display showing what artifacts they had found, but the big thing was there was a hand pump attached to the well and it worked!  The kids could pump water and look through a window in the floor to see down the well.  We had to circle back to this area a couple of times;)

the well

  As children of an archaeologist they also enjoyed the area that showed the ground beneath our feet from the excavations.  Bubby had a ball finding all the artifacts left in situ.

  The museum was just chalked full of wonderful kid interactive things.  The play area was great!  Mookie & Shorty stayed there for quite a while.

  This museum was top notch!  I would go back in a heartbeat.  It wasn't that big, but it was so interesting and well laid out!
   We took a lunch break and there are two things of note: 1) do not go to the NE side of St. Joe and expect to easily get to the NW side - not happening.  2) the Chick Fil-A there is the friendliest and most helpful fast food place I have ever been to.  Everything was answered with a "its my pleasure" and I didn't even have to carry the high chair for Shorty or get our own straws.  They waited on us hand and foot!
  Since we couldn't get to our planned stop easily (the nature center, it looks fabulous btw), we went to the NW Missouri Genealogical Society which was also on the Crawl.  Free to get in and well, we could look up family stuff while were were there too!  This was a big kid stop for sure, Bubby & Mookie worked on their research skills by looking up items for the questions in their booklet, Gigi looked up one of my scandalous ggg-grandpa George's marriages (more on him later), and Shorty looked up at Ducky and told him he wanted to go outside and they went for a walk.

  It didn't take long before Mookie (my more active learner) went and joined them, while Bubby took joy in finding more historical gems in the collections at the library.
  Pretty soon we had to take off to grab Daddy, so we climbed in the car for another new adventure - the airport!  We were able to watch the planes come and go for a while and then jumped around excitedly when Daddy walked through the gates (I won't tell you how much of a spectacle we made of ourselves;) ).  The real thrill was the luggage carousel.  I think Shorty was waiting for one of the Toy Story characters to come up the chute.

  Who knows where next week will lead us.  The kids are campaigning heavily to go back to St. Joe.  The really sweet thing was that one of the stops gave us our "prize" for completion of the Crawl a little early since we didn't know if we'd get to do them all in time.  I've been to St. Joe numerous times for family history research and loved it each time, but this time it won my heart as a tourist:) <3 br="">

Not Quite Indiana Jones

   I don't think I've mentioned before, Hubby is an archaeologist.  The man can eat and sleep archaeology:)  There haven't been any Indiana Jones types of adventures yet, but he has had to dodge tornadoes and even be wary of bombs while doing survey on a military base.
  Every year for the past five years we have had a wonderful opportunity to go and work with his best buddies at a dig down in the panhandle of Texas for two weeks.  It is a field school that brings in about 25 students from all over the States and even Canada.  This year Hubby was in charge of an excavation called Eastview which was occupied approximately 650 years ago.  It's really cool because the houses burned and in addition to the other artifacts there are these large burnt timbers that used to be the frame of the house!

a corner of one of the houses at Eastview,
you can see the timbers have been circled by Hubby's trained eye

  Bubby spent several days out on site with dad.  He was so excited for the opportunity to do more digging this year, usually he's just helped with the water screening.

Bubby at the water screen

  Shorty wanted to "diggy" too, but he has to wait a while to get into the serious stuff.

When we weren't out helping or visiting dad, we took off to do some sightseeing.  Some old favorites like the Citadelle art museum in Canadian - the most cool and fun little art museum we've been to.  It is set up in an old church that a family turned into a home and then to an art museum.  Wonderful art inside and out. This year we took our annual Father's Day picture on the grounds.

We also had to visit the windmill museum in Spearman.  We went a couple of years ago and the kids loved it.  They were eager to show Shorty around this year:)  Sometime we're going to make it to the alligator farm that's in town too!

And a new one for us, the Mid-America museum in Liberal, Ks, which we really enjoyed.  It had some great hands on exhibits for the kids as well as a ton of planes!

We also just got to hang out at what is called the "lab house" where we get to stay when we're down there.  It was nice to do just every day stuff on such a long trip!

Shorty blowing bubbles

Mookie's fairy house she made

In the evenings there were some great hands on activities from atl atl spear throwing to flint knapping.

Bubby and the atl atl spears

Bubby wanted to try his hand at flintknapping (making tools) this year.  I grudgingly agreed.  They were working with obsidian, which is super sharp.  He did great though! Not one cut on his self!  I won't say anything about his magnetism to cacti.  I kid you not, the past 3 years in a row, but I didn't say a thing! ;)

This trip is always one we are so anxious for every year.  Getting to see our old buddies, making new friends, seeing new territory and having new learning experiences - just an invaluable experience!  Getting away for two weeks is kind of hard with kids (we're usually ready to be home), but we wouldn't trade it for the world!