Local high school student on Expedition to Idaho
Submitted by Walker Harmon Union County High School student

Walker Harmon (on right) at the buffalo jump excavation site.

Late in the Fall of 2006, UCHS teacher Mrs. Molly Marsh nominated me to participate in the Earthwatch Institute Student Challenge Awards Program (SCAP).

Earthwatch, a non-profit organization that seeks to protect the environment through education, created the program to allow high school students to participate in scientific research projects. Along with seven other teens from around the U.S., I was assigned to the Challis, Idaho Bison Jump archaeological project.

Archeologist Robert Butler, who excavated the site in 1970, concluded that Shoshoni Native Americans used the cliff as a buffalo jump in the early 19th century. However, reanalysis has uncovered several flaws in Butler's conclusion and points to a more complex, older site history. Archeologist Kenneth Cannon and his wife Molly Cannon, a cartographic technician, led the re-excavation. Ken has supervised many archeological projects in the Greater Yellowstone Area and will also be leading a new expedition to northern Mongolia this summer. Oscar Burger, an anthropologist, and forensic entomologist Neal Haskell assisted them on the project. Oscar is most famous for his work with the Pume tribe in southwestern Venezuela and is one of the top ten Pume speakers. Dr. Haskell, one of the founders of the field of forensic entomology, uses maggots to investigate crime scenes and murders.

Before I arrived at the site on June 15, a bulldozer was used to redig a deep trench originally dug by the Butler expedition. When the team arrived at the site, we learned to use a surveying device called an EDM, which archeologists use to map out excavation sites. Next, Ken Cannon marked off three large squares for excavation, two on the south side and a third on the north side of the trench. Using only trowels and brushes, we slowly excavated our assigned squares, making sure to bag all the removed soil. Once labeled, these bags were run through a process called waterscreening. In waterscreening, soil is placed in a large screen and sprayed with a hose. Any material remaining in the screen is then scooped into a plastic ziploc bag, labeled, and stored for further investigation. Among the most important parts of the excavation was maggot puparea collection. Because so many buffalo died at the site there were massive amounts of maggots, leaving large pockets of their pupae in the soil. Dr. Haskell examined the age of the pupae and identified their species to gather data about the site. Although this may seem tedious and did require a lot of paperwork, it was also very interesting, fun, and taught me that a certain amount of paper work is necessary in every career, not just office jobs.

When I arrived, the Challis site was in poor condition. Erosion and poor excavation techniques used by the Butler excavation had wreaked havoc on any bones remaining at the site, leaving us with little more than tooth enamel fragments. Despite this we also recovered an arrowhead, a stone butchering tool, and some larger pieces of bone. Among the most interesting of our finds was a rare and delicate piece of buffalo horn core.

Experiences like these made the expedition the highlight of my summer and taught me that the small things at an archeological site are just as important as the big things. The expedition also mixed fun with learning. The other teenagers and I went bowling, rented a movie, and even had a water balloon fight. By the time the project ended I had become good friends with everyone on the expedition and I hope to meet them again one day. Until then, I'll have to settle for reading the results due out this October.