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Full Name: Amelia Brownstein

UC email: brownsai@mail.uc.edu
College: McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Majors: Archaeology and History
Project: Thornton Abbey Archaeology Dig
Thematic Area: Research
Project Start Date: June 25, 2013
Project End Date: July 27, 2013


Part I - What?

In the spring of 2013 when I visited the University of Cincinnati, it was
suggested that I use my summer work at the Thornton Abbey Archaeology dig as
an honors experience. Upon the guidance of Andre Durham, I am submitting the
proposal and the completed reflection for the project at the same time. Enclosed
below are the answers to the questions in the proposal as the description of the
experience before the answers to the reflective essay prompt. Thank you for
accommodating these unusual circumstances so generously.

Abstract

The honors experience I undertook was a month long archaeological field
school at Thornton Abbey in northern Lincolnshire, England. There was
approximately twenty hours of planning, about one hour per day of reflecting
which is thirty hours total and volunteering on the site entails work on the site six
days a week for eight hours a day for a total of approximately 168 hours of work
in the field. The total time spent on this project was 212 hours, beyond what a
typical three-credit hours course would require (45 hours class time plus 90
hours studying time). Each day everyone working walks from the campsite to the
dig and is assigned to one of the four trenches for the day. Daily work varies, but
generally there is planning (documenting the features in the trench or
stratigraphic profile by drawing), excavation (working with a trowel or brush),
sieving (putting the dirt through a screen to catch small artifacts), artifact
processing (cleaning, cataloguing and packaging finds for analysis in a
laboratory) and survey (using magnetic resistivity, GIS or total station to
document finds or map the rest of the abbey grounds for further investigation).
Reflection during the project was a field journal that I wrote in daily. Part of the
purpose of going was to understand the differences between archaeology in the
US and archaeology in England. Previously all of my field experience has been
within the US and since my area of interest is in England, going on a dig there is
an important part of pursuing my personal goals. It is also a way to be directly
involved in the archaeology I want to pursue as my career and to make sure the
physical objects from this culture are interesting to me.


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Thematic Areas

Ability to identify and apply appropriate methodologies to design research study, and
collect and analyze data.
Ability to think beyond the just completed research and articulate how your worldview has
been impacted by the experience.

During the field school I learned techniques for different types of artifact
processing and how to collect basic data for artifact categorization. There were a
variety of excavation techniques depending on the trench. The method for
having a clean wall was different than how to excavate skeletons without
damaging them which was different again from excavating an area with a high
density of ecofacts. Different planning techniques were also employed
depending on the size of the trench and what needed to be documented.

Going on a dig in a different cultural setting from any of the other digs I
have worked. This experience showed me how the technique and style of
documentation changes in different geographic regions and different cultural
areas. The extreme density of a wide variety of cultural material on some
English digs means smaller tools are used and any artifacts outside of the
specific cultural context being studied are ignored or tossed aside. Whereas in
the United States, a Civil War era artifact is still carefully documented even if it is
on a Native American site. Extreme artifact density also means that
documentation is based on cultural markers or an abrupt change of usage as
opposed to the standard ten-centimeter levels for documentation in the United
States.

Expectations

Thornton Abbey met and exceeded some of my expectations but in other
ways it was slightly disappointing. The physical archaeology was absolutely
phenomenal; it is incredible to see artifacts and features that were last used in
the 14
th
and 15
th
centuries and to analyze how they may have been used. Many
of the graduate students who were working as trench supervisors were willing to
stop and explain more efficient digging techniques, feature patterns and answer
general questions thoroughly. Having an informed source for information was
invaluable to a curious person like me. One of the less thrilling aspects was that
the undergraduate students were not involved in some of the higher-level
analysis taking place by the site supervisors. On one of the trenches a graduate
student took the time to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to use the total
station, draw section profiles and enter information into the database but he was
the exception rather than the rule.




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Part II So What?

Initiative, Independence and Creativity

This was a unique opportunity to have four weeks of solid work experience
on a different kind of dig than is offered by the University of Cincinnati. The kind
of archaeology offered on this dig was dealing with a kind of culture that is not
found in the United States or South America. Volunteering on a dig is not four
weeks of touring with an occasional pause to scrape at some dirt. It was six days
of intensive work with one day to walk to the grocery store thirty minutes away for
peanut butter. These kinds of experiences test a persons devotion to the reality
of a profession, is this job worth wearing out a pair of shoes and two pairs of
pants while only having five minutes in the shower every two days? For me, it
proved to be worth all of the dirt and soreness from sleeping in a tent for four
straight weeks.

