Makayla Turner
Working at BcGn-15 has been an incredible experience. I was part of the group that got to work on a unit that had already been partially excavated, OA8. This unit has been a wild ride of walls, debris, some incredible artifacts, and many little critters. While this unit was complicated, it was incredibly fun to work on. Every day, I would look at our unit, amazed at how much we were able to uncover.
This unit was the home to a snake, a mouse, a few spiders (that I was very much not a fan of), and a little toad. Apart from all the little critters, this unit had a lot of really interesting artifacts. Including a variety of pig bones, lots of shingles, and a very special gold signet ring with ‘all my love’ inscribed on the inside. The ring was an especially exciting find. It was in the southeast corner of our unit where I had been digging, and as the dirt from that bucket was sifted, the ring was found! Now whenever someone asks if I’ve ever found gold, I can tell them I have. Next is a dinosaur bone, and it’ll cover what everyone asks about when I say I’m doing archaeology.
This whole experience has genuinely been incredible. Being able to actually work in the field and not just sit through lectures has really helped me realize that this is something I can see myself making a career out of. There was a lot more mapping than I had anticipated, though it gets easier the more you do it. Even the day when we did a stage 2 field test, while there were a lot of holes that had to be dug, and we were in poison ivy (I was the only one to end up getting the rash), it can still be fun. I feel like I learned more from this than I ever could just sitting in a classroom, and I got to connect with more people in my program. I will look back on this experience with fond memories (minus the poison ivy and spiders).
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