Student Blog — The Hidden Treasures of a Peterborough Field School 

Emily Moquin

When I first thought of historical archaeology, I thought that it consisted of long hours of careful work for the payout of some old, rusty nails and bits of ceramic.  I was not wrong.  I had thought that this meant that the Peterborough Field School course would not be terribly interesting.  Here, I was wrong.  Little did I know that my experience here in Peterborough would lead me to discover hidden treasures.

Amélie, Me, David, Taryn, and Cameron at BcGn-23 OA1b

Day one of the field school brought the first hidden treasure – community.  Although I did not know it yet, soon I would find that the twenty or so people jammed in the small, windowless classroom in which we began our field school, were people I would look forward to seeing and working with each day! 

Taryn and I in the OA1b unit

From working with different people in learning how to do field work, to just relaxing and talking during lunch, I found that the community at field school was one to be treasured.  The days have been full of laughter-filled work and breaks as well as fascinating discussions.  With the engaging teaching styles of James and Kate and the support and comradery of my classmates; learning new skills, such as digging units, sifting dirt, drawing and recording information on site, and setting up and using field instruments was both enjoyable and achievable.

Me (Emily) in the OA1b unit
BcGn-23 Operation Area 1b

Day four of the field school brought the second hidden treasure – learning that I enjoy field work.  I began day four by learning to set up a total station.  Although extremely skeptical that I would enjoy the task and nervous that I would not be able to learn how to use the field instruments well, I soon found myself adjusting comfortably to the work. 

I laughed along with Teagan and Taryn as we attempted to correctly lay out a 5×5 unit with the theodolite.  At first, our unit was off by nearly ten centimetres, but this only drove us to work more carefully.  The next unit we did was nearly exactly correct!  After this, we began digging a 1×1 unit at the BcGn-23 site. 

BcGn-23 1×1 Unit

As I sifted through buckets of dirt that Teagan and Taryn filled, I thought, this has got to be the most monotonous part of archaeological field work, and I love it!  It was then that I discovered that I had completely underestimated the Peterborough field school course, as well as historical archaeology in general. 

Xander and I at our 1×2 unit at BcGn-15
BcGn-15 1×2 Unit

We are now in week three of the 2024 field school, and I have only come to enjoy field work and the group of people I am working with more.  I have learned exciting new skills and have had so many interesting conversations.  I am truly thankful that I gave the “boring” field school a chance!

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