Jessica Burns
Jessi Burns is a junior at Colorado College, working toward her BA in Anthropology

Welcome to Oahu! We all arrived safely in Honolulu, and were greeted at the airport by instructor Suzanne Finney. The Maritime Archaeology Survey Techniques (MAST) field school of 2004 is finally underway!

            Our first week was filled with classes, guest speakers, and one field trip.  We were introduced to maritime archaeology through Suzanne’s lectures, and our first guest speaker Sherwood Maynard. Professor Maynard is the director of the Marine Option Program at UH. He talked to us about the history of maritime archaeology at the university. Our second guest speaker was Michael Graves, chair of the Department of Anthropology at UH. Professor Graves spoke about the prehistory of Lana’i, and what we should expect to find while on the beach. Our field trip on Wednesday the 9th, was to the Hawai’i Maritime Center. There, we learned about the maritime history of Hawai’i, and we also were able to investigate an actual sailing ship,  The Falls of Clyde.

            In addition to our speakers and field trip, we were also introduced to the Trimble GPS system. The Trimble is what we will be using while on Lana’i. It allows the user to easily map features, areas, and points. We will be using the Trimble on Lana’i to map different ship wreckage, the shoreline, and other important characteristics of Shipwreck Beach.

            In order to appreciate the capabilities of the Trimble, we also learned to use another method of surveying using the bulkier EDM (electronic distance measurer) and Theodolite surveying equipment used during the 2001 field work on Lana'i. This surveying system requires much concentration, and precision, and is significantly heavier and less mobile than the Trimble units.  Even so, it was valuable to learn other ways to survey.

            On Thursday the 10th, we headed to the other side of the island to take our swim test at Waimanalo Beach. Suzanne’s friend and maritime colleague, Major Don Froning Jr., was there to help us and make sure we could all handle swimming in the ocean.  He will be joining the field project for a few days on Lana'i when we conduct our water survey along Shipwreck Beach.  We all did fine, and Don told us we were all okay to snorkel and map underwater while on Lana’i.

            That concluded our first week on Oahu, and we headed to Lana’i on the 11th.

Kelly Joy
Kelly Joy lives in Vermont and graduated from University of Connecticut in 2003 with a BA in Anthropology with a cultural concentration

Holiday McMains
Holly McMains lives in California and and is finishing up her classes in archaeology at Sonoma State University.