Post Category : Women in Archaeology
Tree Time Gals!
By Madeline Coleman on March 9, 2018
International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to talk about women in our past that have paved the way in some fashion. Without the Famous Five women would not have been recognized as persons in Canada as early as we were. Women like Zelia Nuttal, challenged the norm and pursued something she truly loved, expanding our understanding of archaeology and ancient cultures in the process. Thanadelthur and Flores LaDue showed everyone just how strong, creative, and persevering women can be!
To end our posts this week, however, I would like to give a shout out to all the women archaeological consultants in Alberta today. On a daily basis in the field they face the elements, wildlife, and the unknown of what they may or may not find during survey. Those of us that work in the boreal forest have the added challenge of remote access, long hikes with 30-40 lbs of gear, no trails, exhaustion, and the sheer joy of being places people have rarely visited in the recent past. Many of these women lead archaeological survey projects large and small, while others conduct the surveys and are gaining the experience they need to become permit holders. Our permit holders manage the crews, budgets, research designs, safety, data analysis, reporting, and outreach.
In 2017, 62 people applied for a permit in Alberta in order to complete an Historic Resource Impact Assessment (HRIA), of which 23 were women. In Edmonton we have three major forestry CRM companies (Circle CRM, Western Heritage Services, and Tree Time Services) that currently employ 16 permit holders, 8 of which are women, in addition to seasonal and annual archaeologists. At Tree Time, we currently have 4 women (3 permit holders) on a 9 person team: Teresa Tremblay, Brittany Romano, Elenore Hood, and me (Madeline Coleman). We work side by side with our other team members improving our survey techniques, increasing our site identification rates (who doesn’t want to find more?), and annually increasing our understanding of where sites are in our project areas. All of these ladies have inspired me!
Teresa has really improved our understanding of site locations in the High Level area, which typically has very hard access, often needing helicopters. With helicopter access there are so many additional planning and safety considerations to take into account, creating a very challenging project, which she tackles with enthusiasm. In the Sundre area she works with developers on predicting where sites will be, allowing them to avoid areas. That doesn’t stop her from identifying over 30 sites a year in the planned harvest areas, though! She is one of our fastest diggers, and out-tests me on a regular basis. She also has several years teaching experience, preparing our next archaeological generation. She’s worked extensively in Ontario before moving to Alberta, and is working on expanding Tree Time into BC.
Brittany Romano has started to specialize in the Fort Vermilion area but has worked all over the province. Her problem solving skills for access, stuck quads, or site evaluations are excellent. She has recently been heavily involved with developing our outreach programs, which includes school visits. She’s put together our activity stations and worksheets to get young kids really involved and interested in archaeology. She keeps everyone at Tree Time on their toes with light-hearted practical jokes!
Elenore is one of the toughest field archaeologists I have ever met. No holds barred but at the same time the nicest person you could ever hope to work with. She takes no guff from bears, either. She built her career in BC and Alberta and has a keen sense of where on the landforms sites are located. She often finds artifacts in spots I would not have thought to test. She has been the lead of our blog series, and has kept a great balance with articles and featured artifacts. She has recently taken leave to work on a Master’s Degree. The next step is a Permit Archaeologist!
I’ve spent most of my career here, specializing in the Slave Lake region. Over the last few years I’ve been working on better understanding where we find sites in muskeggy regions. I love field archaeology but also really love the analysis part and outreach with First Nations groups. I’ve been working on improving our artifact analysis process, including its photography. I’ve also started working in the realm of public archaeology, which provides everyone with an opportunity to give archaeology a try.
And of course, there are so many other women archaeologists in the province. These include employees at the Archaeological Survey of Alberta, professors, students, volunteers at all our organizations around the province, and even the people who started out as archaeologists but have stepped away (you never really stop being one!). Women are a part of archaeology at every level in Alberta, and they are passionate about what they do.
Keep digging and researching, ladies!!
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