Archaeology students at The University of Western Australia have gained professional experience through excavation work at a historic settlement in central Greenough, south of Geraldton in Western Australia.
The project, supported by Yamatji Southern Regional Corporation and the National Trust of Western Australia, took place on areas adjacent to heritage buildings.
Professor Alistair Paterson, Chair of Archaeology at UWA, shared his expertise in the historical archaeology of colonial coastal contact and settlement with the students throughout the experience.
“The site was established in the mid-1800s as part of an expansion that occurred with the arrival of convicts,” Professor Paterson said.
“It was characterised at first by a police station, courthouse and jail, which actually held a lot of southern Yamatji people, and then around that was a settlement with churches and a small hamlet.”
The students surveyed and recorded artefacts outside of the jail and courthouse and a store that burned down in the early 20th century.
“The field school is really about beginning to learn the skills of excavation and survey as well object handling,” Professor Paterson said.
“The post-field analysis is done as they move through the program into their third and fourth years.”
Returning to campus the students sorted and examined the artefacts which included a button from a police uniform, beads, children’s toys, part of a telegraph pole, insulators and coins in archaeology lab. They also learn how to process archaeo-environmental samples with the archaeobotany laboratory.
Second year student Rilyn Hawkins said they wrote up a report that could go on their resume as professional experience in the field of archaeology.
“It's been really interesting to have that full process of how we prepare for the field trip, how we get a sense of the site, how we lay out our excavation areas and then the data processing,” Rilyn said.
“There are various other opportunities to actually get hands on experience during the course – just be prepared to have fun and get dirty.”
Third year student Jade Williams, who was drawn to archaeology after attending UWA Open Day, helped guide the second-year students through their first dig.
“We’re showing them the fundamentals how to string up a trench, how to dig and just give them guidance on the whole process as well as be there to answer any questions,” Jade said.
The archaeology field school unit is co-ordinated by Dr Emilie Dotte-Sarout.