While on the dig I became curious about the way the total station was
being used on different trenches. After I asked some questions, one of the
graduate students taught me how to use the total station for artifact
documentation and showed me how on two of the trenches it was going to help
create a 3D model of the site with the artifacts at their actual elevations which will
help with later analysis and reconstruction of the site. On another trench it was
being used to create an extremely accurate diagram of the layout of the
skeletons in relation to each other as well as the rest of the site. I also was able
to see some of the Geographic Information System (GIS), Ground Penetrating
Radar (GPR) and resistivity surveys that they used to determine where to put the
trenches and where other areas of interest might be in the future.

Reflection

During the experience, I used a journal as a means of reflection. For
about one hour every day I reflected on the experience of the dig, how the
archaeology was different from my previous digs, the skills I had learned, the
strengths and weaknesses of the methods used and how this contributed to my
personal view of archaeology.

Excerpt from the journal.

06/29/13 Finished deturfing Trench J today and started shoveling off
topsoil. Stacking the turf blocks helps to better preserve the grass.
Bet the farmer is happy we will put the grass back in his sheep field.
Shoveling off the topsoil without sieving it is a little strange coming
off digs where every granule of dirt had to be checked for relevance.
Someone found a piece of pottery and showed it to Martin (trench
supervisor for Trench J) and he said, Its modern, 18
th
century and
threw it over his shoulder. The concept of the 1700s as modern is
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strange where that is some of the older historic archaeology in the
US. Then again the term historic archaeology means something
different here because they have sites going back to the 1000s that
are historic archaeology. The more specific the better, note to self,
this is medieval archaeology do not call it historic again.
The English people keep making fun of my giant trowel since they
all use 3 or 4 and I have my 5 one. It will wear down to size soon
enough. Everyone is excited to get down to a culturally relevant
layer because all we are finding are 17
th
and 18
th
century things.
There is so much stuff but it is not relevant to the work they are
doing so it gets put in a tray then thrown onto the spoil heap at the
end of the day, not even documented a little bit. Call for dinner, till
tomorrow.

Connections to Goals and Academic Theories

This experience helped me to narrow down my interests archaeologically,
which will narrow down choices of where to go to graduate school. It also
switched my second degree focus because in England the history is intertwined
with the archaeology. I have now changed my second major from geology to
history to make it more relevant for my future studies. My life goal is to get my
Ph.D. in archaeology and become a professor; so focusing my interest early with
field experiences allows me to have more experiences that will be relevant for my
career.

An idea that I wanted to explore with this dig was the cultural relativity of
discipline specific methods as well as the impact cultural norms and practices
can have on those same methods. Since degrees in England are specialized at
an earlier academic stage, it allows for undergraduates to get heavily involved in
their area as opposed to in the United States where specialization is often
delayed until graduate school. There is also the difference in which subjects are
closely related to archaeology. In the United States archaeology is under the
umbrella of anthropology and geology is a common secondary academic focus
because that is what is useful for prehistoric sites and artifact analysis. In
England unless you are specifically Paleolithic or Neolithic focused, history is the
subject that is closest to archaeology.

One of the main lessons that were hammered home over and over again
was If you do not ask then you shall not receive. There was a lot of information
and high-level analysis going on at this site but as an undergraduate the
assumption is that unless you ask questions incessantly you do not care enough
to want to be included. During the first week I was so nervous about being on a
new site and learning the dig norms that I did not ask about things that interested
me. The site directors had a copy of an architectural plan for the ruins of a
mansion they were looking for and I was fascinated by the comparisons they
were doing with the GPR and resistivity surveys to try to figure out exactly where
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this might be in the sheep field. My mistake was not asking to see the map or
any questions about it at all. I was too afraid they would think I was an
obnoxious American undergraduate so I lost an opportunity to see something
fascinating. Later in the dig a visiting archaeologist was taking clay samples all
around the site. He walked from one end of the abbey grounds to another with
his sampling tube, so I asked him why he was taking clay samples. By asking a
question I got a fifteen-minute explanation of how he fired clay samples and then
used a high powered scanning microscope to compare his samples with
potsherds (earthenware pieces from pottery) from the site to determine if they
were using local clay or trading for it. It was a marvelous new piece of
information for me and I only got it because I asked.

