Cameron Boyd
On May 12th, Avery, Maddy, Falon and I were assigned to survey the forested area of BcGn-15 and document artifact deposits with flagging tape and historical feature recording forms. As we walked through the forest, we discovered numerous artifacts scattered across the ground, such as cans, glass bottles, unrecognizable metal and much more. The most notable artifacts were the two abandoned vehicles, both fairly damaged from the vegetation and decaying.
One of these vehicles had a small metal plaque still attached to the front, which caught my attention immediately. Although the car was severely damaged and eroded, the inscription was still decipherable. This plaque reads, “Caution it is impossible to drain heater unit when draining remainder of cooling system – under freezing conditions bluecol antifreeze must be used”. During lunch, I was able to do some research on this plaque, and using a website called detailenthusiast.ca, I discovered that this plaque was associated with Smith heaters on British made cars.
It is clear that this forested area was utilized as an informal dumping ground; this is clear from the spread of the variety of artifacts. The presence of these cars raises numerous questions. Were they intentionally dumped here, or were they abandoned after their owners passed away? The deteriorating condition of both the cars indicates the passage of time and reveals that these vehicles have been sitting in this forest for a long period of time. These cars served as a reminder that archaeology can include relatively recent artifacts that still provide significant information about past human behaviour. The discovery of these vehicles added a very exciting aspect to our surveying of the forest and was the highlight of the field school.
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