From the Field to the Lab: UTC Archaeology Field School Part 2
by Sidney McCarty, Americorps VISTA, National Park Partners
Throughout the recent semester the archeology field school at UTC, along with Dr. Morgan Smith, have been conducting a cultural resource assessment at Chickamauga Battlefield. As the semester came to a close, NPP met up with Dr. Smith and his team once again for updates on the assessment and a peek into the analysis taking place in UTC’s archeology lab.
When NPP last wrote about UTC’s field school students were still in the shovel testing phase, a process through which holes are dug throughout the site to a predetermined depth in order to preliminarily check for significant artifacts. Since then, the Field School’s cultural resource assessment has progressed far beyond its early stages. If you’re interested in learning more about the early stages of this process, check out our previous blog, “Uncovering The Past: UTC’s Archaeology Field School in the National Park.”
Dr. Morgan Smith, UTC assistant professor of Anthropology in the Department of Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies, operates Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) equipment at Brotherton Field at Chickamuaga Battlefield.
Shovel testing having been completed, the field school quickly moved on to metal detection. According to Dr. Smith, this process is often more immediately rewarding for the students than the shovel testing, as artifacts accumulate more rapidly and efficiently. While still continuing the process of metal detection across the field, in the final weeks students also began to conduct searches by ground-penetrating radar. Ground-penetrating radar operates by emitting a frequency that rocks through the ground and reveals any large objects or abnormalities. Students conduct this search by pushing the radar on a small cart and monitoring the output screen for disturbances in the wave formation. Access to this sort of equipment is difficult to come by at the undergraduate level, and experience in GPR is extremely valuable to students as they graduate and enter the workforce, as GPR is utilized in a number of fields, from archeology to farming.
As the field school students began to finish up their work at Brotherton Field, NPP visited their lab back at UTC to learn more about the process of conserving, analyzing, and storing the artifacts. UTC’s archeology lab is a wide room covered in binders and projects being completed as the semester comes to an end. Shelves and cabinets line the perimeter, and as students filed in for their weekly lab they visited these cabinets in order to grab bags with artifacts to be cleaned, relabeled, and analyzed. As students began cleaning the larger debris from materials picked up at Chickamauga Battlefield, the chatter was amicable.
UTC Anthropology student, Jacob Smith, sits in the University’s archaeology lab to help examine and process material gathered during Archaeology field school at the Chickamauga Battlefield.
According to the students, lab work is an excellent time to relax into the routine of conservation, allowing time for a closer look at artifacts they worked so hard to uncover in the field. After brushing the artifacts and allowing them to dry, many are introduced to an electrolysis bath to clean and prevent rusting. From there, analysis and charting can begin, leaving a clear record of where each object was found and what its origins might be.
As exams loomed over the students in the following weeks, talk turned to the future the students were imagining, planning for themselves. A few discussed graduate school options, pointing out that they would have more of a chance to specialize after undergrad. Others looked forward to beginning work in a lab or in the field, doing cultural resource assessments like the one they worked on for CCNMP.
Regardless of their hopeful path, it's clear that Dr. Smith’s field school, and collaboration with CCNMP will give them a head start in the work to come. Doubtless, as these future archeologists continue on their paths, National Park Partners will be watching and supporting the sort of work they’ve excellently done at their National Park.