Tuesday started with a classroom lecture so we didn't actually get out in the field until late morning. Still, we managed to finish up the last of the STPs in short order.
Following that we commenced a surface collection of the eastern portion of the site. At one time, not too long ago, the St. Joe River was damned and water levels were much higher here than they are at present. It is believed that there were historic structures here during that period, but the nature of those structures remains unknown. Regardless, there is much evidence of modern activity; glass objects, bricks, wire and metallic artifacts. All these things needed to be collected as part of the project.
Afterwards we started laying out our excavation plots. We will be focusing on these areas for the duration. We have one excavation area in the eastern side of the site (just within the embankment), another on the northern side where we hope to establish the northern boundary of the embankment, and a third on the western edge that will cut across both the embankment and the ditch. This last area is the largest and is the excavation on which I am working.
By the end of Tuesday we had marked out the boundaries of our excavation trench. This will cover an area 2m x 12m, broken into smaller 2m x 2m blocks. Each block will be excavated individually. The image below shows the portion of the embankment which we will be cutting across.
I spent the day Wednesday working in the lab cleaning the artifacts collected from the STPs so did not get to participate in the first stages of the dig. Which is fine. Most of the work of archaeologists is actually conducted in the lab rather than on the site. So time spent there is crucial to the learning process.
The cleaning of artifacts is done simply by scrubbing them lightly with water and a toothbrush. Here is Nick in action...
I'll talk more next week about the artifacts themselves and what happens with them after cleaning.
Meanwhile, the excavating had begun. I returned to the site and worked on that Thursday and Friday. Working in 10cm increments, we gradually increased our excavation depth. By late in the day Friday we were finally below the first layer of soil. Here is what the block I am working on looks like at this point. Those are tree roots that you are seeing inside the block.
This is the western-most block of the trench, lying on the interior of the embankment. Others were digging at the top of the embankment in another block.
Here is an image taken from the ditch showing how these 2 blocks are situated in relation to each other. There is an untouched block between the two which will be excavated at a later time.
A couple of things to point out in this last photo...
First, the person you see at the left is Dr. McCullough, our instructor and director of the IPFW Archaeological Survey. The wooden apparatus he is standing in front of (with another to his right) is our soil screen; a larger version of what we were using during the STP phase.
Also, the square red gizmo in the center foreground is a laser level. We can take measurements from this, anywhere within the trench, to determine our current depth. It gives us a stable reference point, called a datum, which is necessary for accuracy and consistency throughout the excavation.
And that is where things stand for now. I'll be back in the lab again on Monday but out at the site for the remainder of next week.
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