Lab Class Projects
Stacy and Tamara identifying shellfish.
The students in my lab class are pushing hard to finish their projects. They’re all working on materials from Aniakchak – mostly the 2007 collections. They’re producing the first real data from these materials. I have students analyzing shellfish, mammal bones, chipped stone waste flakes, chipped stone tools, and bone tools. Other students are working on the catalog data and illustrations. It’s my favorite part of the class. I have 16 research assistants – all generating data and addressing questions. It’s a blast.
They’ll be posting the results of their studies on the Aniakchak Wiki. Check it out and see what they have to say. I’ve been telling this class that they have to do better than the 2006 class – analyzing larger samples, 
creating more stunning graphics, and writing better reports. The Aniakchak Wiki will have both the 2006 and 2008 reports, so everyone will be able to see if this year’s class really does ‘kick butt’ on the 2006 class as they claim.
CS Tool Group – Matthew, Josh, and Emily
What I’m most curious to learn from this year’s analyses are some of the differences between occupations at Aniakchak. This year’s class is focusing on a single 1 x 1 meter excavation (N462E455) that produced almost 2 meters of cultural deposits. The upper component started with a Koniag house floor (Strat II). Immediately below this floor was a thick midden deposit (Strat III) that probably dates to about 1200 years ago. About 80 cm below this midden is a very rich deposit (Strat VIII) that included a lot of shell midden, micro debitage, and burned bone. It looks this deposit could include a house floor or similar context. This deep deposit produced some fiber tempered ceramic sherds, suggesting a Norton tradition occupation dating around 1700 years old. Another 20 to 50 cms below the Norton component is another relatively rich deposit. This basal component had spongy wood preserved and a scattered midden. We haven’t dated this component, but it may predate the Norton component by a couple of hundred years.
I’m excited to see what the students have to say about these different components. It’s sometimes hard to tell anything when we’re digging. There is just so much blue mussel shell and fish bone that it’s hard to pick up any other patterns. This is why I always get pumped up when we get to this stage in the lab work. After hours and hours of sorting and cataloging, we’re finally going to find out what we have discovered.
