by Robert Salzer (with Grace Rajnovich)
Avoca, WI--Nearly all of you know that we had a rough summer in 1996. We wound up with so few volunteers that we were in danger of shutting the field season down early. Each year, it is normal for us to go into the field without having funds firmly locked in. We usually get volunteers signing up during the summer.
We projected what sort of numbers we have gotten in the past and, like every year, we plunged into the excavations. Knowing, however, that we might not get enough volunteers, Grace "micro-managed" our income and expenditures on a weekly basis so we had an opportunity to cancel fieldwork before running into the red.
When financial matters warranted, I sent out a special plea for funds. The response was simply overwhelming! Donations from $10 to $5000 started to appear in the mail. The demands of fieldwork made it simply impossible for me to respond to each of you, but I hope that you will understand. Thank you all so very much!
We received enough help that it was possible for us to run an extra week of fieldwork and that made it possible to dig down to Feature 100 - the earliest massive burnings of the L Zone and the best evidence so far for the earliest extensive ritual use of the shelter.
One person could not help financially, but he did do a wonderful thing. David McJunkin, Director of the University of Wisconsin Radiocarbon Lab in Madison, made a "deal" with the lab at the University of Arizona. They agreed to run 16 AMS (Accelerated Mass Spectrometer) dates for us, at a greatly reduced cost (see "The New Bunch of Dates" article below. - ed.) .
AMS dates cost about $700 each but David spent many long hours processing our samples and changing the charcoal into graphite so the assays could be run. Received in the form of graphite, the people at Tucson agreed to charge us only $200 for each assay, saving us a total of $8000! Also, Beloit College Faculty Development Fund and the donors to the project provided us with the $3200 to cover the remaining costs.
The College and the Logan Museum of Anthropology also chipped in to help us pay the wages for [field assistants] Kirsten Brown and Andrea Pizza, with funds totaling $3500.
So the State of the Site is one of profound gratitude! Thank you, everyone.
There is both good news and bad news about funds for 1997. The good news is that, in November 1996, Chloris Lowe (President of the Ho-Chunk Nation) and his assistant, Francis Steindorf met with me (see "Ho-Chunk are Proud" article below. - ed.).
After a brief tour of the rockshelter (it was cold!) we spent about four hours in Lila's Cafe in Muscoda. President Lowe offered to fund the Gottschall research, in whole or in part, for the duration of the project! He also offered to let us use the Nation's ground-penetrating radar, and to provide an operator. He also thought it would be possible to provide volunteers to help keep the fieldwork moving ahead in a timely manner.
The bad news: I read in a newspaper that Mr. Lowe had been removed from office by the Ho-Chunk Council. I am continuing to work on getting help from Native Americans, and from other sources, but we have obviously suffered a major disappointment.
Plans for this summer are in place. We will continue to explore the burnings on top of the L Zone. Thanks to Bill Gartner's help last summer, we are aware that the floor has been scarred by several flooding episodes and, despite our lengthy field session, we are still not sure that we have all of this burned floor exposed. Much of it appears to have been washed away, but it looks as if we are getting fragments of it. Last summer's efforts produced only one artifact in direct association with the floor and that is a broken portion of an undiagnostic burned bifacial tool. We will be digging through this floor, down into the L Zone, and it is possible that we may even find earlier evidence of ritual activity there.
We will also continue to excavate underneath the paintings (S21W10). This is a particularly exciting area, since nearly all of the dirts we have encountered are "pure" anthroseds. Based on our experiences elsewhere, this should mean that there is something really important there, but we have no idea what it might be. Last summer, I suggested that this looks like a sort of "path" that may lead to the hole in the southeast corner of the shelter. My comment was only partly flippant. We know that there is a hole and we know that it should be about where we are digging. Unfortunately, we will not be able to answer this question for some time.
The rest of our planning is dependent on the number of volunteers that we can get for the summer. We have enough work to keep at least six units going all summer, but we have been averaging only about two volunteers per week. So, if you know of someone who is interested in volunteering, let me know.
Last semester, Kirsten Brown organized volunteers to help catalog and label artifacts. This semester, Nick Chambers and Stephanie Battle have organized the volunteers. We are getting a lot done, but there is a substantial backlog to catch up on. In addition, I am working with three students who are currently sorting sherds according to the vessels that they come from and are reconstructing larger pieces of the pots by gluing the sherds together. This will give us a better idea of the size and shapes of the pots involved. I am trying to keep up with them by recording the piece-plot proveniences of the sherds from each vessel. The work goes slowly, but we are making great progress.
The quality of the living conditions that archaeologists encounter is very important to the research. Our landlord, Dusan Markovich, is a strong supporter of the project. He built two, very elegant, outdoor showers for us, and put a new floor in the bathroom. In November, when I met with Chloris Lowe, I stopped by the headquarters and found that additional major improvements were under construction. It looks as if the house has been provided with new wiring. The kitchen was being remodeled. The back porch is now paneled in knotty pine. There is a new roof and siding boards have been replaced boards have been replaced and the house has been painted. I can't wait to find out what else Dusan has done to improve our living conditions, but he certainly deserves our very deep gratitude.
If the success of the a research program is measured by the generosity of people, then the Gottschall Project is a winner. Thanks to all of you who continue to give of yourselves in such unselfish ways! After 13 field seasons, it is now clear that as many as 16 more such expeditions will be required to complete the task that we have begun. Digging under the destroyed paintings is depressing, but the work must continue.
THE 2001 GOTTSCHALL SITE FIELD PROGRAM
We desperately need Field Workers, Lab Workers, and Donors to help again at Gottschall this coming field season. The Field Program will run for 10 weeks, beginning on the 20th of May and running until the 27th of July. Volunteers are asked to commit themselves for one or more full weeks. A "primer" is provided to new volunteers to orient them to how field research and lab work proceeds at Gottschall.
The weekly fee of $150 per person per week covers the cost of transportation to and from the site, supplies, utilities, gas and oil, repairs to the mechanical equipment, film and processing, mailings, and other necessary items. There is optional bed-and-board on site for an additional $150 per week, which includes food, housing, and all necessary equipment.
Field volunteer applications can be obtained by writing to Prof. Robert Salzer, Department of Anthropology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit WI 53511; or by calling Dr. Salzer at the college (608) 363-2616, or at home (608) 362-8812.
Each year, we ask for volunteers to help in the excavations. Prior field experience is desired but not necessary. All volunteers are tightly supervised and are sent a field manual to be prepared in advance for the work that they will do.
In 2001, we will begin our volunteer program on 20 May and continue for each of the ten weeks in the field session. We need 6 to 10 volunteers during each of those weeks, but we seldom fill our quota. Anyone interested should contact:
Robert J. Salzer, PhD Professor of Anthropology Beloit College 700 College Beloit, Wisconsin 53511 Phone: (608) 363-2616 office (608) 363-2718 fax email: salzerrj@beloit.edu (After 10 May) P.O. Box 98 Avoca, WI 53506 (608) 532-6385 Your donations to support the continuing Gottschall Site research can be sent to Prof. Robert Salzer, Department of Anthropology, Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit WI 53511. Please reference Beloit College Account 04-1200-4101 on your check to ensure credit to the Gottschall Site program.
article copyright ©1997 Robert Salzer