FCC Jamestowne Society’s Fall Meeting was held on Saturday, October 28, 2023 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Buena Park. The guest speaker was R. Scott Baxter, M.A., R.P.A, his topic: “What Archaeologists Really Do”. Scott has 32 years of experience serving as principal investigator, project excavation manager, and researcher on environmental, historical, archaeological, and architectural history throughout the West.
In his introduction, Scott said there are over 7600 archaeologists in the United States. About 20% are in academia; another 2800 are in Cultural Resource Management. Those in CRM, which is Scott’s focus, are employed by various agencies, such as State and National Parks, BLM, Forest Service, Cal-fire, and Caltrans. STEPS IN CRM (Cultural Resource Management): Inventory: What is at the site: buildings, dump pits-how many and what size; mine shafts, slag piles, lumber? What else might need to be inventoried and evaluated on a site: artifacts-cans, bottles, buttons, marbles; features-large boulders, trees, rock art, etc. One quite outstanding object inventoried was a set of dentures on the side of a road where they worked.
Evaluation: Historical research-maps/records, census data, are useful tools utilized in analysis of sites. Remote sensing with GPR (ground penetrating radar) helps locate objects. Digging-using screens to sift through recovered soil. How large is the feature being evaluated. Mitigation: A great example of this is the town of Timbuctoo, a
mining town built on the Yuba River in Yuba County whose hay day was in the 1850s. The town is registered as a California Historical Landmark, but has been poorly preserved. A bridge on the Timbuctoo Road washed away in 2008, cutting off access to the town from the West. In 2014, it was repaired, thus mitigating the disruption the loss of the bridge had caused.
PROJECTS:
During his presentation, Scott discussed some of the various projects on which he has worked: mission period adobes, mining sites, highway restorations, Chinese Encampments, to name a few. During one improvement project, his team discovered a “scoaw scooner” in the San Franciso Bay. The ”scooners” came around the Horn in the 1800’s, bringing supplies and passengers. They were often abandoned by the crew, who went to seek their fortunes in the California Gold Fields. This resulted in many “scooners” being scuttled.
Forensic Anthropology:
Scott discussed his and his wife, Kim’s, volunteer work with DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency). They have traveled to Poland and Germany processing the sites of downed B-17’s with other archaeologists from throughout the world, looking for any remains that would support documentation of a downed pilot or crew member. So far, in the past three years, they have been able to bring closure to three families who now know for certain what happened to their loved one.
