Depot Museum Summer Field Day

A gaggle of middle-schoolers enjoyed our first archaeology program on July 14^th. The introduction to archaeology program was organized by Elgin Historical Association member Cristin Embree, who has a Master’s degree in Archaeology, and Nick Morgan, a Texas Archaeological Steward, appointed by The Texas Historical Commission. The students learned about how a preliminary reconnaissance survey is done. They dug two holes, saving the dirt in buckets every 10 cm and then sifting the contents through a screen and looking for man-made objects. Then back to the hole for another 10 cm. All this had to be recorded on survey sheets. By the time they got down to 50 cm it was pretty hard digging in the very solid clay. Cristin explained that often the paperwork after this digging takes ten times more time than spent outdoors: photographing objects, describing them, recording exactly where they were found, storing them safely etc.

Cristin Embree says, "An estimated 65,000 archaeological sites exist in Texas and many times that remain unknown and undiscovered, with an estimated 90% of archaeological sites in the state on privately owned rural farms and ranches. Educational programs such as this, which involve the public in the assessment, research, and protection for cultural resources on private lands is the best way to promote and facilitate protection, stewardship and public appreciation for Texas' cultural heritage." 

The Elgin Historical Assn hopes to do more work on this promising site in the future. The primary lesson learned (we all hope) is that by randomly picking up objects, or even worse digging for them without recording all the “provenance” (surroundings, depth, etc.), we would be losing important history.