http://bhoffman.edublogs.org Archaeology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:25:32 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I've decided to move my blogging over to WordPress. My decision to move is partly because of the advertisement that (occasionally) appears on Edublogs. Also it looks like I've nearly used up all the storage space that Edublogs provide for their free blogs. I'm keeping the "Old Dirt - New Thoughts" ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2009/03/30/switching-to-wordpress/ 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, ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2008/12/05/lab-class-projects/ Art is one of the more exciting finds in archaeology and one of the more challenging materials to interpret. Our excavations at Aniakchak have produced a small, but intriguing assemblage of artwork and decorated objects. One of my favorite artifacts from our last field season is this small face. It is ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2008/11/19/aniakchak-art-the-bone-face/ I apologize for the long delay in posting to this blog. I had a very overdue report I needed to write for the BIA. The good news is that the report is now in their hands, so I'm back to blogging. Over the next week I plan to post on Aniakchak ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2008/10/29/im-back/ The field phase of our Methodist church excavation is officially done. Yesterday, Hamline's Grounds Services hauled back all our excavated dirt and filled in our trench. No backfilling by hand for us. My students will never truly appreciate their luck in missing this traditional part of archaeology. We are now in ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/20/church-archaeology-the-lab-phase/ St. Paul weather at 3:53 PM (Overcast 37 °F / 3 °C) Today's cold weather was well timed. No one in the class seemed disappointed to finish the excavations on a day when the blustery north winds made it feel almost like winter. Personally I ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/07/a-cold-end-to-the-church-dig/ Stained glass shards found along the church foundation. We're finding a lot of small shards of colored glass. We believe these are from the rose windows. The interesting aspect is the diversity of colors - mostly greens and yellows, but also blue and amber colors. I just held them up ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/11/01/sunlight-after-80-years-of-darkness/ Slowly, very slowly, the church ruin is coming into focus. After six weeks of digging (well, really we've worked about 45 hours on site) we are starting to see the scene of what remained in 1926 after the demolition work. We see sections of wall pushed over and bricks strewn ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/10/26/a-bit-of-glass-a-burned-brick-signs-of-the-fire/ Wow, what a beautiful fall day! Plenty of sunshine and plenty of wind. The leaves were swirling around us and filling the pits as we dug. It felt really good to be outside doing archaeology on a day like today. We continue to uncover more of the foundation. It has emerged ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/10/23/an-emerging-foundation/ One of last week's highlights was being joined in our excavation by some fifty 6th graders from Hancock Elementary school. It was a great experience to work side by side with such enthusiastic kids. As expected, we found some nails, ceramics, clinker, bricks, and lots of worms. The only glitch in ... http://bhoffman.edublogs.org/2007/10/17/digging-with-6th-graders/