Plans and Profiles: Meghan Burchell Researching Shells, Seasonality, and Settlement in Coastal British Columbia

Meghan Burchell sampling the temperature 

and salinity of water on the central coast

 of British Columbia.  These instrumental data

 are used to help understand how shellfish

 incorporate local water into their shell matrix.  

(Photo credit B. MacDonald).

Meghan Burchell is on the cusp of completing a PhD in the Department of Archaeology at McMaster University.  She's also the Operations Manager for Sustainable Archaeology at McMaster Innovation Park, which is a massive and much needed undertaking in Ontario to centralize archaeological collections and make them more accessible to researchers.  For her PhD, she's been developing some really amazing laboratory techniques for analyzing the growth rings on shellfish shells.  I saw her speak in St. John's recently and the level of resolution that she's been able to recognize is incredible; the shell growth is influenced by tides, so she can actually spot individual days and tidal cycles recorded in the shells.

Read on to learn more about her boundary pushing research in the field of sclerochronology...

Plans and Profiles #12. Meghan Burchell, Shells, Seasonality, Settlement and Subsistence in Coastal British Columbia.

1) Tell me a little bit about your project.

My current project focuses on understanding patterns of seasonality, settlement and subsistence at shell midden sites on the coast of British Columbia, in the traditional territories of the Heiltsuk on the central coast, and the Coast Tsimshian on the northern coast. More specifically, I employ high-resolution sclerochronology and stable oxygen isotope analysis to understand patterns of shellfish harvest and by proxy, the timing of site occupation.

Alignment of biological growth markers with stable

 isotope data from a live-collected shell.

Sclerochronology is analogous to dendrochronology were the ‘rings’ that form on the shells can be counted – except these ‘rings’ aren’t just annual lines. They represent annual, sub-annual, daily and tidal lines. There are also disturbance lines caused by predation, spawning and changes in the environment. Using geochemical profiling, specifically stable oxygen isotopes, we can understand what these lines mean and better interpret past climatic conditions, sea surface temperature and site seasonality.

In many interpretations of hunter-gatherer settlement systems, archaeologists have assumed implicitly or explicitly that a pattern of mobility based on seasonally-scheduled movements between different site locations was practiced. This pattern of mobility is often characterized as a seasonal round, where different locations are used during specific times of the year for different purposes. An implication of this pattern of mobility is that short-term occupation sites are visited annually, approximately at the same time each year and longer term residential sites can span multiple seasons. The Pacific Northwest Coast provides an ideal landscape to examine seasonality since many of the staple resources, particularly salmon, were available on a seasonal basis. Contrary to long standing assumptions of regular seasonal movement between sites, the analysis of shell samples from multiple archaeological sites from distinct regions in British Columbia show complex patterns of multi-seasonal occupation at smaller campsites and specific seasonal or multi-seasonal emphasis in occupation and/or shellfish harvest at longer-term residential sites.

In addition to my research in British Columbia, I am also the Operations Manager for Sustainable Archaeology at McMaster Innovation Park. Sustainable Archaeology is a collaborative initiative between Western University and McMaster University in southern Ontario, Canada, funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF). These state-of-the art research facilities will bring together thousands of previously inaccessible archaeological collections generated from across the Province of Ontario as a result of research and cultural resource management excavations.

2) How did you become interested in this particular problem?

When I was in my third year of undergraduate studies at McMaster University, I saw a picture of the site of Namu on the central coast of British Columbia. Namu is one of the longest continually occupied sites on the British Columbia coast, and just from looking at the pictures, seeing people doing innovative field work using coring and augering techniques, I knew I had found the place I wanted to go - and I knew I had found the kind of field archaeology I wanted to employ. I was extremely fortunate to be able to go there in 2010 to collect materials (water samples and live shellfish) for my dissertation.

I became interested in this specific project because I am fascinated in the application of stable isotope analysis in archaeology and micro-analytical techniques. I think it’s amazing that we can investigate large-scale regional histories of archaeological sites with an extremely powerful microscope that allows you to zoom into at the micron level, and a mass spectrometer that measures the isotope ratios of only micro-grams of shell carbonate powder. More importantly, I wanted to learn more about long-term histories of seasonal settlement patterns and resource acquisition. I’ve always been interested in shell midden sites in British Columbia; each one is different, not only in the stratigraphy and composition of the site, but the function and nature of the site as well. I am motivated by learning more about the environmental and historical variability along the coast and the variability within a region; especially how people used short- and long-term camps and villages to create networks of interaction on the coastal landscape. 

Shell sampling techniques using a micro-mill and a micro-mill in preparation for stable oxygen isotope analysis via mass spectrometry.

