Was giving a presentation on some of my recent and ongoing archaeological work at a conference today and unexpectedly came across this promotional poster for my forthcoming book ‘Once Upon This Land: Archaeology in British Columbia and the Stories it Tells’.

Foundation of an oforu (Japanese bathhouse) from early 20th c Japanese settlement in Canada. Very cool site. No historical documents mention it. Very little arch visibility on surface. Excavations revealed evidence of about a 14 small houses, a garden, and a shrine. Sudden abandonment.

Arch project in 1980s, northern Canada

Tools of my trade. My personal trowels.

Taphonomy of a face mask, part of my arch of Covid project

Except for now looking older, I don’t think I’ve changed much at all. This photo of me is from a long time ago, on my first paid arch project. My fashion sense hasn’t changed at all and I still enjoy a beer once the day’s work is done.

My most recent book is “Forgotten Things” which describes a 20 year low-budget archaeology project. There will be some scholarly interest but it’s written primarily for the public to show how archaeology works, including problems and difficulties like unexpected discoveries, and bears.

Some artifacts from my long-term archaeological project excavating largely unknown/forgotten early 20th century small settlements of Japanese Japanese Canadians in the forests of western Canada

Please feed the archaeologists. I put this sign up on most of my field projects.

Archaeology of campus trash

Boat taphonomy. On my local walks and hikes I see lots of boats entering the archaeological record. I wish I started recording the year-to-year changes earlier