Friday, October 29, 2010

Update (a little late)

hello again!
A lot has happened in the way of writing since I last posted. My I.S. is coming along really well and after my meeting this morning with Dr. Wilson I am excited to continue writing. I'm working on a discussion chapter, Carbon dating chapter, and a Lit. review. Everything is going pretty well and I think this is going to be a great paper when I am done with it. I never thought I would be so excited about I.S. but its turning out to be awesome.
I plan on calling Elizabeth Fields in the next few days and try to set up a meeting with her. She is in charge of Highbanks.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Pictures from Highbanks



I took all of these on my visit yesterday, using my mother as scale. You can kindof see the build up and moat of the structure especially in the third picture.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

weekly update #2

Hi again!
This week I visited the Ohio Historical Societies archaeology collections building.
The Orange Township Works site was excavated in 1951/52 but was never published. The original field notes and artifacts are available in the collections so I hunted then down. Brad Lepper was my contact at the Collections department and he invited me to come down and look at all of the data that was there. When I arrived both Brad and Linda Pansing had set out the files and drawer of artifacts for me. Brad and Linda were so helpful and both really open to my project. When I strated to go through the notes, photos and artifacts the most interesting thing that I found was that there were a lot more artifacts that were found then I had realized. The few sources  found talking about my site had mentioned a few sherds of pottery but never the hundreds of flint chips and charcoal pieces. There was visible evidence that people had been working with flint at this site. The photos also helped me to see how big the tests trenches were, turns out a lot bigger than I thought. The charcoal in the collection really got me excited though. Brad and Linda both said that if my sampling does not yield any testable material for C14 dating that I can submit a request to test the charcoal that is available. This could be the thing that takes my project to the next level because in the end I want to put a date on the site, C14 dating is the best way for me to get a date. Great thanks goes out to Brad Lepper and Linda Pansing for helping me and allowing me to sit for an hour and a half looking through everything.
Today I am going out to Highbanks park to take some pictures of the site and look at some of the artifacts that are on display in the visitor center.

Friday, October 8, 2010

weekly update #1

Hello again!
Today I had my I.S. meeting with Dr. Wilson and we went over this weeks draft. I feel like I am making good progress content wise but apparently I have issues with the words "are" and "is". I will have to work on that. My goals for my next draft are to rewrite, working on my consistency, proofreading and attention to style and trying to make it all look cleaner. I will also be starting my "proposed methods" section. In order to these things I want to find the topo map of the area in the unorganized library stacks *yikes* and find a few sources to back up my information. A longer term goal is to have my I.S. basically all written by November sometime so that I can have a month to pollish and fill-in. Wish me luck and I'll keep everyone posted.
In case anyone wanted a map of Highbanks!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The beginning

Hi all!
I am starting this blog so that my work on my Junior I.S. can be tracked and a million e-mails don't have to be sent out. To fill some people in I am writing my geology I.S. at the moment and will continue on with my archaeology I.S. in the srping. The topic of my I.S. as most of you all know is the Orange Township works in Highbanks Metropark. This is a semi-circular embankment that encloses about 10 acres. It is my hope that the city of Columbus and the Metroparks office will give me permission to conduct a small-scale excavation at the site using bucket auguring techniques. Hopefully I can find some datable material that will give a better age to the site. At the moment I am in the first drafts of writing my I.S. which I will then submit as/along with my formal request for an excavation. It is all very exciting for me and I hope that I cna post enough to keep it exciting for everyone else.
(engraving done by Squire and Davis of he Orange Township works embankment)