Alexandra Saumure
From the beginning to the end, roots and rocks were both our friends and foe. At our first site BcGn-23, my group was tasked with finding one of the corners of the house located there. It took us a few days to finally reach it as rocks and roots were stopping us at every corner and a mulchy layer made it difficult to dig with shovels. Our handy dandy trowels came to the rescue those days.
I later got tasked with helping August and Sophie excavate the summer kitchen. My favourite finds were located under an old tree stump. What we thought was gonna be the bane of our existence turned out to be a guardian of treasures. Directly underneath it, we found what is believed to be the round piece to a stove top. Its roots were also covering groups of ceramic sherds which were fun to excavate.
At the BcGn-15 site, Amelie and I were excavating a pit that was directly next to a tree and we fought tooth and nail to get through those roots. This pit did not hold many treasures but those found are precious due to the hard work to get to them. There was also some Stage 2 survey work to be done nearby and by any means necessary where we were tasked with getting past the large rocks.
These mundane objects ended up teaching me a lot about excavating and a variety of tools. To get through rocks, a good sturdy mattock or pickaxe works wonders to lift or break; however in a Stage 2 pit, a pointed, sharpened shovel with brute force will be your best friend. If there is no way to get past the rock, digging around it with a trowel was the way to go. Roots on the other hand had a variety of tools that could be used. Typically a shovel is able to go through most roots although once a stubborn foe is met, the root cutters or even better yet the hatchet is used. The pickaxe could also be used on stumps if necessary.
My most proud achievement was during primary analysis which consisted of sorting and bagging the artifacts by material type. I sorted and counted over 500 ceramic sherds and over 400 nails in one context.
I will however have to say that the best part of this whole experience is the friends I made along the way.
Honourable Mentions
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