Our crew on Google Earth:
My team.
Wednesday, 16 July 2014
Tuesday, 8 July 2014
Rules for Artefacts
During 2014 fieldwork we had a reoccuring problem with the camera. Great camera, great people but still had great big problems. At one point the view finder was obscured so I took of the lens and a small black piece of platic fell out. Ever after everyone had great difficulty in focusing, both with auto-focus and manual focus. Landscape image were generally okay, but artefact pictures not so much.
For example:
Very useful. Some blurry images you can still used, at least to an extent, to create line art of the artefacts. Blurry images cannot help you diagnostically though, that is why it is so very important to also do a field drawing of recorded artefacts.
Well done for Jeff and all the crew (Gwen, Chris, and Chloe) for sticking to it and making these wonderful and important conponents of the archaeological record. Thank you.
For example:
Well done for Jeff and all the crew (Gwen, Chris, and Chloe) for sticking to it and making these wonderful and important conponents of the archaeological record. Thank you.
Monday, 7 July 2014
The Sunkist Fruit Sticker
As far as artefacts go a fruit sticker, found on one of the sites from the
2014 field season, is probably the youngest I have ever looked up. They have
been in use since the 1990s.
During my childhood my family liked to line up the sticker on the side of the refrigerator, creating a timeline of the different fruits we ate through a particular period. My mother would wipe the slate, so to speak, frequently, but we continued the practice well into the time we left home and returned for extra rations from the supermarket of mom.
I digress.
I learned quite a lot from this little sticker. Firstly, what those numbers under the barcode present, a livelong question only answered today because I finally took the time to find out. The numbers are product look-up codes and represent a standardized number for all fruits and vegetables. The number for a variant of a particular fruit is the same no matter the location, California or Georgia. The International Federation for Produce Standards has taken the codes even further, meaning a product code will be the same in the United States as it is in the United Kingdom.
The above sticker gives the product code number of 4383 which represents the Minneola variety of a tangelo. Minneola is on the sticker, as is USA, but I had first assumed that was its place of origin (it is from the USA). A tangelo is a 3 to 3.5 inch cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine. According to Sunkist they are in production from December to March. Our fieldwork commenced in April, which means the sticker is only a couple of months old.
During my childhood my family liked to line up the sticker on the side of the refrigerator, creating a timeline of the different fruits we ate through a particular period. My mother would wipe the slate, so to speak, frequently, but we continued the practice well into the time we left home and returned for extra rations from the supermarket of mom.
I digress.
I learned quite a lot from this little sticker. Firstly, what those numbers under the barcode present, a livelong question only answered today because I finally took the time to find out. The numbers are product look-up codes and represent a standardized number for all fruits and vegetables. The number for a variant of a particular fruit is the same no matter the location, California or Georgia. The International Federation for Produce Standards has taken the codes even further, meaning a product code will be the same in the United States as it is in the United Kingdom.
The above sticker gives the product code number of 4383 which represents the Minneola variety of a tangelo. Minneola is on the sticker, as is USA, but I had first assumed that was its place of origin (it is from the USA). A tangelo is a 3 to 3.5 inch cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine. According to Sunkist they are in production from December to March. Our fieldwork commenced in April, which means the sticker is only a couple of months old.
Monday, 2 June 2014
Harris Ranch Barbed Wire
Three varieties of barb wire observed at Harris Ranch as identified via the Barbed Wire Identification Encyclopedia. by Harold L Hagemeier, (Fifth Edition).
Gliddens Round Single Strand - Patent #RE 6913
Curtis Half Twist Half Round Barb - Patent #470,747. Less confident as it is hard to tell if the barbs have been twisted 1/2 turn, or rather I am not sure of what that would look like.
Not too sure on this one as only have the single barb to go by, but proably a Curtis variation.
Gliddens Round Single Strand - Patent #RE 6913
California State Library.
Whew. These last few months have been a whirlwind!
From March to May, I was in California doing research and field work. The first part was spent in Sacramento, California at the State Library and the State Archive. At the California State Library, I spent a good amount of time in the California History Room. Overall the experience was very good. The library has several differant card catologue systems, on physical cards. There are always treasures to be found on the old card systems. In addition to the standard photo copier they have microfilm and book scanners that allow you to either email the page or save it to a flash drive. This system saved a lot of time and money. If you have research to do I highly suggest the California State Library.
From March to May, I was in California doing research and field work. The first part was spent in Sacramento, California at the State Library and the State Archive. At the California State Library, I spent a good amount of time in the California History Room. Overall the experience was very good. The library has several differant card catologue systems, on physical cards. There are always treasures to be found on the old card systems. In addition to the standard photo copier they have microfilm and book scanners that allow you to either email the page or save it to a flash drive. This system saved a lot of time and money. If you have research to do I highly suggest the California State Library.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Busy, Busy, Busy
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of preparation: of working on Harris Ranch, both compiling the site record together and creating maps for the documents at well. So far the entire document, without reference is over 8 thousand words. I am really hoping that it will not all languish in an appendix in my final thesis.
Today also marks the last day of eight straight days of teaching, although not all of it academic. The experience has given me new perspective into the future life I wish to live. A time to be reflective if you like, something highly encouraged from the start of my doctoral work.
The best part strangely was teaching a small group of Masters Students my theoretical approach. One person in the group was strongly against my ideas, and was not afraid to observe in his opinion were the short fallings. I disagreed with most of what he said, but I could at least understand from where his own theoretical background was founded. My dad used to say, usually after he had again beaten me soundly, "You learn nothing when you win at chess, but always something when you lose."
For this one moment it was nice to have a bit of opposition to my ideas. Not that one would like that all the time, but when you are preparing for the next big conference or paper, a think tank was invigorating.
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
A link to Stockton - The Stockton Fire Brick Factory
Several different kinds of branded firebricks are scattered around Harris Ranch. They include:
An unknown "N..." branded brick.
A "DIABLO" branded brick.
Two different versions of "CARNEGIE" branded brick.
Both the "DIABLO" and "CARNEGIE" bricks were produced by the Stockton Fire Brick Company and each has a very interesting company biography.
"CARNEGIE" was originally manufactured by the Carnegie Brick & Pottery Factory of Carnegie, California (now a ghost town) who were in operation from 1902 to 1911. According to the linked website the many of the former employees of Carnegie Brick & Pottery went on to work for the Stockton Fire Brick Company.
"DIABLO" was originally produced by the Stockton Fire Brick Company. The company was sold to Gladding, McBean and Co (Jim Graves) in 1942. Gladdings, McBean and Co continued production of the brand for an unknown time. Through various mergers and transitions the company is still in operations today under the name of Gladdings, McBean.
An unknown "N..." branded brick.
Two different versions of "CARNEGIE" branded brick.
Both the "DIABLO" and "CARNEGIE" bricks were produced by the Stockton Fire Brick Company and each has a very interesting company biography.
"CARNEGIE" was originally manufactured by the Carnegie Brick & Pottery Factory of Carnegie, California (now a ghost town) who were in operation from 1902 to 1911. According to the linked website the many of the former employees of Carnegie Brick & Pottery went on to work for the Stockton Fire Brick Company.
"DIABLO" was originally produced by the Stockton Fire Brick Company. The company was sold to Gladding, McBean and Co (Jim Graves) in 1942. Gladdings, McBean and Co continued production of the brand for an unknown time. Through various mergers and transitions the company is still in operations today under the name of Gladdings, McBean.
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