One of our recently completed
projects with Dickson Mounds Museum was taking photographs of a
beautiful collection of pottery sherds, chert spear points, clay
figurines, and stone axes. The pictures were to be
used for a Native American Artifact ID website, kindly being set up
for us by students at University of Illinois at Springfield.
When Team Paleo first started the
assignment, all three of us were intimidated by the setup. A plywood
platform had been draped with a black velvet cloth. Next to it sat a
laptop computer with a digital camera waiting to be connected. We
used a long USB cable to attach the camera to the computer and rigged
the camera to the top of a 12 inch 2x4 that had been screwed to the
back of the plywood base.
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| photography measurement scale |
The computer software had a live view
setting that allowed us to see how the picture would turn out. When
we placed the artifact- lets say a stone axe, known scientifically as
an adze-on the velvet cloth, the live view would help us align the
artifact with the measurement gauge- a piece of cardstock about 5
inches long with centimeters printed on it. Once everything was lined
up, the computer operator would click the “Take” button and the
camera would take the picture. If the artifact had a catalog number
(we'll come back to that in a moment), someone would record it on a
piece of paper.
.JPG) |
| Our photography set up. |
Every few photos, we would have to transfer them to a
special file and check the quality of the pictures. If any were
blurry, we would take them again. If they were crooked, we would
straighten them on Photoshop. After all this work, we had finally
finished a picture. To celebrate the end of the project, everyone on
Team Paleo enjoyed ice cold lime water and chocolate chips we had
brought as a gift while we reviewed the finished gallery.
A
catalog number is used to identify a certain artifact in a museum
collection. Each letter and number has a meaning. Take an artifact
labled 22 Fo198812-125. The 22 stands for the 22nd state,
or Illinois. F stands for Fulton County. If it had been found in
Stark County, it would be labled 22 So198812-125. The little o next
to the F means that the artifact was found in a garbage pit during an archaeological dig.
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| Team Paleo photographing and cataloging a serendipitous find from the mysterious depths of the collections room. |
The first four digits (1988) stand for the year
the artifact was uncovered. The following two digits tells what
collection it is in, so 198812- the artifact was uncovered in 1988
and was the 12th collection donated that year. The last
numbers (-125) show the number that object was. 22 F0198812-125. The
artifact was found in Fulton County, Illinois. It was discovered in
1988 and was the 125th item in the 12th
collection donated that year.
Article written by Gwen McDaniel
