For archaeologists in the southern interior, the summer months commonly involve spending long days digging shovel test after shovel test. Shovel tests are used as a technique to discover archaeology sites buried in the ground and involve archaeology crews manually digging square holes measuring 35 cm a side and 70 cm deep. All of the dirt removed from the test is sifted through a mesh screen to catch any artifacts that may be buried in the ground in that location. More often than not, shovel tests are dug and no artifacts are found within the sifted dirt. Archaeologists call these negative shovel tests.
Occasionally shovel tests are placed in just the right location and we find artifacts in the tests. When this happens, it feels like everyone’s hard work stomping on shovels and carefully sifting through the dirt is rewarded. Finding even one artifact, which in the southern interior typically consists of stone tools or the stone chips associated with making stone tools, constitutes an archaeological site. Archaeological sites are afforded automatic protection under the Heritage Conservation Act.
As soon as an artifact is found, there are specific tasks that must take place so that the newly identified archaeology site is adequately tested and recorded. Since the details and location of each archaeological site are unique, archaeologists must determine how many shovel tests are required to appropriately test the site in order to comply with archaeological permits issued by the Provincial Archaeology Branch or First Nations organizations (or both). This typically involves digging shovel tests at specified intervals, usually every 2 to 5 meters away from the test containing artifacts, until there are two or three negative shovel tests in a row in every direction. Depending on how many shovel tests contain artifacts, this process can add dozens of additional shovel tests for archaeology crews to excavate. The idea is to find the extent of the buried artifact scatter and determine the outside boundaries of the site.
Once the testing is complete, a site map is drawn to depict the location of all of the shovel tests in relation to nearby landmarks, like creeks or roads. The subtle details in the topography surrounding the site are also drawn, such as landform margins, changes in slope, and bedrock exposures. There are all sorts of global positioning technologies to assist with site mapping, but archaeologists commonly just use graph paper, a compass, and measuring tape to create an accurate and to-scale map.
These completed site maps are then provided to the Archaeology Branch so that the location of the newly identified site is added to the central database called the Provincial Heritage Register. This means that any archaeologist working in the area in the future will have access to the map, which will help inform them about the type of terrain where one would expect to find an archaeological site and provide insights into how the landscape was used thousands of years ago.
Finding new archaeological sites and uncovering artifacts that haven’t been touched for thousands of years since they were disposed of or lost is partly what makes archaeological field work so exciting. Documenting archaeological sites through accurate site mapping and recording ensures that information about each archaeological site in the province is preserved.