3) Has your project changed since you originally began working on it? How?

My project has completely changed since I first started working on it. I began using low-resolution stable isotope methods, and the method simply wasn’t working, but it took two years of research and experimentation to learn what I was doing wrong. I also had too much faith in new analytical techniques for the analysis of shells, and these techniques had not been fully understood from a geochemical perspective – what seemed simple and straightforward was not. Once I learned that, the goals of my dissertation changed. I believe they changed for the better, since one of the outcomes of my dissertation has been developing advances for the archaeological analysis of shell for seasonality and paleoclimate reconstruction. I also developed a healthy skepticism of new analytical techniques. When someone says ‘you can just zap it’, (i.e. XRF), I know now that it takes much more than that. It takes an understanding of the biology of the organism being studied, it’s geochemical properties and the limits of the analysis.

Aside from the methodological changes, my ideas around seasonality have changed a lot. While seasonality is important for understanding patterns of resource acquisition, site occupation and sedentism, I’m thinking about this problem more critically now – seasonality isn’t as simple as four seasons. Now I’m interested in tackling the theoretical component of understanding the role and importance of seasonality interpretations in archaeological narratives.


4) If you could ask the people/person who lived at your site(s) one question what would it be?

There are so many questions I’d like to ask, but if I could know one thing, I would want to know something that we can’t see archaeologically. I’d want to know what the sites smelled and sounded like when people were gathering and processing shellfish. 

 

5) Has your research taught you anything about yourself? What?

The process of working through this project has taught me many things. Probably the most important is that you can’t do archaeology, stable isotope analysis and sclerochronology by yourself – working in a team is important. I also learned that I really enjoy working with people from other disciplines, such as paleontology, biology and geochemistry. I think engaging with people from different disciplines allowed me to broaden my own expertise while gaining a much deeper appreciation for the work that is accomplished in other scientific fields – especially when it can be applied to archaeology. 

6) I can’t imagine doing this research without…

Lecturing at the University of Mainz, Germany at the annual
Geocycles Symposium (Photo credit Uni. Mainz)

… the support of my thesis committee at McMaster University, my colleagues at the INCREMENTS research group at the university of Mainz in Germany, and Elroy White from Bella Bella, British Columbia who has shared so much insight into local histories of shellfish harvesting


7) How do you unwind when you need to get away from your research?

I unwind in a ballet studio. I’ve been taking ballet since I was three years old, and I can’t imagine my life without it. When I’m not in the ballet studio, I’m in the woods on my mountain bike. But if I really need to relax, I usually have a nap with my two cats.


8) Have you ever found anything in the field or in the lab that you wish you hadn’t?

One time I found a frog stuck at the bottom of a 3m deep excavation unit. My good friend and I spent a long time trying to find a way to get the little guy out, we tried our best but we couldn’t help him. Excavation units should always be carefully backfilled not only to protect the rest of the site, but also to protect the precious animals that may stumble into them.


9) What books or websites would you recommend if people want to learn more about your area of interest in general? Or your project in particular?

Definitely check out the world of sclerochronology. This technique is rarely applied in archaeological contexts, but it’s definitely something archaeologists should look into before engaging in the analysis of shells or any other hard tissue that grows on a regular basis (i.e. teeth and bone, especially otoliths).

Analytical Chemistry for Archaeology by Cambridge University Press is also a great book to introduce people to archaeological sciences.

I also really like Human Impacts on Ancient Environments by Charles Redman, and Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Environments edited by Torben C. Rick and Jon M. Erlandson. Tim Ingold’s writing about landscape has also been very influential for my work, but one of my all time favourite papers is ‘Sacred Power and Seasonal Settlement on the Central Northwest Coast’, by Aubrey Cannon from the book Beyond Forging and Collecting: Evolutionary Change in Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems (2002).

Shell midden stratigraphy at the Pender Island site in 

southern British Columbia. (Photo credit R. Klenkler)

For my current area of research, here are some of the publications I’ve co-authored with colleagues at McMaster and the University of Mainz:


2013 Burchell, M., Cannon, A., Hallmann, N. Schwarcz, HP., Schöne, BR. Refining estimates for the season of shellfish collection on the Pacific Northwest Coast: Applying high-resolution stable oxygen isotope analysis and sclerochronology. Archaeometry. 55: 258-276.

2013 Burchell, M., Cannon, A., Hallmann, N. Schwarcz, HP., Schöne, BR. Inter-site variability in the season of shellfish collection on the central coast of British Columbia. Journal of Archaeological Science. 40:626-636.

