Tuesday 15 May 2012

May 10th: Prepare the Site! Building and Digging

Day 4 and we're at the McKenzie Creek site setting up our shelters and supplies. A beautiful sunny day (Bob says we are SO LUCKY to have such beautiful weather as past Field Schools have not been so fortunate)...and yet in the shade of the trees, it was a tad chilly. We all worked pretty hard to get the site set up and not to mention keep warm. Lucky for us, there were sunny spots to enjoy some warmth during our lunch break. We all divided to conquer the tasks at hand:

Here we have Alexis, Spencer, Ryan, Andrew, Jasmin and Bob attempting to get the first of our 2 shelters in position. We encountered a slight roadblock in the process when we realized that duct tape would be needed to complete the set up and we had none. Spencer M to the rescue! He happens to live close by so he cycled all the way home and returned with tools and tada: duct tape. Gold star, Spencer!

I believe this may have been another moment captured on film of our shelter set up standstill. Note that we're still smiling and enjoying a challenge.

With the shelters firmly duct taped in place, we can finally put the tarps on. Why do we need shelters you ask? Well, this is North Vancouver we're dealing with here...It's a guarantee that this nice weather won't last forever. We'll be writing our notes and eating our lunches under these shelters, thank goodness.

Nathan and Andrew building some pretty awesome stairs at the entrance of the site. Not an easy task, and I would say these lads did a fine job. Nathan kept asking me to test out the steps as he built them...you know, just to make sure they're good and sturdy.

This is Evan, Kitty and myself putting together one of the two picnic tables that Bob had so graciously purchased for us. I may have a bruise on my hand from screwing in each piece without the aid of a drill, but it was pretty satisfying once they were complete. It was a 3 person job and we certainly were having some giggles near the end...after 4 hours of eye-balling measurements and turning screws until we were exhausted, we couldn't help but have some laughs.

Success: one table down, one to go. See that smile? That's a look of accomplishment.

Once we put up signs, everything seemed to be official. Our home away from home for the next 6 weeks. I'm not quite sure what the "warning" part of that sign is all about...makes us archaeologists seem like some trowel-wielding wackos in the forest but I promise, we're harmless.

Evan and Willlow putting the finishing touches on the entry path to the site. I may have heard the word "cutesie" being said to describe this decorative addition to the site but hey, I think it looks lovely.

Ryan being a good archaeology student and writing in his field notebook. We keep track of everything we do and everywhere we go in this book. Kinda like a science diary of sorts...full of secret archaeological information.

Tomorrow we're in the lab on the Capilano University campus, planning out the week to come and finalizing the project tasks for each person on the crew. Check out the "About the Students" link on the sidebar for a brief write-up on each member of the Field School crew! 

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