Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Pictures and Video
First day on the preserve 6-16-10
Throughout the day, everyone enjoyed our opportunities to see the wildlife. We were lucky and witnessed a herd of mother and baby Tule Elk running up a hillside. There were over or around 50, according to Jessica who was able to count them in the picture she took. There were so many, but I think the highlights were the coyote, Tule Elk, the deer, and all the cute rabbits. We left later than planned; I believe just a bit after 5pm. It was nice to be back and be able to shower!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Magnetic Poetry
Friday and Saturday part of the group journeyed to Yosemite Nation Park. We spent Friday night at Anna's house(Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Antoniou- we loved the fruit!) and then went to the park Saturday. Our first stop was at the Mariposa grove, The Giant Sequoia Trees
After seeing the trees, we headed down to the Yosemite Valley, ate lunch, went on a small hike, and played in a refreshing water fall. Then we went up to Glacier Point and enjoyed the spectacular views Yosemite had to offer.
Sunday was our last day on site. We finished up the units and back filled them. We worked on some auguring, which Anna really enjoyed. Some topography was also done. Finally, we packed up all of our gear and left site.
The rest of the week has been spent doing post-ex work. We have had several intersting lectures on different aspects of archaeology. We worked on a lot lithics analysis. We learned how to do flotation. We visited the Oil Museum and Lake View Gusher Num 1!
Thursday, the group returned once more, to Wind Wolves to say goodbye to everyone there and and visit a few sites . We saw several sites that had previously been excavated and also a site that will be excavated next year. We also returned to one of our sites where we picked up the last of our gear and discussed what we would like to have accomplished next year. Then we headed out of the preserve stopping by a cool historic house, Dorothy's house.
This week has also included a lot of fun recreational activities! Including: bowling, multiple trips to Jolly Cone (our favourite local ice cream shop!), a Bakersfield Blaze game, and of course, lots of board games!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Fraser's Olde Towne British Trail Mix Shoppe
We finished at our first site on Wednesday. The last days included a lot of landscape work: mapping with the total station, augering, and just thinking about the areas we'd covered. All of us have learned how the total station operates and used it to survey in points from the excavation and of the topography. The augering (which has become a very popular activity) showed that the slope opposite to the excavation is made of a silty clay, whereas our test pits were in a sandy silt area. The augering has been helpful practice for distinguishing among sediment types.
On Tuesday we visited Carrizo Plain and the Painted Rock pictograph site. The site has been open to the public for a long time as evidenced by the names and dates engraved on the rock formation and in many cases over the pictographs; a lot of the images are also eroded from wear. It's a good site for thinking about reasons for protecting rock art sites. Even though it's disappointing to see the pictographs covered over and worn away like that, the range of modern graffiti over the formation attests to the connections that many other people have formed with the site. And of course it's more than just disappointing to a lot of contemporary Native Americans who value that place, but the BLM has to balance those concerns with the use and availability of public land.
Anyway, we also saw a rock with a lot of BRMs.
More recently, we have been working at a quarry site that might help to answer some other questions about the rock art sites--but more on that to come in a later post.
OTHER UPDATES
We still haven't found the Lakeview Gusher.
But we did do some haircuts!
GREG'S TIP OF THE DAY
You should never breathe dirt, no matter what kind of diseases are in it.
Bonus tip! Don't pile rocks next to your unit.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A Touch of Class... Out of the Wilds and into Society
(left to right) Wendy, Bryan, Jessica, Fraser, David, Greg
Jack, Gale, Dawn, Christina, Anna, Julie
The Getty Villa Gardens
The trip ended with a 7 hour excursion home which included a planned tripped to the beach and and unplanned detour home through the Mojave.
Our Route Home!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
A Week of Research.
I am excited to get back out in the field and continue the archaeology that we have been preforming at Wind Wolves. I also look forward to excavating the pigment site!!
So far my favourite part of the excavation has been the discovery of lithics and manuports. The idea that peoples from hundreds to thousands of years ago manipulated and touched these objects constantly excites me. This is the main motivation and excitment that spurns me forward in my desire to broaden my education in archaeology of the southern portion of the San Jaoquin Valley.
Written By: Bryan