2003 UW Colleges Archaeology Field School
Thomas C. Pleger & Janet M. Speth

This summer Dr. Pleger received a summer professional development grant from the department to purchase a Brunton Geo-Transit station. The Brunton Geo-Transit is an instrument that allows archaeologists and anyone interested in mapping to obtain accurate degree measurements used for surveying. The advantage of this device over standard optical transits is that it is highly portable and easy to use. We used the Geo-Transit this summer for research and teaching while overseeing the UW Colleges/UW-Marinette Archaeology Field School (ANT 370).

The archaeology field school was offered by UW-Marinette again this summer. Dr. Pleger directed the project and was assisted by UWFox Associate Lecturer of Anthropology, Janet Speth. We accepted twelve students into the course this summer. The selection was made via an application process. Preference was given to UW-Marinette, UW-Fox Valley, UW-Colleges, and UW-System students who are anthropology majors. This year we had students from UW-Marinette, UW-Fox Valley, UW-Richland and Beloit College.

This year's project consisted of two sixty-hour weeks (twelve days total at 10 hours a day) of field experience. The first few days of the course were spent introducing students to basic archaeological field methods and techniques. This introduction included units on archaeological terms and concepts such as artifact classes, context and association, a unit on mapping, and a unit on stratigraphy and horizontal patterning. The Geo-Transit was used in conjunction with two other Brunton pocket transits and a high precision optical transit to teach students basic concepts concerning map reading and surveying. The student groups were divided up into teams and given a set of exercises in mapping various landform features and artificially created spaces/features.

Students then spent a day learning methods for archaeological site detection and survey. This included a day of shovel testing. Shovel testing is a method used by archaeologists to locate and identify archaeological sites in areas where soils are obscured by vegetation. This method involves establishing a grid over the landscape and excavating small test holes at standard intervals on the grid. Most field archaeological field technicians working in the Midwest spend a significant portion of their field work conducting shovel testing as most Cultural Resource Management archaeology projects are focused on the identification and location of archaeological sites in areas that are going to be developed.

After this brief introduction, the field school focused for remaining 75% of its time on deep testing at the Stephenson Island Site. The Stephenson Island site is an island located in the middle of the Menominee River. This river divides Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Upper Michigan. The site is currently a park within the City of Marinette and the location of the Marinette County Historical Society Museum. The City of Marinette had received a grant to improve facilities at the park including landscaping, new parking, and the construction of a new gazebo/band pavilion. Because the grant involved funding and permits from various state agencies, the city was required to conduct an archaeological survey. The city hired an archaeological consulting firm from southeast Wisconsin to conduct this work. This preliminary survey identified records at the Wisconsin Historical Society that indicated the presence of an archaeological site on the island. Charles E. Brown of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1927 reported that concentrations of prehistoric ceramics and lithic debris could be observed on exposed surfaces of the island. Because of this, the archaeologist hired by the City of Marinette conducted coring tests across the island in 2001. His testing confirmed that the island had been heavily disturbed as a result of filling. However, he noted that there was the potential for intact buried archaeological deposits underneath the fill.

In the fall of 2002, a local UW-Marinette student recovered a significant artifact on the island while metal detecting. He discovered a well-preserved socketed copper spear point. This artifact is diagnostic of the Old Copper complex, an Archaic Tradition cultural complex that existed in the western Great Lakes between 4000 and 1000 BC. Because preserved Old Copper complex sites are rare; this discovery sparked our interest in conducting archaeological work at the island. The spear appeared to have an intact wooden shaft fragment in the socket. When copper rusts, it tends to preserve associated organic materials such as wood, bone, hide, and textile. This suggested to us that there was the possibility that the artifact came from an undisturbed or sealed in deposit on the island.

In the spring of 2003, the City of Marinette started with its gazebo construction project. Because of the recent Old Copper artifact discovery and the recommendations of the previous archaeological survey, Tom Pleger was hired by the City of Marinette to monitor the excavations for the construction of the gazebo foundation. This consulting project was carried out though a joint project between the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley and the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. In March of 2003 while there was still snow and ice in the area, Pleger spent the day closely monitoring the removal of soils for the foundation.

The gazebo construction-monitoring project confirmed that there were significant episodes of filling had taken place within the last one hundred years. The foundation excavation revealed approximately one meter of layered fill dating back to the logging era (turn of the century) in Marinette. Beneath the fill, the surface appeared to be original dating back to pre-contact habitation in the area.

Since a known site had been reported on the island and given that a significant Old Copper artifact had been recently found, We decided to spend the majority of the 2003 field school testing the island for intact archaeological deposits. The students excavated a total of seven two x two-meter test units on the northwest side of the island. The units were located along a grid that was tied into the Stephenson Civil War memorial located in the middle of the island.

Test units were excavated by hand using shovel and trowel. All of the soils were screened using 1/4" mesh screen. The excavations revealed a complex stratigraphy that was the result of habitation debris, logging activity, river flooding and recent filling. After removing the topsoil, we encountered a very recent layer of fill that contained modern artifacts. Beneath this a layer of mixed prehistoric and historic artifacts was identified. This layer appears to have been a deposit of graded disturbed soils. It contained historic materials mixed with prehistoric ceramics, and flaked stone tool debris. We were able to conclude that the recently recovered Old Copper spear point most likely came from this disturbed zone. The exact part of Stephenson Island from which the graded deposit came could not be determined.

Excavation units did reveal an intact layer of sediment and bark containing turn-of-the-century logging era materials. Artifacts from this layer included logging chain, broken tools, white clay smoking pipe fragments, bottle and ceramic sherds, and miscellaneous debris. We know from historical documents and photographs at the Stephenson Island Logging Museum (located on site), that Stephenson Island was once the location of a number of saw mills.

At approximately one meter to 1.5 meters below surface, we identified the original pre-contact surface on the island. The surface appears to have been covered with cobblestones that may have been placed there in aboriginal times. This rocky surface also produced abundant fish remains including sturgeon, though whether or not the sturgeon remains were cultural or natural still remains to be determined. This surface appears to extend across the northwest tip of the island. It is likely that intact prehistoric deposits lie on or below this surface. Testing at the upstream toe of the island revealed extensive disturbance here, probably related to construction and razing of structures which appear on older USGS quadrangle maps. Future work at the island will involve deep testing to examine other portions of the island and deposits located below this surface.

Overall, the field season was quite productive. We were able to learn a great deal about the formation of Stephenson Island and how the site was used in historic times. Additionally, we were able to confirm the recently recovered Old Copper spear point came from disturbed contexts. From a teaching perspective, the site and project provided ideal conditions to teach students fundamental archaeological excavation methods and concepts. Students learned by direct participation and they were actively engaged in all aspects of site survey, identification, and testing. The stratigraphy at the site gave students a chance to excavate by natural levels in addition to arbitrary five or ten centimeter levels. Students were also utilized to process the artifacts in terms of washing and initial sorting.

The UW Colleges Anthropology/Sociology Dept. summer funding grant allowed for the purchase of a Brunton Geo-Transit that was utilized for both research and teaching purposes. The authors would like to thank the department, UW-Marinette, and the City of Marinette for their support and assistance with the 2003 summer field school project.