2011 Hallmann, N., Schöne, BR, Irvine, GV., Burchell, M., Cockelet, D., Hilton, M.
An improved understanding of the Alaska Coastal Current: The application of a bivalve growth-temperature model to reconstruct freshwater-influenced paleoenvironments. Palaios. 26: 346-363.

2010 Risk, M., Burchell, M., de Roo, K., Nairn, R., Turbett, M. Trace elements in bivalve shells from the Rio Cruces, Chile, trace the evolution of an earthquake-impacted watershed. Aquatic Biology. 10: 85-97.

2009 Hallman, N., Burchell, M., Schöne, BR., Irvine, G., Maxwell, D. High-resolution sclerochronological analysis of the bivalve mollusk Saxidomus gigantea from Alaska and British Columbia: techniques for revealing environmental archives and archaeological seasonality. Journal of Archaeological Science. 36: 2353-2364.

Websites: 

The INCREMENTS research group at the University of Mainz: http://www.increments.de/

And our Sustainable Archaeology Facebook Page – we upload our research images on a regular basis. Right now we’re doing a lot of experimentation learning how to use our new equipment, and we regularly upload some pretty amazing pictures that are taken by staff using different types of microscopes.

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Do you know of any interesting archaeological research projects or researchers who should have their work profiled here?  Maybe its you?  Drop me a note with your suggestions: elfshot.tim@gmail.com

Photo Credits: 

As indicated in the captions.
Plans and Profiles Banner, Tim Rast based on a linocut by Lori White

Plans and Profiles: Bob Muckle Researching Japanese Logging Camps in British Columbia

Bob likes beer. After a day in the field, 

or the lab, or the classroom, Bob likes

 a beer. His favorite is Dead Guy Ale.

Bob Muckle is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia.  You might recognize the name Robert Muckle from the cover of one of your anthropology textbooks or his regular online column for Anthropology News: Archeology in North America.  But were you aware that for more than a decade he's been running Capilano University's Archaeology Field School in the Seymour Valley, north of Vancouver? Or that through those field schools Bob and his students have uncovered a previously undocumented series of early 20th century Japanese logging camps?

Later this May, Bob will be reporting on this project at the Canadian Archaeological Association's Conference in Whistler, B.C..  Here's a sneak peak...

Plans and Profiles #11. Bob Muckle, Japanese Logging Camps in British Columbia

1) Tell me a little bit about your project.

Fireplace in the forest. In the 1940s workers were
apparently instructed to destroy all buildings in the valley,
 and almost all were completely demolished and burned.
A worker left this fireplace intact though. It was rather
 strange to walk through the forest and come across this.
 Not quite like Stephens and Catherwood coming across
 Mayan ruins in the Yucatan, exciting nevertheless.

The Seymour Valley Archaeology Project focuses on locating, recording, and excavating historic period sites in the now heavily forested Seymour River Valley, close to Vancouver, BC. For seven weeks each May and June, I direct 15 students enrolled in the Capilano University archaeology field school on the project.

The primary historic period activity in the valley was logging, but there were also permanent homesteads, cabins for recreational use, small stores and cafes, a ranch, mining ventures, a cattle trail, and some work camps. A dam was built across the river in the early 1900s to create one of the three main reservoirs of Greater Vancouver, which also created the need to build access roads and lay pipes through the valley to carry water. It was decided to restrict use of the area and beginning in the 1930s commercial activity was curtailed, residential and recreational properties were bought or expropriated, all buildings were burned, the area was closed to the public, and the forest grew over most evidence of human occupation and activity. The area was re-opened for non-vehicle recreation use in the late 1900s, but except for very large tree stumps from first-growth logging, little evidence of human activity is visible on the surface.

Sawblade in logging camp. Not surprisingly, we sometimes
 find logging related artifacts in the logging camps. The context
 and warping of the blade indicates this one was probably in a
camp workshop that burned.

Over the past 12 field seasons we have located and recorded several homesteads and about a dozen cabin locations. We have excavated at one residential location. We have also discovered and excavated three logging camps, all with a Japanese component. The Japanese presence in the valley was surprising.

The primary research component focuses on the Japanese presence in the valley during the early 1900s. Secondary research components include contributions to local history, Asian-American archaeology, and the archaeology of camps.

Study Area (click to enlarge)

2) How did you become interested in this particular problem?

Visiting a logging camp. 2012 students visiting a previously

 excavated Japanese logging camp last occupied about 80

years ago. The entire camp burned. The wooden planks are

 likely the floorboards of a mess hall. Photo by Mark Galvani.

