Protecting Michigan State's Material Culture
This past week we collected a number of bottles from the recent construction at the Brody Complex. This isn’t the first time we’ve been called out to this area, and it likely won’t be the last. The Brody Complex is built on the site of …
On June 7th during an excavation in West Circle Drive we recovered a paperclip. Now, you should know that we don’t keep anything that is definitely modern. We don’t keep the crushed beer cans from tailgating or the McDonald’s straws from littering. We did keep …
Navigating campus this summer has been an adventure. While Construction Junction has posed some challenges for drivers and pedestrians alike, we at Campus Archaeology love these opportunities to excavate alongside construction crews: surveying under sidewalks is made considerably easier with their helpful removal of pavement, and on occasion they even backfill for us (the archaeologist’s least favorite activity)!
Construction is proceeding at a fast and furious pace, with most projects on – if not ahead of – schedule. This presents us with some unique challenges that are, as David Ives would say, “all in the timing”. With multiple projects all across campus, all moving ahead at their own rates, one of the main responsibilities of the Campus Archaeologist is to monitor these changes – in some cases, even before they occur – so that these publicly-funded construction projects can proceed as smoothly as possible. So: how does she do it?
A: lots of meetings, lots of e mails, and daily tours of campus.
1. Construction Junctions. Everyone – MSU student, employee, fan, or neighbor – is invited to attend the monthly meetings about campus construction projects. (Anyone who knows why ‘Construction Junctions’ is a fantastic name for this joint venture gets a high five from this archaeologist.) Along with those monthly meetings are weekly emails, summarizing major changes in traffic flow. At these meetings we find out about upcoming projects (and get to see all the best new campus additions), and can ear-mark both upcoming fieldwork and archival research: hearing about the demolition of the State Police Depot – including the stables and police lodgings – gave us some great research ideas (did you know that the police lodgings had a pool?).
2. Unit Cost Projects. While large projects (like steam tunnel removal) are the focus of Construction Junctions updates, for those every day “small” projects – drain replacements, sidewalk removals, new loading docks – the Unit Cost are some of the fastest moving projects on campus. We receive updates detailing the work ahead, and the priorities for the upcoming week. A sidewalk removal may be replaced later that day (remember, we can’t excavate under it until it’s been removed!) so frequent visits to key points of interest, and remaining in close contact with project managers, are key.
3. Archival research. Just because someone, somewhere on campus, is building, demolishing, or redoing something doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll find Campusu Archaeology at work there. The campus landscape that we see today has a number of hidden, below-ground dimensions that have altered the land beneath. While the steam tunnels are a perfect example of this, street lighting, sewers, and communication tunnels are just three examples of what lies beneath the placid tree spaces and busy sidewalks of campus. And as much as we appreciate having street lights and sewers, where these are found Campus Archaeology is not going to find much else. To save ourselves from accidentally “discovering” electrical lines and sewers, we constantly consult maps of campus. In this example, construction between Eustace-Cole and Marshall-Adams has opened up an area that we rarely see.
At first we were quite interested – The buildings are well over 100 years old – but then we looked at the maps from the MSU Physical Plant, and found this:
Electrical, communication, and power lines. As much fun as it is to excavate, in this example excitement is nullified by 1) the realization that we already know what we will find – i.e., electrical lines, and 2) the visualization of putting a metal shovel through one of these electrical lines.
We chose not to investigate that area further – although we do continue to peak through fences into new and widening construction holes. Just in case.
4. Campus walk-abouts. The final way we keep tabs on upcoming and ongoing field work is also why, if you’re ever lost on campus, it may be wise to ask the archaeologist. One of the best parts of this job is the daily walks around campus. (I try not to think of it as “surveying my domain”.) Sometimes maps, photos, and descriptions just aren’t as useful as looking at something yourself. The route varies but in June has tended to follow West Circle Drive to Chestnut Lane, the steps of the Hannah Administration Building (all of the previous on foot), over to the dorms on the East side, then a look in at Spartan Village.
All this, and PhD research too? The Campus Archaeology Program has a lot of work on its hands. Thankfully, MSU employees are some of the most knowledgeable University fans, and helpful suggestions and resources come our way with gratifying frequency. Last Friday an unknown campus pedestrian stopped to ask us about our conclusions regarding this 1×2 m test excavation:
Lots of 19th century building material, used as fill. But filling what?
The inquiring visitor came by again ten minutes later, this time with a period photo of the area, and pointed out the pond visible in just that location… Many thanks to our mystery historian!
If you have some MSU history to share, or are curious to see what we’re learning, stop by our excavations!
