Hello folks,
I'm writing you from Vancouver, Canada - greetings. I am an archaeobotanist who is entering a project with a local First Nation that has been excavating a large and unprecedented plant processing site. There are both wet and dry site components. I myself have worked only on dry sites and largely with macroremains. My role in the project is to help figure out sampling and processing for the wet site macroremains (and suggest where to sample and arrange for microremain analysis, as appropriate) and to teach members of the Nation to process and analyse these remains. It's a long term ongoing type of project. My questions are very rudimentary with regards to doing work in a wet site context. The matrix is very peaty and I am unsure how to proceed with either sampling or processing (eg. what size of samples to aim for, should we try water seiving before going to the microscope, are there specific techniques for macroscopic analysis of wet plant materials?), though I am gaining ideas from reading the British/European literature. Any help with references or anecdotal experience would be very much appreciated. I will be at the upcoming Society for American Archaeology meetings as well as at the World Arky Congress in Dublin this summer - I'd be happy to buy beers in exchange for knowledge! And of course I can be contacted at this address.
Very much appreciated.
Sincerely,
Natasha Lyons
Post-doctoral Fellow, Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
E: [log in to unmask]
T: 604.871.9822
