A Day in the Life of an Archaeologist

Have you ever wonder what archaeologists do on a daily basis?  If so, you're in luck!  Since 2011, the Day of Archaeology project has been exposing the daily grinds of archaeologists by asking archaeologists from all over the world to provide brief descriptions of what they did on a particular day every year.  This year the official Day of Archaeology was on July 11, 2014.  You can check out this year's submissions for the Day of Archaeology here.  The project reveals the diverse and varied tasks that archaeologists complete!

As part of the larger Day of Archaeology program, the Philadelphia Archaeology Forum (PAF) coordinated with Philadelphia-area archaeologists to get a snapshot of what local archaeologists are up to.  Several archaeologist submitted short write-ups about what they did in archaeology one day last week.  Here are the descriptions of what archaeologists in the region have been doing.  

I wrote up a bit about my day last Thursday, focusing on Elfreth's Alley Archaeology.  Check out the write-up here.  I also included the text below. 

______________________________________________________

Today (Thursday, July 10, 2014) I hosted a public archaeology lab day at Temple University’s Anthropology Laboratory.  During the day we cleaned artifacts recovered from archaeological investigations behind 124 and 126 Elfreth’s Alley, which house the museum and gift shop of the Elfreth’s Alley Association.  The Alley, which is located in Old City Philadelphia, is a National Historic Landmark District and is credited with being the oldest continuously-occupied residential street in the United States.  The street was formed circa 1702 as a cartway to connect Front Street along the Delaware River to the commerce on Second Street. 

Elfreth's Alley, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Throughout the day, I set-up, assisted, and oversaw volunteers as they wet washed and dry-brushed artifacts from excavation unit 14.   Unit 14 was excavated in the small courtyard behind 124 and 126 Elfreth’s Alley during the summer of 2013.  Today volunteers diligently used toothbrushes to gently remove dirt from the objects, revealing previously hidden details of the artifacts such as a hand-painted floral design on a sherd of creamware ceramic or a molded letter visible on a piece of clear vessel glass.  Once the object were cleaned, they were placed on screens to let them dry before being cataloged.  As volunteers cleaned, I also put cleaned artifacts into new storage containers. Each of these steps are integral to organizing and analyzing the artifacts recovered during field investigations. 

Toothbrush for cleaning artifacts.  Photo Credit: Jill Saull

As always, the volunteers today were amazing to work with!  As they washed artifacts and discussed the street’s past, they actively took part in the discovery and formation of the small street’s history.  While Elfreth’s Alley Archaeology volunteers often come from various backgrounds (today alone volunteers included a professional photographer, a math professor, a stay at home parent, and recent college graduates), they all share a passion and love of history.   I asked the volunteers to share their thoughts, impressions, and experiences from today.  Below is what they had to say: 

“This was my first time processing artifacts.   I felt like I was touching history.” – Leanna 

“I am a repeat customer.  I am interested in discover/interpreting the story of another time.” – Jill 

“I got involved in [the] Elfreth’s Alley Archaeology project and in interpretation by hearing stories of settlement and survival.   Handling artifacts, wet washing/dry brushing, gives me direct context to a place.” - Amanda 

“[I] found a very black piece of bone and a mostly intact tooth.” – Andrew 

“I really enjoyed my first time processing artifacts.  My favorite part was washing the dirt off the ceramic pieces and waiting for the pop of color to show up.  It was like taking a trip back in time.” –Livia 

“Today, I mostly dry-brushed metal objects.  There were several nails, all shapes and sizes.  I enjoyed trying to imagine the structures these nails once held together, structures that have since been swallowed by time.” - Wendy 

Each of these fantastic volunteers has become part of the Alley’s history themselves! 

Volunteer working in the lab on Thursday July 10, 2014

Later in the day, I was also on a conference call with the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) and archaeologist Douglas Mooney of URS Corporation regarding the planning and recording of an upcoming podcast on urban archaeology in Philadelphia for CHF’s Distillations program.

______________________________________________________