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Binna Park
Major: Economics
Reading History through Excavated Artifacts
College Park Scholars – Earth, Life, and Time Program
I worked as an intern at the Department of Anthropology’s
Archeology lab at Woods Hall located on campus.
My job consisted of washing, bagging, and labeling old artifacts excavated
in Annapolis, Maryland suring the summer of 2004. After all the artifacts were carefully washed with toothbrush
and water, they were placed on dry racks to let dry. Once they have dried, they were bagged by appropriate
categories. The artifacts included: bricks, animal bones, metals, pieces
of clothes, pottery pieces, glass, and plastics. Some artifacts were subject to disposal, such as brick, mortar, coal,
oyster shells, clinkers, and slag. Theses were discarded after their weight, count, and site address had been properly
recorded. These paper records were also bagged.
Following these steps, the artifacts were labeled using white acrylic paint and pen by their site name, which is simply
the unit and feature code of the excavated area.
Many artifacts had special characteristics or distinguished appearances that facilitated
sorting of the artifacts. For instance, metal objects were identified by their
magnetic abilities, and slag were identified by their apparent air pockets and metal inserts.
However, one difficulty I faced while performing these steps was to identify other artifacts that did not have a clear,
distinguished identity. Many artifacts were extremely alike in their appearances. For example, some of the hard, solidified coals were difficult to tell apart from
black rocks. Furthermore, clinkers and mortars’ rough texture and white
shade were often mistaken for each another.
Working at the archeology lab analyzing old
artifacts was a completely new and unique experience for me, and a great one. Many
factors made working at the archeology lab exciting and fun. I was also able
to work in a friendly atmosphere with my fellow ELT members, which made what could have been a tedious lab work a delightful
one.
Trip to The National Zoo
By attending this field trip, I learned that there are many efforts made by human beings to conserve
environments most suitable for animals, especially those that are endangered. For example, they provided a seperate habitat
for pandas. They even had a group of scholars and reearchers who studies the bears' natural habits and behaviors to make the
environment most friendly for the animals. The animal caretakers go through hard work to keep the animals in the best condition,
such as bathing them and frequently checking on their health. Additionally, they provided many different rooms or areas of
certain temperature or environment (ie. pools) for the animals. This allows the animals to freely select the environment most
fit for them, and for the researchers, they are able to study why and when the animals choose to live in that environment.
One unfortunate aspect is that becuase the zoo is apparently not a natural habitat for these animals, the result of the research
is not fully accurate. I was surprised by all the efforts people put in to preserve biodiversity in the world. Hopefully,
their efforts will lead to success in shortening the endnagered animals list.
we went to see birds and mammals (pandas, as i mentioned above). some of the mammals were removed from outdoor
cages due to whether (like seals). Likewise, some of the birds were pounded indoors, for reasons I never found out duriong
the trip. The zookeepers also used cables/wires instead of glass to keep the birds from feeling confined. Some
of the mammals, like otters, were given pools.
My Favorites
Favorite Band or Musician: none
Favorite TV show: none
Favorite movie: none
Favorite book: none
Favorite sports team: none
Favorite food: none
My Hobbies
none
Most Admired
none
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