So as most of you probably seen from my facebook post, I have been on an archaeology dig! I will have you know that I only had to use spell check three times before learning how to spell archaeology the right way! So it has actually been nearly two weeks since I went on this dig and in an attempt to be good I did not procrastinate and write a blog post. I know, something I have never done before! Not procrastinate? I didn’t think I even knew the meaning of the word(words?). I instead just spend a loooong time doing my research which I think 50% of my time was spent looking at the wall. But hey I wasn’t actively procrastinating, but my room never looked cleaner……
Any who, archaeology dig! Wow, I loved it! Best day ever! So at first I wasn’t that keen on going, I mean we were going to be leaving Fremantle at 8.45. Usually meh no biggie. Apart from, this was on a Sunday and trains don’t go regularly on a Sunday. So I would have to get the first train, wait in Perth twenty minutes and then get the first train to Fremantle and be there at like 8:20. Otherwise I would have to wait an hour for the next train…… You can see my hesitation? At first there were three of us going, Rebecca, another study abroad girl and me. The weather forecast was storms, rain, thunder, more rain, wind, rain and more rain. I am talking 100% chance of precipitation here! The night before the other study abroad girl decided not to go. So me and Rebecca were kinda on the fence but after checking the weather report, there was to be no storms! It would be sunny with a 33% chance of rain between 8:30 and 9:30.
We were in! Heading to bed at a ridiculous time in an attempt to brace myself for an early rise(it was still dark out people, five in the morning is not a good time to get up). Of course my plan failed and my brain didn’t want to shut off but I tried! I was woken by a horrendous noise(my alarm) and I wanted to stay in bed. I did have a moment’s hesitation where I was thinking I still had time to cancel. I decided against it and bravely faced the morning. Making my way into Freo was horrendous, I may have dozed a bit but I honestly don’t even care. Arriving at Freo, I decided to get coffee, but oh no it was Sunday would anywhere even be open? Thank you 7Eleven for being 24 Hours and being my saviour and providing me with $2 coffee!
Prepped with coffee I head to Cleos to wait out the time before we were due to leave. A couple of us gathered around waiting for Shane to arrive and we head out. People were driving so me and Rebecca were luckily given a lift up by Shane, in his rusted, busted Ford something or other. The site is called Peeltown, but that is its originally name ie the name of the site and not the actual location. I actually am not allowed to give away the location in case some bottle collector decides to attend this site.
We were delegated jobs so at first I was on sieving. It was good! Essentially the name is what it says on the tin! We sieved, buckets of sand and collected anything of interest and then gave it to the bag people who categorised our findings. We found some cool stuff, we found like shots from a shotgun and a nail and such. Doesn’t seem like much but we were the first people since the eighteen hundreds that touched this stuff! How cool is that?
Well turns out second people to touch it… When I had my go at digging I was pretty nervous that I would destroy some priceless artefact. I did pretty good, a bit slow to start off but that was for fear of taking a chunk out of a vase or something, but it was pretty easy to identify if an object was there and such so was good fun. Essentially the diggers job is to use a trowel and slowly take away the dirt or sand, use a dustpan(we are talking high-tech equipment here guys) to put the material into the buckets which are given to the sievers to sieve. Now I found two different things of note, a bolt(your titanic info came in helpful here dad!) and a lump of charcoal both seem not of note. BUT I had to put them in their own special bag! With special markings and all this kind of stuff. I wasn’t entrusted with the markings of the bag but I got to collect the things and put them in the bag!
So sieving and digging consisted of my day, with a few breaks to carry over buckets. My legs were killing me, my butt was numb and my knees were in bits but I loved every minute of it! Rebecca got attacked by an ant which apparently will bite you and it is extremely sore(we are not actually sure if this is true in hindsight but at the time we were like ahhh). I got completely covered in dirt and had to wash my face before I could get on the train home! It was super fun though and I am already signed up to do another one soon!