One of the ways this was a very different field experience than ones I have
participated in previously is the wide variety of dig techniques I learned simply by
going from trench to trench. Trench K had a high density of ecofacts that meant
double sieving the dirt, once through a normal sieve and once in the wet sieve
and flotation cylinder in order to catch more of the plant and animal material.
Trench L was about 55% wall because it was a two-meter square trench at the
corner of four rooms inside a house so there were always problems digging next
to someone. Trench M had a large number of bones, so the excavation needed
to be more delicate and more specialization of tasks. Trench J had three distinct
layers of the same building, each with a different focus. Documenting wall
placement and distribution of artifacts was extremely important because as the
stratigraphy grew more complicated, comparable walls from layer to layer were
off set from each other by half a meter or three quarters of a meter so for later
analysis it was important to know which was which.

Lessons Learned

An interesting realization was how complicated not just the field
organization but also the domestic organization of a dig this large. Creating a
daily rotation for cooking, dishes and cleaning to accommodate the 40 or so
undergraduates and volunteers as well as approximately 20 graduate students is
a daunting task. As a professor running a dig for your own research and
organizing three large trenches, one small trench and a survey team with the
domestic concerns on top of that is a rather incredible juggling act. The daily
domestic rotation was one of the more effective organizational tools, but that
same technique was not as effective in the field because it ate up time at the
beginning of every day reassigning people to trenches.

A rather strange experience was working on a dig where the trench is in
the middle of a farmers field with live animals around you all the time. It is not
the experience of being constantly around animals that was bothersome; it was
more the additional measures to keep the animals from disrupting the trench by
walking on it or using it as a giant litter box. The sheep were easier to deal with
than the cows, partially because they were smaller and ran away when you
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yelled and sprinted towards them. For the two trenches in the sheep field there
was orange construction fencing put up at the end of every day and any gifts left
had to be cleaned up while the tools were being brought to the trench. In the
cow field it was more difficult because they liked to roll on the turf wall and could
just push the construction fencing over to satisfy their curiosity about what the
giant dirt hole was for. It took a week to convince the farmer to put up and
electric fence, because that was the only way to keep them from collapsing the
trench edges and trampling the archaeology.

Challenges to overcome

Something I personally had to overcome was the amount of smoking and
drinking throughout the whole dig. I am adverse to cigarette smoke and
personally chose not to drink since I was technically of age in England. The
English people and older American students took up most of the communal
fridge with their various cases of beer and boxed wine. In the entire camp there
were three of us who sat together after dinner and did not partake in the copious
amounts of alcohol that were consumed. The biggest issue was that since more
than half the camp smoked, mostly hand rolled cigarettes, I could not sit in the
communal areas when people were socializing without coughing profusely and
having my eyes burn. I ended up finding one place to hide and read when my
tent was too hot to sit in so that it was more comfortable but it was still something
that had not occurred to me to prepare to deal with.

Prior Knowledge

Having some prior experience on archaeological digs and a casual
knowledge of English history contributed to my success on the Thornton Abbey
dig this past summer. In spite of my very general broad strokes previous English
history experience from the time period of the excavation, it was enough to give
me touch points for the context of the dissolution of the abbey. Having touch
points on an excavation is an important part of understanding the technological
context of the time. This can help a complete novice in a time period like I was at
this particular excavation to have a rough idea of the types of artifacts that are
important and those that might be less important.

Ethical Questions

One important lesson I learned on this dig was about how some
discoveries are best left to be reported at a later date. This entails following local
laws and regulations and making sure that law enforcement is informed of
anything exceptionally unusual. On digs that have a social media aspect where
the public is informed constantly of developments it is also sometimes prudent to
delay the release of information to ensure that nothing will be damaged by
curious locals or treasure hunters.

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Part III Now What?

Dissemination

I have scheduled to present my experience to my Gateway to University
Honors class on XXXX. One of my goals is to inform other students about the
diverse experiences that can be counted as an Honors Experience. A second
goal is to help students understand that it is possible to get an experience as a
freshman that maximizes ones own personal growth. A third goal is to have
experience at translating a hands-on experience into a presentation that,
hopefully, engages my peers. In addition to the presentation, I will document my
experience on my Honors Learning Portfolio. The website is still in development
and I look forward to developing an informative and visually appealing site.

Advisor

My advisor was Dr. Erica Brownstein, Assistant Dean of the College of
Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University,
Brownstein.2@osu.edu, 614-247-4112.
The professor that coordinates the dig at Thornton Abbey is Dr. Hugh
Willmott from the University of Sheffield.

Career Learning

This experience helped me to focus my classwork so I can more
effectively prepare to work in this field at a higher level. By helping me see
history would be a more effective second major than geology it prepares me for
more fieldwork like Thornton Abbey.