Rather than being research-driven to start, the project was initiated as an opportunity to conduct field work locally, with students enrolled in a field school. After a number of years of running my own archaeology consulting company, by 1999 I was into several years of teaching full-time year round and a whack of kids on the home front (six kids in a blended family), with little time for field work. I missed it. Then in a span of a couple of months in 1999, three important things happened. I attended a conference in Boston where I learned of an excellent low-cost model for running a community archaeology program based at a small college or university. I clearly remember thinking that would work for me. That was followed almost immediately by my accepting an invitation to bring my so-called expertise on bivalve shell taphonomy to a field project in Alaska, which I enjoyed immensely. It confirmed for me that I really wanted to get back to doing field archaeology. The third thing was, shortly after returning from Alaska, I decided to follow a dirt road leading from the north end of my campus into the forest to judge the potential for conducting archaeological work there. Within an hour I had roughed out a general plan for the project involving a field school, public education, and research. I thought of it as a one field season project. I am now getting ready for the 13th field season in the valley.

3) Has your project changed since you originally began working on it? How?

Logging camp garden. This area is presumed to be garden
 for a Japanese camp occupied from about 1918 to perhaps
as recently as 1942.

The project began with primary foci on contributions to local history and education – both in training students in field methods and public education. Most of the initial work concentrated on documenting areas of residential and recreational activities. By the third field season I was more interested in the remnants of a logging camp we found in a fairly remote part of the forest. Once we started excavating it became clear it was a Japanese logging camp, which was quite a surprise since there were no references to any such camp in the area. I have since discovered and excavated two other camps, one which likely included but was not solely Japanese, and the other entirely Japanese. I have found one of the camps particularly intriguing for a few reasons which have directed my research for the past few field seasons. One camp, dating to about 1918-1921, appears to be laid out in a typical Japanese manner. Rather than having a typical bunkhouse, mess hall , and single large midden, it shows evidence of several small cabins where the Japanese loggers probably lived with their wives and children. The site also has evidence of a typical Japanese style bathhouse, a garden, and perhaps a shrine. Interestingly, the other Japanese camp only a few km away, probably dating to about 1921-1924, has a very similar artifact assemblage (eg. Japanese ceramics and bottles), but is set up as a more typical Pacific Northwest logging camp. I think this may reflect an adaptive strategy of the Japanese logging camp operators who may have decided to run their camps the Canadian-way when moving camps about 1921. The other intriguing thing about one of the camps that drives my research interest is the indications that the camp abandoned by loggers about 1921 may have continued to be used as a sort of secret residential camp from the early 1920s until Japanese internment in 1942.


4) If you could ask the people who lived at your site(s) one question what would it be

Work boot. Almost all artifacts at the logging camps are 

subsurface but we occasionally find something above the 

ground surface, including this workboot. Workboots 

often show signs of substantial repair, and preserve well.

I have been fortunate insofar that some of the people who lived in the area in the 1920s and 30s are still alive and I have been able to ask them all sorts of questions about life in the valley at that time. In the early days of the project I had a female student who wanted to know more about the logging camp life in the area so she would spend Saturday afternoons at drinking establishments catering to the older gentlemen – dancing and drinking with them to get the stories.

I have also been fortunate to have several elderly Japanese folks visit the camps we have been excavating. They have provided insight into such things as how the bathhouse would have been constructed and used, and generally are supportive of my interpretations of camp layout. I often ask elderly Japanese what would have been in the aqua-coloured bottles that are ubiquitous in the camps, but they only guess – beer, wine, sake, or soya sauce.

One of the most interesting finds is part of a camera within what would have been the walls of a bathhouse used in the early 1900s. If I had only one question to ask, I would ask “Where are the photos?” 

5) Have you ever found anything in the field or lab that you wish you hadn’t?

At one site logging camp we get quite a few visitors, stopping
 by on their hikes or rides through the forest. Consequently,
we put signs around. We can tell that people often walk
around on weekends, but nothing has ever been disturbed.

Well, after not excavating at one particular camp for about five years, I decided to do some more excavations. The first day back at the site I had some students try to re-locate the site datum (a length of re-bar buried vertically). They initially couldn’t find it where it should have been but eventually they found it slightly subsurface, laying horizontal, a few meters away from its original location. In the original location we found several pieces of flaked obsidian with a few coins from recent decades mixed in. I wish I hadn’t found these because I wish they didn’t exist in this context. I imagine whoever placed the obsidian and coins there thought it was funny. But I don’t. I didn’t like the idea of contaminating the site with flaked obsidian and since I spend so much time on the ethics, I found it disturbing that it was probably one of my former students that did it.

