Explore a Day in the Life of TRCA Archaeology

It’s July 28, 2017 — happy Day of Archaeology!

In this annual online event, people around the world who work, study or volunteer in archaeology contribute blog posts, all compiled here. The idea is to offer a glimpse into the daily lives of archaeologists, and to highlight the importance of the work they do.

For this year’s event, the TRCA Archaeology team has contributed two posts:

A Day in the Life with TRCA Archaeology

TRCA is the only conservation authority in Ontario with its own in-house archaeology team. This post follows the team members as they set out from their Swan Lake headquarters to various sites across the GTA, where they conduct archaeological assessments for restoration works, trail installations and other projects.

Day of Archaeology montage

It also highlights the many other aspects of their work, such as data processing, mapping, cataloging of artifacts, conducting archival research and assembling reports. And there’s a glimpse of the team’s special lunchtime project: an attempt to grow the same crops cultivated by the earliest inhabitants of the region.

A Day in the Life at Boyd Archaeological Field School

TRCA’s Boyd Archaeological Field School (BAFS) is the only high school credit course in Canada that offers students the opportunity to participate in real archaeological fieldwork. This post explores the combination of classroom study and on-site excavation that makes up a student’s typical day during this two-week program. It also spotlights one of the most popular elements of the course: a two-day exercise in “Archaic skills” that challenges student to create tools using only the resources that were available 5,000 years ago.

Day of Archaeology montage

This year, BAFS students are investigating the Sebastien site in Pickering — a locale once occupied by the ancestors of the Huron-Wendat First Nations.