From far away this doesnt look like much, said archaeologist Bob Cromwell, holding half of a tiny, deteriorated brass falconry bell in his hand, fresh from the Earth.

But it tells a story. This is global trade. This was made in England, and they were shipping them here by the ton.

Falconry bells, attached to hunting birds in the 19th century, were popular trade items with the Chinook and Clatsop Native Americans in the lower Columbia River area.

The bell was just one item found at the first archaeological excavation at Fort Astoria this week.

The excavation was conducted by the Public Archaeology Field School, which broke ground Tuesday afternoon and will finish today. Excavators invite questions from the public between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

A six-week summer program for archaeology college students, the field school is run by the Northwest Cultural Resources Institute at Washingtons Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The goal is to train the next generation of archaeologists, forming collaborations between National Park Service staff and university students.

Weve known the history of the fort for a long time, said archaeologist Doug Wilson, director of the institute and adjunct instructor at Portland State University. But theres never been any formal archaeology.

As the first excavators at the site, the field school archaeologists found artifacts that reveal information about the Fort Astoria fur trade that was unknown until now.

What is amazing to me as an archaeologist is in the Northwest there have been 70 years of archaeology at fur trade sites, Cromwell said. But archaeologists have never worked here before, and its because the city of Astoria has developed around it and on top of it.

The archaeologists set out hoping to find artifacts that would tie the site to the early fort history. Established in 1811, Fort Astoria was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains and the hub of regional fur trade.

During the War of 1812, tension ran high, and in 1813 the fort was turned over to the renamed Fort George. The British operated the fort under the Northwest Company and later the Hudsons Bay Company until the 1840s.

Historians know the basic information, but now the details are in the dirt.

Archaeology can tell you a lot about the things that werent written down, Rozalyn Crews, a Florida college student in the field school, said. When you look at the little things in life, like someones toothbrush or somebodys fork and the different styles of forks … these small things that you kind of forget about in everyday life can tell you a lot about someones day-to-day living situation and about the social relations in a community.

The excavation sites

and finds

The field school archaeologists excavated three city properties: the city park at the replica of Fort Astoria, Tidal Rock and the site of Astorias first post office. They dug 50-by-50 cm shovel tests, sifted every bucketful of dirt through screens to capture artifact fragments, and labeled and bagged items for future lab work.

The city park at the replica of Fort Astoria, at the corner of 15th and Exchange streets, was the most obvious site to excavate.

As soon as we got the sod off we started getting mixed 19th century and 20th century artifacts, said Fort Vancouver archaeologist Elaine Dorset.

From preliminary findings, the soil looks very disturbed, Cromwell said, which isnt surprising given the amount of development on the property over the years. The top layer of sediment at the site is a dark brown, possibly fill used to construct the park. The deeper layer is a more orange, clay sediment the natural soil.

Artifacts abounded, especially in the top layer, which was contrary to expectations. Archaeologists uncovered blue glass beads; made in Austria, these beads were shipped by the British to use as currency with Native Americans. There were also numerous different porcelain fragments: Nan King-style Chinese export porcelain, an 1831 piece of Spode porcelain from England, and possibly the earliest most-dateable item found at the site a fragment of British Staffordshire creamware, which was a hallmark of 1720 to 1820.

To us, it doesnt matter if its broken or complete, Cromwell said of the fragments. Were literally scratching the surface here.

Tidal Rock is an area most Astoria residents might recognize: It is a sunken area below street level at the corner of 15th and Commercial streets. Full of brush and a slab of concrete pavement, it might not look like much. But the rock itself, in the northwest corner, was part of Astorias original shoreline. Astorias modern downtown was originally a river bay that was filled in over the years by developers. Markings on the rocks front signaled high and low tides to ships in the time of Fort George.

Cromwell and Wilson said they decided to excavate at Tidal Rock because it would potentially contain artifacts from docked ships.

Unfortunately, they mostly encountered rubble from past buildings at the site. Excavators did find warped glass and charred wood artifacts, evidence of the 1922 fire that devastated the downtown area.

The monument and site of Astorias first post office is located on 15th Street between Exchange and Franklin streets. John Shively, an Oregon Trail pioneer who was one of Astorias first land surveyors, was also the first postmaster of Astoria. His house contained the first post office west of the Rocky Mountains. It was built in 1847 and demolished in 1906.

Excavators found porcelain, a doll fragment, a fragment of slate and a ceramic marble among other discoveries. Its tedious, but its also very exciting because you only uncover parts of it at a time, said PSU archaeology student James Ramey, 22, who discovered an almost-intact canning jar at the site.

Why dig now?

This weeks excavations took time to come about.

Inspiration sprouted in 2005 from an excavation at Middle Village Station Camp, a 280-acre park in Washington. Archaeologists found more than 10,000 early artifacts from a Chinook village, including trade beads, porcelain, musket balls, arrowheads and more. Wilson and Cromwell wanted to know if those artifacts could be tied to the early maritime fur trade at Fort Astoria.

The idea took root. Archaeologists conducted research for Astorias bicentennial, pinning down from various historic maps and drawings the exact site of the fort. Fundraising, collaboration and preparation filled most of the last year.

This is a years worth of effort for a weeks worth of digging, but its worth it, Cromwell said.

The excavation at Fort George was a partnership between NCRIs Public Archaeology Field School, Lewis and Clark National Park, Portland State University, Washington State University: Vancouver, the Historic Preservation and Restoration Program at Clatsop Community College and the City of Astoria.

One of the great things about this area is there is so much collaboration, said John Goodenberger, who is an adjunct instructor for the historic preservation program at CCC and the chairman of the Lower Columbia Preservation Society. This exploration is a unique opportunity, and one that will bring a lot of interest to the area.

Goodenbergers students at CCC met with the field school students Tuesday to share information on the settlement pattern of the site over the years and what they could expect to find during the dig.

In return, the field school students exchanged information on their archeological training.

The field school held a public talk Thursday at the Fort George Brewery showroom. Wilson gave details on how the War of 1812 impacted Fort Astoria and the regional Native Americans. Cromwell presented the newest finds to the public.

During the next year, archaeologists at Fort Vancouver will clean and examine artifacts, pinpoint dates and conduct research on the different sediment layers. The field school hopes to return in future years to continue the investigation.

There are still some big question marks, Cromwell said. People in the past said, Theres nothing there; its all pavement. They didnt think it was worth it. But were here basically proving them wrong.