At another site, we found evidence of a very recent outdoor marijuana growing operation. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or not. It makes archaeology storytelling interesting, but I learned that some of my students knew a bit too much about grow ops. I wonder how much the operators disturbed the deposits, and I always had the feeling we were being watched. 

6) You’ve written books, articles and a lot of online material – do you have any advice for archaeologists who may be struggling with their own writing?

Working in the lab. We have cataloged about
2,000 artifacts over the years, including many
 bottles, cans, ceramics, and personal items
such as toothbrushes, costume jewelry, clocks,
and items related to clothing like garters, clasps,
buttons, and boots. I walk around and point
at things while the students do the real work.

Thanks for the plug. I do like to write – mostly books for the textbook and trade markets and I’ve written archaeology and anthropology columns for three on-line periodicals. For those thinking about submitting something to journals or publishers with editors, have faith in the editors. They can make you look to be a much better writer than you really are. For writing on-line, without the benefit of editors, be aware that readers of on-line material tend to be very forgiving. People tend to think the occasional error in spelling, punctuation, and grammar is an acceptable trade-off for immediacy and being free. There are so many errors in some of my on-line writing I have recently suggested to some that they turn reading my columns into a drinking game. 

7) How do you unwind when you need to get away from your research?

I like beer. I like tasting new kinds, especially those from Oregon and California. My favorite is Dead Guy Ale. I am learning to like scotch. I also like camping and hiking. Several years ago one of my kids and I hiked the Chilkoot Trail from Alaska to the Yukon. That was a blast. Generally, I like the outdoors. I live in the suburbs but still like to have outdoor fires in my yard year-round. The fire department has only been called once.

I’m starting to get a bit into organic gardening. I started a few years ago and think I am getting better at it. I got into it because I wanted to eat more things with less chemicals and more taste. I wanted a carrot that tasted like the carrots when I was a kid. And I wanted to be able to pull something out of the ground, brush off the dirt, and just eat it without having to wash it. 

8) What archaeological discovery of project do you wish that you could have been part of?

I would have liked to be part of the discovery of KNM ER 1470 in the Lake Turkana region of Kenya. It is Homo habilis to some and Homo rudolphensis to others. Ever since learning of this particular hominin, it has been my favorite. Some years ago I received a large cheque for archaeological services rendered years before (and which I had already written off). So I decided to go to visit the site of discovery with the money. To get there I had to run past alligators (or was it crocodiles, on the shores of Lake Turkana), sleep in a cage at night while hearing lions roar, trek for hours with a machete for protection, and lost 40 lbs through diarrhea and vomiting, but I have no regrets.

I would also like to have been part of Bill Rathje’s Garbage projects in the 1970s and early 1980sIn which he had students sort contemporary household waste, both from trash cans and landfills. I have always been fascinated by the study of contemporary trash, and have recently incorporated a campus waste audit in my own archaeology classes. 

9) What books or websites would you recommend if people want to learn more about your area of interest in general? Or your project in particular?

Rock feature at 1920 Japanese camp. This may be a small
shrine. Excavation revealed horizontal planks within the rock
walls, near the top. Besides nails, the only artifacts in and
around the feature were fragments of green curved glass and
 twisted  wire, which I interpret as remnants of a lantern. The
feature is on the edge of the site, beside a creek.

I am starting to work on a book on the Seymour Valley Archaeology Project but it is a few years from publication yet. Two students in recent years have blogged the project for the seven weeks they have been on the field school. Both are quite good, with lots of visuals, and provide a good sense of the day to day activity and finds.

The 2010 blog can be found at Capilano University Archaeology Field School 2010.

The 2012 blog can be found at Capilano University Archaeology Field School 2012 

Folks are also encouraged to follow me on Twitter @bobmuckle (where I provide links and make comments on things related to everything archaeology, contemporary waste, and Indigenous Peoples of North America), and read my monthly ‘Archaeology in North America’ column (http://www.anthropology-news.org/)

My most recent book, Indigenous Peoples of North America, came out in 2012; and I am currently working on revised editions of both First Nations of British Columbia and Introducing Archaeology.

Excavating in hail. Muckle's crew work in all kinds of weather, including hail. If you aren't willing to work in inclement weather in BC, you probably aren't going to work much. These excavation units are at a cabin where a Japanese logger probably lived with his wife.

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Is there an archaeology field school or research project that you are interested in knowing more about?  Perhaps one that you were on or that you run yourself?  Let me know: elfshot.tim@gmail.com


Photo Credits:
Bob Muckle, unless otherwise noted in the photo caption.
Plans and Profiles Banner, Tim Rast based on a linocut by Lori White