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In the Field |
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Week Two
Welcome to Lana`i! Our first day here was spent unpacking and getting
situated where we were staying. Lana`i is a small, picturesque island
that is about 8 miles by 14 miles. Lana`i City, the only town on Lana`i,
has a population of about 3,000 people, and is situated in the middle of
the island.
Our first day was spent touring the island in the two trucks we
were renting. One was a Forerunner, and the other was an old beat up
F350 truck that we endearingly called "the Behemoth." In the morning of our second day, we
headed down for our first look at Shipwreck Beach! We only walked down a
little way, but it was great to get our first glimpse of the area we
would be working at for the next two weeks. The ferro-cement tanker
laying on the reef is huge, and easily visible from almost everywhere on
the beach! Later in the day, we drove to the other side of the island to
check out Hulopo`e Bay, and the beach located there.
We started our first day of actual mapping on the 13th.
Each day of mapping consisted of pretty much the same routine. We would
get up, make sure we had all our gear, and head to Shipwreck Beach. Each
day we mapped various things, such as the shoreline, areas of ship
wreckage and/or modern trash, and important features, like pieces of
disarticulated timber or specific fasteners. We also discovered a few
fishing shacks off the coast that are used by local fishermen and often
constructed from the flotsam and jetsam found along the beach.
Besides using the Trimble’s, we also took photos of each of the
features that we mapped. In the evenings, we would match up the photos
with the GPS coordinates of each feature. It was tedious work, but worth
it in order to see all the hard work we had accomplished.
Some highlights of our week of mapping/surveying included when
Concetta discovered a message in a bottle from a German man, who could
have possibly been on a cruise through the Hawaiian Islands. It was
interesting to find it washed up on Shipwreck Beach, along with all the
other trash we found there.
Our hardest day of terrestrial mapping was definitely the 15th.
We split up into two teams: Concetta, Kelly, and Jessi hiked with Ben,
and Jen, Ginger, and Holly hiked with Suzanne. Ben’s group headed down
to the farthest point that we had gone (a little over three miles down
the beach) to map the coastline. Concetta and Kelly had the difficult
task of climbing over and around a huge lava field, trying to avoid the
waves while mapping the coastline. Suzanne’s group was also doing a
huge amount of work further down the beach. They mapped nearly 40
features over a stretch of beach a little over a mile long. It was
definitely an intense, but productive day.
All in all, over our week and a half (week two and the beginning
of week three) of surveying, we mapped over three miles of coastline,
with over 150 features. It was very hard, but worthwhile work, and
we are eagerly anticipating seeing the results of our hard work when we
return to O`ahu and prepare the final report.
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More than a Message for Concetta: It was our first day hiking on Shipwreck Beach. Being that is was our first day out there, I was excited to look at all of the neat things that had washed up onto shore. We were about to stop for lunch, when a plastic bottle, of what looked to be the remains of an Orangina, caught my eye. It looked as though the label had been torn off and stuffed inside. I bent down to examine it, and realized it contained a postcard with a dollar bill. I called out in excitement, and unscrewed the cap. Apparently, a German business man (he added his business card as well) had thrown it off a cruise he was taking. Suzanne took GPS coordinates, so when I send the postcard back to him, I can tell him exactly where it was found. This was my first experience of what interesting and thought provoking material one can find on Shipwreck Beach. This has been my first time in any type of archaeological field school, and it is something that I hope to pursue in the future. It has been an amazing experience so far.
Kelly's Two Cents: So far this trip has been an extremely rewarding experience. It has been full of new friendships, new information, and many physically challenging environments. My most memorable experience thus far was the day that Concetta, Jessi, and I mapped the three mile section of coastline. It was incredibly slippery, rocky, and slightly nerve racking. The main challenge was overcoming your instincts when a wave came crashing toward you. When that happened, you had to turn to face the wave rather than put your back to it, in order to keep the GPS equipment from getting wet. But, it was rewarding to come home and see our data from that day on the computer-we all definitely slept well that night! |
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 Practicing trilateration on some disarticulated timber along the shore |
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 Two winches we mapped that are from an old steam ship wreck |
