Tuesday night I got back from an 8 day archaeological survey of Zachar and Spiridon Bays on Kodiak's west side. Philip and I used inflatable kayaks to survey over a 100K of coastline. The point of the trip was to help the USF&WS inventory and document the conditions of the archaeological sites on land they manage. An archaeologist had never surveyed Zachar Bay or the south shore of Spiridon Bay - so, as far as the archaeology goes, it was pretty much 'terra incognita' or 'unknown land'.
We carried all our gear with us in the kayaks and would camp at a different place every evening as we made our way around the bays. As we kayaked along we'd check on every likely spot and I'd use my binoculars to closely examine any of the underlying soil exposed in animal trails or on eroding banks. If I saw charcoal, fire reddened rock, or bright white clams shells - bingo! I'd found a site. Most times I'd know if there was a site in the 'likely spot' before we even went on shore.
On this trip I got in and out of the kayak a lot and found 82 new sites and all but one was a prehistoric site. I believe that this is the most sites I have ever found on a single survey - I was finding so many sites my fingers hurt from taking notes. At times I'd go on shore praying I would not find a site. I also documented another 20 or so sites that had already been known about (I still have to add them up).
For each site I'd create a sketch map and draw in any old house depressions etc that I saw on the surface. I'd also carefully document the site's condition - how badly is it eroding? Are animals digging in the site? Have humans damaged the site? Such information helps the USF&WS preserve and protect archaeological sites in their care. I'd also document the plants growing on the site and come up with a general summary for what I'd found. Each site was also photographed and, in addition to paper notes, I took video notes for each site as well. I shot over 1200 photos and video clips on the trip!
We had amazing weather and it was a hugely successful trip - more to come in future blog posts!
Patrick
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| An old village site |
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| This is what I was typically looking for - pitch black soil and/or fire reddened rock and clam shells |
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