Pork chop sandwiches?
Yesterday was the last day of actual digging at the site. Today the archaeologists will map their progress. I am sad that they will stop now. I know this means that there are thousands of artifacts that will not be found. However, it also means that the project will move into a new phase that will be just as interesting as the dig itself. Now the archaeologists will begin to analyze what they have found.
I work in the Mai Wah Museum so I have spent most of the dig with my nose pressed against the window panes wondering what exciting things were happening across the street. Every afternoon, the dig crew has come into the museum with lots of little bags (and some big ones) filled with the things that were brought up out of the ground that day. Cataloging has begun, but for the most part, I will not see what is in those bags that make the museum look like it is running a sack lunch program until the final stages of the project. My curiosity has been peaked by the surface artifacts that are on display in the museum now, but I know some really great finds are tucked away in those little brown bags.
There are plans for presentations on the findings that will happen in September, October and November. The artifacts will be displayed and Mitzi will talk about what the finds mean. In October or November, Priscilla Wegars will visit. She is an expert on Asian artifacts from other digs that have been done in western Chinatowns. Maybe she will tell us what really was in those little medicine bottles. Lots of visitors have called them opium bottles, but I thought opium came in tins. Anyway, I know she will finish filling in the blanks for us.
I have loved all the bits and pieces of porcelain and pottery and the bottles. The archaeologists are also interested in other things. Max mentioned the pig's head in the last blog entry. I think the findings may indicate that there was just as much pork being consumed on Mercury Street when the Chinatown was still there as there is now at John's Pork Chop Sandwich shop which is quite a lot judging from the traffic on Mercury Street at lunch and dinner time. And just what are those little seeds that are pointed on both ends? I can't wait to find out. I hope we don't have to plant one to see what grows.
Harriet
I work in the Mai Wah Museum so I have spent most of the dig with my nose pressed against the window panes wondering what exciting things were happening across the street. Every afternoon, the dig crew has come into the museum with lots of little bags (and some big ones) filled with the things that were brought up out of the ground that day. Cataloging has begun, but for the most part, I will not see what is in those bags that make the museum look like it is running a sack lunch program until the final stages of the project. My curiosity has been peaked by the surface artifacts that are on display in the museum now, but I know some really great finds are tucked away in those little brown bags.
There are plans for presentations on the findings that will happen in September, October and November. The artifacts will be displayed and Mitzi will talk about what the finds mean. In October or November, Priscilla Wegars will visit. She is an expert on Asian artifacts from other digs that have been done in western Chinatowns. Maybe she will tell us what really was in those little medicine bottles. Lots of visitors have called them opium bottles, but I thought opium came in tins. Anyway, I know she will finish filling in the blanks for us.
I have loved all the bits and pieces of porcelain and pottery and the bottles. The archaeologists are also interested in other things. Max mentioned the pig's head in the last blog entry. I think the findings may indicate that there was just as much pork being consumed on Mercury Street when the Chinatown was still there as there is now at John's Pork Chop Sandwich shop which is quite a lot judging from the traffic on Mercury Street at lunch and dinner time. And just what are those little seeds that are pointed on both ends? I can't wait to find out. I hope we don't have to plant one to see what grows.
Harriet