Author: Charlotte Cable
As archaeologists, we often appear as curious creatures to those individuals who are unfamiliar with our work. Unlike most professions whose employees call a cubicle their home base, archaeologists spend their days out in the field digging holes or trenches, but only when our heads …
Campus Archaeology, like Santa Claus and your 4-year-old, never sleeps. Nor does work take a summer vacation, even when Campus Archaeologist Katy Meyers and Program Director Lynne Goldstein leave the country to pursue other research (you can read about Katy here). In these trying times, …
On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Campus Archaeology will be excavating along the North side of West Circle Drive, across from Morrill Hall. As part of the West Circle Steam Tunnel Reconstruction project, the crews are going to be redoing a number of the sidewalks within the Sacred Space, and pulling up the roads. As they remove the concrete, CAP will be going in a doing survey of what is underneath, and what is around.
Removal of sidewalks is a great way to find archaeological material. When historic material is buried beneath the ground in open spaces, it can easily be disturbed by human or natural forces. However, when sidewalks are put down, the historic material is protected. It was during a sidewalk removal that CAP discovered the foundations of College Hall beneath Beaumont Tower. While we don’t think we will find any buildings during this excavation, it is highly likely that we will discover a variety of historic artifacts from the early campus. So far, survey of West Circle Drive has revealed small pockets of historical material, like window glass, ceramics, nails and brick. As we get closer in our survey to the area where the 1850’s campus once stood, we find more of this material.
This is all part of an extensive dig we have been doing of the West Circle area. Not only are we protecting the historic campus by removing archaeological material that might be destroyed, but we are also gaining a better knowledge of the area. At the end of this large survey we will be able to have a good idea of what was in this area, and create more dynamic maps.
Come out and visit us Wednesday and Thursday south of the Union! If you can’t come out, you can always follow our twitter feed to see where we are, who is digging and updates on what we are finding: @capmsu
Author: Katy Meyers Emery
You may have noticed that there is some major work being done on West Circle Drive over the next few months at MSU. For most of May and June, Campus Archaeology is going to be working with the construction teams to make sure that this …
An archaeological survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of human activity in the past. On MSU, this means that we survey in order to find the historic campus sites as well …
Today, Thursday and Friday the Campus Archaeology team will be doing archaeological survey at Walter Adams Field on MSU’s campus. The project was set in motion when the physical plant and landscape services decided to replace, add and renovate the irrigation system at Adam’s field.
Adams Filed has long been a central point of campus for student life. It is a large open field, dedicated to providing space for activities and general campus beatification. Its namesake Walter Adams, was a distinguished economics professor at MSU from 1947, and served as president from April 1, 1969 to January 1, 1970. He was also an honorary member of the Spartan Marching Band, and frequently led the band from this field to Spartan Stadium (Stanford and Dewhurst 2002). In 1999, this field was rededicated as Walter Adams Field. Before that, it was informally known as Landon Field, and before that, Old Drill Field (Stanfird and Dewhurst 2002). It has housed various student, athletic, and social and political events, including a rally in 2008 for the election campaign of the current President of the United States, Barack Obama.
The history of Adams Field is a long one, starting with the construction of campus in 1856. At that time, campus was a series of old growth mixed oak and pine forests that shaded the Red Cedar River. The first job for the construction crews (at that time students) was to clear cut areas where building construction was to take place. The primary area that was cleared was for the first and second buildings on campus, College Hall and Saints Rest respectively. This area is now call, the “Sacred Space”. The second area to be cleared was located to the west of College Hall, and is now called Adams Field. In 1959 a map was made through the process of combining sources such as USGS maps, early campus depictions and journal entries that shows what campus would have looked like on opening day, May 13th, 1857. In this map, the two clear cut fields are shown as described above. Also displayed are 4 faculty houses, which would later become Faculty Row, as well as Burcham Cabin, which is located approximately where the music building is today. A second map of early campus comes to us from 1878, and was created by A. Zeese and Company in Chicago. This map displays the area of Adams field as ‘cultivated’ in their key, with a southern slope running to the Red Cedar River. In this map, more faculty houses are displayed in Faculty Row, with Cowles house located in the north east of the Adams Field area. The Burcham cabin is not displayed.
Skipping ahead a few years to 1896, a map of bird nests on campus displays a parade and ball ground directly west of Cowles house and on the eastern side of Adams Field. The western side of Adams field is labeled as ‘hollow’. From the turn of the century on, the area now known as Adams Field was kept an open field, used for various student and athletic events, including the main drill field for the Spartan marching band.
Now that you know the history behind this wonderful part of historic MSU, come out and see what kind of history we are unearthing! Look for the Campus Archaeology flag, and bring questions and hot coffee!
References
For students, first week of any field school is a process of getting your feet wet, getting to understand your surroundings, getting to know your crew mates, and starting to get a feel for how archaeology works. For the directors and supervisors, it’s a time …