No tags yet.
This archaeological field school at Kawailoa was our group’s first encounter at experiencing what a typical archaeological dig would consist of. Our group focused on excavation. Excavating can be a tedious exercise, but the artifacts that we found on actual field were enough to excite us. Archaeologists excavate sites when they are threatened by destruction, development, or when the important information they seek cannot be found any other way.
So how do archaeologists excavate sites? There are a few steps one must go through:
Make a plan
Set out a grid
Excavate
Identify/document artifacts
We had to have a clear plan before we put our shovels into the ground, as this makes everything much more clear to those who will be going over our research later on. After the planning, we set out a grid and carefully map all points, scanning vertically and horizontally. This gives us an idea of the spatial relationship of artifacts and features have to one another. Archaeologists use shovels, trowels, spoons, whiskbrooms, and dental picks to carefully remove the unit soil. We specifically used trowels and whiskbrooms, and pans to excavate at Kawailoa. All soil and sediment that is removed from the unit while it is being excavated is carefully sifted through as well. It is very important to keep your eye out for small artifacts during the entire process. If we find something we place it very carefully into plastic bags and label them with all necessary information such as site number, excavation unit and level number, feature number, and date.
There were days when we baked under the scorching sun digging our perfectly triangulated units, and other days when we trekked through thick 6 feet tall California grass surveying for more features of our site. On top of all this adventuring into the brush, we came across old ranching barbed wire fences that were laid atop of pre-contact, ancient Hawaiian walls. We came across so many walls that we gained a sharp eye for whether the wall was pre-contact or historic. The well-structured stacking or disordered piling of the rocks that formed the walls provided us with big hints. When we did venture to a pre-contact wall, we created profile and plan view sketches by carefully taking measurements of rocks in order to sketch the rocks accurately on our documentation forms. This field school has provided all of us with tremendous experience and unforgettable memories. We have all come to gain a greater perspective of Hawaiian culture and traditions and its importance in building a suitable archaeological record of Kawailoa.
