Julie Schablitsky: Historical Archaeology, From Shards to Stories

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The Challenge

Did the Donner Party really practice cannibalism? Did the father of the American navy truly grow up in poverty? As a historical archaeologist, Julie Schablitsky's job is to investigate questions whose answers seem lost to history. Now based in Annapolis, Maryland, Schablitsky made a name for herself excavating forts and frontier towns of the Wild West, pioneering innovative techniques that blend archaeology, urban studies, and forensics.

Archaeologists, says Schablitsky, are basic computer users. "We study old things," she says, "and we are very slow when it comes to using technology. Change is something we document, not something we do."

But, slow adopters or not, archaeologists do have technological needs. Documenting fieldwork means dealing with a huge number of images. "Archaeology is a destructive science," Schablitsky says. "As soon as we dig it, it's gone." Every time archaeologists dig down to another layer, they photograph to record the exact position of artifacts in that layer. Each dig generates hundreds of photos. Sophisticated photo manipulation and organization software is crucial, says Schablitsky, as is a sharp monitor that will reveal subtle changes of soil texture and color.

Database software is essential, too. At an excavation site, Schablitsky uses an electrical instrument called a total station to collect information about each artifact's distance from a datum, or fixed point. A good database program is essential for storing and organizing this information. "The database allows you to sit there and say, 'Give me all the buttons in areas 1, 2, and 3, in levels 5 and 6,'" she says. "It allows you to do data calls so you can figure out what stuff is where."

Finally, every archaeologist needs a way to bring his or her findings to life. "Up until three or four years ago, some people were still using slides," Schablitsky says. But today, even the most traditional-minded archaeologist knows that turning data into a compelling story, and sharing it, means using a computer.

The Solution

The MacBook gives Schablitsky every tool she needs, inside of an appealing package. Schablitsky switched to Mac last year, when her PC laptop died and she began researching options. The Mac appealed on a number of levels. "Since I travel a lot, I need something that has a lot of battery life and is light," she says, "and because I'm one of those people who doesn't like to wait for anything, I want to be able to flip open my Apple computer and be able to begin working on it immediately. This thing is instantaneous." Schablitsky’s MacBook is now her constant companion.

The Results

For Schablitsky, archaeology means completing a picture of the past, and communicating it. For her, the MacBook is a storytelling tool par excellence. "The Mac is what I put my experiences and interpretations into," she says. "It receives all of my thoughts, all of the stories that are given to me by the artifacts. I use it to turn those stories into visual representations that I can show people, the public, and academic colleagues. You can help people time travel with the Mac."

These days, Schablitsky is writing up the results of her Donner Party excavation, working on an edited volume and a co-authored article for the journal American Antiquity. In the end, her team couldn't find conclusive evidence that cannibalism occurred at the Donner camp. "Sometimes in archaeology, you find that the myth or the folklore about an event is just that; there's not a lot of truth to it," she says.

Perhaps it's no surprise that a scientist with a finely-tuned appreciation for the interaction between people and things should derive such pleasure from the object she uses to get her stories told. Schablitsky loves her Mac's ease of use—its long battery life, quick start-up, "sleek design," and facility with photos—and she would like to see more archaeologists adopting Mac for those reasons. "I find the Apple software and my MacBook to be light years ahead of other PCs," she says. "Just because we dig the Stone Age, doesn't mean we have to live like it."