Excavation Strategy Fort Ross

1
Excavation Strategy_at_ Fort Ross

• Glenn Carrere
• Section 113

2
Fort Ross Alaskan Village

• Overlooks the sea from a high bluff directly
  above Fort Ross Beach Site.
• Relatively flat sloping slightly upward from
  south to north.
• Contains shallow topsoil
• In May 1989, the surfaced consisted of an
  extensive scatter of ceramic, glass, metal,
  lithic artifacts, shellfish remains and animal
  bones.

3
Research Team and Their Goals

• Archaeological Research Facility, Department of
  Anthropology, UC Berkeley
• Major players were Kent G. Lightfoot, Antoinette
  Martinez, and Ann M. Schiff
• Examine the nature and magnitude of culture
  change and persistence that took place in
  interethnic households
• Discover the daily practices and material culture
  of the residents of the culture contact society
  at the NAVS
• Explore how cohabitating Native Alaskan men and
  Native Californian women constructed their own
  unique identities

4
Field Procedure

• Three Phases
• Summer of 1989, detailed surface investigation
• Contour mapping
• Surface collection
• Geophysical survey using remote sensing technique
• Summer of 1991, placement of subsurface test
  units
• Limited excavations of 1x1m units and trenches
• 1992 field season
• Two large excavation areas were laid out along
  the trenches and exposed in 1991
• Purpose was to delineate features and spatial
  organization of archaeological materials

5
Phase One

• Broke up the land into 57 10x10 blocks for
  surface collection
• These were broken down into 2x2 blocks
• The surface materials were then sorted with a
  spatial mapping program (SURFER)
• Gopher burrowing affected some of the findings
  made at the time
• Exhibited subsurface, magnetic anomalies that
  could be indications of subsurface features

6
Phase Two

• Two major purposes
• Evaluate whether or not the surface features
  represented former house structures
• Evaluate the relationship between the village
  core and its southern periphery
• North wasnt tested because of complicated
  landscape because of the abandonment of the
  village

The area was excavated in 1mx1m test units. This
allowed the Archaeologists to determine whether
or not an area was suitable for large scale
excavation.
7
Regions Excavated

• South Central Trench
• 1x1m test unit
• West Central Trench
• Block of 3 1x1m units
• East Central Trench
• Hand dug
• 5 1x1m units
• South Trench
• Hand dug
• 7 1x1m units

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Phase Three

• Purpose To define the spatial boundaries of the
  bone bed deposits found in phase two
• Expose bone beds in the trenches without
  destroying the structure
• Excavated .5x.5m quads to maintain the location
  of materials found in the upper levels
• In Situ material was photographed and then
  removed
• Bone beds photographed from above in 1x1m
  sections at a constant height
• Covered with plastic and backfilled

9
Future Plans

• Make the bone beds viewable to the public

10
Bibliography

• Lightfoot, K. G., A. M. Schiff and L. Holm
• 1997 Archaeological Field Investigations at
  the Native Alaskan Village Site. In The Native
  Alaskan Neighborhood A Multiethnic Community at
  Colony Ross, edited by K. G. Lightfoot, A. M.
  Schiff and T. A. Wake, pp. 42-95. vol. 2. 2 vols.
  Archaeological Research Facility, Berkeley.
• Lightfoot, K., A. Martinez and A. Schiff
• 1998 Daily Practice and Material Culture in
  Pluralistic Social Settings An Archaeological
  Study of Culture Change and Persistence from Fort
  Ross, California. American Antiquity
  63(2)199-222.
• Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn
• 1991 Archaeology Theories Methods and
  Practice. New York Thames and Hudson Inc.
• Images courtesy of Kent G. Lightfoot and
  yahoo.com image banks