Base archaeologist brings history to light

  • Published
  • By Katie Boles
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Over the ages, many civilizations have come and gone leaving buried treasures that open the door to the past.

No one knows this better than Johnna Thackston, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron Natural Resources Element Environmental Flight base archaeologist and National Environmental Policy Act planner.

Since childhood, Ms. Thackston dreamt of being an archaeologist. Her job at Moody allows her to live this dream daily.

Ms. Thackston brings wealth of academic, personal, and professional experience to Moody. Over the past eight years here, her work has taken her all over the country to test sights where Moody Airmen train.

"Whenever we have a project or want to do an exercise, we have to make sure it is not going to adversely affect resources that are eligible for listing in the national registry," said Ms. Thackston.

Currently, testing is being done at several sites at the Grand Bay Range to determine the significance and integrity of the area that, through a survey done a few years ago, proved to be valuable with traces of lithic (stone) artifacts.

"We did a survey in 1996 to see if we had any sights on base that were eligible for the national registry," said Ms. Thackston. "We found five sights that were considered potentially eligible. Since then, we have done additional testing on two of those sights. One of the sites was eligible and the other was not."

"Right now we are doing an excavation on a third sight at Grand Bay to test its significance," added Ms. Thackston.

A contracted archaeology company, has spent the past two weeks digging in areas that were determined to be valuable from previous tests.

Starting off, the team digs small holes every 25 meters in each direction forming a grid pattern. Depending on what is found in those holes determines where the team will dig the larger units.

These units, one foot by two feet, are used to test each layer of the ground. The dirt is shoveled into a screen and then sifted so that the artifacts will be separated from the dirt.

Once this process is complete and the area is proven to be significant, the next step is for the area to be registered in the national registry and for the area to be protected, Ms. Thackston and her team will then look at the area and try to learn about the history of the land and time of occupation.

"So far, we have found what we expected as far as types of artifacts, both prehistoric ceramics and lithic material," said Ms. Thackston.

The ceramics will definitely allow the team to date the site to a specific time period. As far as being able to tell anything more specific about the site, such as the seasonal period of occupation or purpose of the occupation, Ms. Thackston said she isn't sure they have enough information to tell yet.

Searching for artifacts is not the only thing Ms. Thackston does at Moody. She also assists others in her shop by observing the wildlife that live here on base, including the alligators, snakes, and gopher tortoises.

"Everyday my job presents a challenge, teaches me something new, and allows me to directly support the wide variety of missions we have here at Moody," said Ms. Thackston. "At the same time, I am trying to ensure that cultural resources are taken into account in our operations. I am also working to acquire the land and airspace our units need to maintain combat readiness."

"Ms. Thackston's enthusiasm for the job is appreciated by her co-workers," said Gregory Lee, 23rd CES Natural Resources Element Environments Flight supervisory biological scientist.

"Her knowledge of archaeology and ability to integrate cultural resources protection with the military mission makes her one of Department of Defenses most respected archeologists, he added.

"Johnna's professionalism and dedication to the science of cultural resources is exceeded only by her concern for our military mission, said Mr. Lee. "She is one of those rare individuals who is able to relate to people from different backgrounds and cultures, and has been able to bridge the gap between the professional warrior and the archeologist so that both understand and appreciate the dynamics of their areas of interest.

Ms. Thackston's advice has been sought by command, DoD and national officials on a variety of cultural resources issues.

"Context is everything: an artifact in the ground still has the potential to tell us something about a past event in history, but on the desk it's just a paperweight," said Ms. Thackston.