By: Jodi Howe, KMKNO Summer Student
My name is Jodi Howe and I have been working at Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO) in the Archaeology Department with Heather MacLeod-Leslie for the last three summers. Over the last few years Heather has been my mentor and has allowed me to explore my interest in archaeology.
For the duration my placement I’ve learned a number of important skills in regards to archaeology. Learning how to identify various artifacts, survey, shovel test, soil sample, take field notes. In the past I got to learn about the Maritime Archaeology Resource Inventory (MARI) database, floral and faunal research, excavation and identification of soils and different artifacts. I used the skills that I learned these last two years and was able to expand my knowledge further this year. In the office I got familiar with Geographic Information System (GIS), map reading and interpreting evidence for village research and transcribing field notes then transferring them to MARI forms.
It has been great working for Heather and KMKNO because I’ve gotten so many amazing opportunities, for instance I got to work on a three week research project in the field and it gave me a better understanding of how a research project runs from start to finish. I was able to work with a professor and a few students from Memorial University and some other people within the archaeological community. Speaking of Memorial University, I got accepted there for my Bachelor of Arts in archaeology and I could not be more excited to start this new chapter in my life! Heather is teaching me as much as she can before I go off to university in September and I’m so grateful for that. So I’ll be starting my program with a lot of field experience and a good grasp on contact and pre-contact archaeology. I’m very excited to see where these next few years take me!
