March 27, 2018 Progress Report (Ana Marcela Goeller)
LAB ARRANGEMENT
· Ordered new necessary supplies for students and optimized lab/center for efficiency and adequate work space, as well as organization of supplies and cabinets for student/faculty use and lab course activities
· File cabinet—all student resources, blank forms, old site reports, other data organized in one location (in progress near completion)
· Cabinets with bone casts organized and re-catalogued and labeled (in progress to be completed spring quarter)
· Old catalogs transferred to new CAA google account, and new cataloging system created for artifacts
· New standardized way of inputting information into the online catalog created and implemented for all collections, and artifact tags updated and put in use for all new sites
PROMO MATERIALS/ONLINE PRESENCE
· Flyers created and distributed
· Website for the CAA recreated and maintained featuring resources for students, photos and current information on student-driven research and outreach projects
ARTIFACT COLLECTIONS
· 3 new/unfinished sites (Pescadero Cabin, 810/H, and Long Ridge) re-catalogued or completed cataloging, utilizing new cataloging/tagging system created by students. Student projects of artifact analysis of these sites completed under course ANTH 57.
· Pescadero site – students cleaned and properly separated artifacts from an old excavation (1994) that previously had no organization and had been untouched for over 20 years; then the artifacts from both the 1994 excavation and the 2014-2016 excavations/surveys were regrouped, re-bagged, and retagged according to the new cataloging system created by those students. They were entered into a final master catalog, following the new standards, and given new catalog numbers. Of the 1994 artifacts, additional data recording was done in the form of precise measurements and drawings. Efforts to have Pescadero formally recognized as an archaeological site by the state of California have begun. At this point, students are working on identifying the dates of some of the artifacts (pottery, bullet casings, glass bottles) so that a relative date of initial occupation may be established and attributed to the suspected cabin owner, Iverson. These specific examples will then be photographed, illustrated, and included in the official report to be completed and sent to MROSD (Midpen) the following quarter.
· Mammoth collection – significant progress has been made in the student-led initiative to clean and catalog the mammoth bones in the lab, of which several boxes of finds need to be completed. A cleaning process for removing the dirt and debris from the sub-fossilized bone has been refined and implemented by students as the standardized procedure moving forward, as one was not in place prior to Spring 2017. The contents of the boxes have also been re-organized and grouped according to each grid of the unit.
· Faunal osteology collection – faunal remains have been processes to be added to the faunal osteology collection housed in the anthropology laboratory, and new techniques for fully cleaning the remaining skeletal system are being developed and implemented. The collection will soon see further organization in the upcoming quarter. Specimens that had not been properly cleaned from previous years were separated and processed to be reintegrated with the collection. An inventory of the unprocessed specimens held on campus was also completed.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH/STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
· The CAA lab coordinator and Anthropology Club president designed a program to bring instruction in anthropology to sixth graders at a dual-immersion Spanish/English elementary and middle school. There were two sets of 30 students with an hour and a half of allotted time each for the CAA student volunteers, staff, and club president to present. A brief overview on the study of anthropology and its importance was given in lecture-form to the class before the students were separated into groups to complete the activities representing each of the four sub-fields of anthropology. Terminology was taught in both Spanish and English, tying in to the dual-immersion program of this school. Time was spent creating simulation digs with “artifacts” of smashed pottery for an activity in archaeology (for this, the students worked with the ceramics department gathering old pottery to be used); 30 trays in total were created. Another student created a Rosetta Stone-type language puzzle in runes as an exercise in the fieldwork of linguistic anthropology. For cultural anthropology, two other students volunteered to guide the class in a rope-making activity to teach about the daily work that local Native American populations engaged in. Lastly, a lecture was given by the club president on hominin evolution and the origin of modern sapiens, complete with visual images and skull casts of early hominins, the great apes, and humans.
· The CAA has additionally seen more student involvement in the 2017-2018 school year. Since the center is now open longer hours four days a week, the space is available for students to utilize for studying, learning, independent projects, and completing work as research associates or volunteers. The CAA has become the core of a community of dedicated, passionate students in anthropology and related disciplines as they conduct important research and learn skills and methodologies that will be useful in their future careers. Word-of-mouth and promotional materials have also helped grow the presence of the CAA on campus, providing a space committed to the growth and education of students in anthropology through hands-on opportunities to become more involved and embark on their own research projects.