Field School - Week 5

Lots of things happened this week. We wrapped up excavations at one block and opened up 3 new ones. And several noteworthy finds were made throughout the enclosure.

For today I'm just going to talk about the block where I spent most of the week working and a little bit about a couple of the finds. The rest is going to have to wait a bit. It looks like I'll be posting about Field School for a while yet, even after its over. There are many points I haven't even touched on yet that warrant comment.

My focus for the week was on Block 3 which is the excavation being conducted across the northern edge of the embankment. The primary goal there was to determine the location and depth of the ditch. I don't have any earlier photos of this excavation so will start with this one taken at the end of the day on Monday. The digging is nearly complete at this point.

This shot is looking into the trench from the northern end. We have dug to just below the ditch on this end but still need to uncover the other side. The smaller trenches at the sides were dug so we could get a better look at the soil layers along the walls.

Heres a photo with Loren standing in the ditch so you can get a better idea of its depth.

As I'd mentioned before, the biggest thing we are looking for here is soil differentiation. Sometimes these differences stand out clearly; others are more ambiguous. Heres a shot of the northern wall of the trench.

Here the layers are quite distinct. The darker, upper layer is much higher in organic content. This is the plow zone; the depth to which farming during previous decades has impacted on the soil. The yellower soil beneath was unaffected by cultivation and is more sterile. We looked for similar differences to mark where the ditch itself could be found.

This is a view of the eastern wall.

Hopefully you can make out 3 different layers in this photo. There is a yellowish layer of relatively sterile soil that parallels the bottom of the trench. The upper boundary of this zone marks the base of the ditch. Directly above it is a triangular zone of dark soil. This is soil that was deposited through erosion prior to the period of cultivation. The grayish, upper soil equates to the plow zone.

These are the predominant zones. There are actually several others which can't be made out in this photo. All these zones were drawn onto a profile map and their characteristics were documented. This can be a relatively time-consuming process. Each of the 4 walls gets recorded separately. We spent more hours taking profiles of the trench this week than we did digging.

By the end of Thursday, all work for this block had been completed. Here is the end result.

The last task to be completed, once excavation and profiling was done, was to extract flotation samples. These were taken from where you see the 6 notches in the eastern wall (well, actually you only see 5. One is hidden behind the tree in the foreground.) with 2 additional samples coming from mid-way down the wall.

Flotation samples go through a different screening process than what we've been doing out in the field. It involves water and a much finer meshed screen. What we'll be looking for through flotation screening is botanical remains; plant seeds and pollen. These are indicators of environmental changes. They can also be used to document the emergence, development, and usage of domesticated plants.

And that is really all I have to say about this part of the excavation at this point. Any questions?

And now, off on a different tangent...

One of the things I haven't talked about yet is the artifacts we've found. Given discoveries made this week, its a good time for a quick peek at some of them. It seems that arrowheads are typically the first things that people ask about so we'll start there.

During the time period in which this enclosure was most recently inhabited, people were using what is called the Madison Point. These are true arrowheads. Many projectile points are commonly referred to as arrowheads but they are actually spear points which date to earlier times. The invention of the bow and arrow in North America is a relatively recent development; occuring around 800AD.

Madison Points are found throughout the central and eastern United States with little variation in style. They are small and triangular in shape. We have come across several made of chert (a type of flint). Most of them are in good condition. I don't have photos of those now in our collection (my camera doesn't take good close-ups) but this will give you an idea of how they look.

(http://www.uwlax.edu/MVAC/PointGuide/madison.htm)

However, this week we also found a couple of projectile points, at opposite sides of the enclosure, that date to a much earlier time period. I haven't seen the second one found yet, but the first one is comparable to the point in the center of this image.

(http://www.cmnh.org/site/ResearchandCollections/Archaeology/Research/GeneralAudienceNontechnicall/HistoryNEOhio.aspx)

This is an Early Archaic Point which would have been in use around 6000-8000 years ago. It is considerably larger than the Madison Points. The notches in the side allow for it to be hafted and tied to a spear shaft.

Why these Early Archaic points are present, or how they got there, is a matter of speculation. Their presence does not necessarily mean that the site was being inhabited by Early Archaic peoples. We have no evidence of earlier habitation here. It could well be the case that they had simply been found and used by later people. Or, given that they were also made of chert, they may have been collected in order to be recycled into Madison Points. Alternatively, they may have been found and passed on as family hierlooms. This may well be a question that goes unanswered.

And thats all for now!

Confused?

Question: How is it that I can post an entry on Monday (see the date of my last posting) that talks about things that didn't happen until the following Thursday?

Answer: I'm precognitive.

Okay, well, no, not really. But wouldn't it be cool if I were!

So here is what is really going on.

Some of these entries are composed over a span of several nights. I'll write a few paragraphs each night, then save what I have, thus far, as a 'draft.' When it is all finished, I 'publish' the full entry.

However, what appears to be happening is that the date that is assigned to that entry is the date on which I started writing it, not the date I finished the writing.

Hope that clears up any confusion you might have experienced.

And since I'm here now, might as well add a small Field School update...

We all spent Friday morning in the lab again. Storm fronts were passing through so we opted not to go out to the field. Ended up calling it an early day and went home at noon.

And a change to next week's agenda. I won't be starting a new unit right away after all. Maybe not at all in fact. Time constraints are becoming a concern as we only have 2 weeks left to finish this project and have much yet to do with the existing units.

So, instead of a new unit, I'll be going to help at the excavation across the northern end of the embankment. That part of the enclosure was once under cultivation. The goal there is to establish where the ditch and embankment were originally located so that we can better plot the full circumference of the enclosure.

Field School - Week 4

Monday was a rather productive day. Unfortunately I, once again, didn't get any photos taken. I meant to do that at the end of the day however a storm rolled in and we packed it up early (and quickly!). Hence, no photos for Monday.

Still, I can briefly describe the day's activities.

Shelly and I continued excavating Unit F outside the embankment. Ours is the deepest unit dug so far. Our goal there is to dig below the topsoils and find the original contour of the ditch.

Work continued to progress on Units D and E. Unit B was also re-opened Monday. We had extra people present so could give it a little more attention.

However Unit C, in the center of the trench, remained the focal point. I'll explain why in a bit.

Tuesday turned out to be a day of mixed activities. It was raining in the morning so work in the field was delayed until after lunch. During the morning hours we all worked on cataloguing in the lab.

In the afternoon we picked away at Units B, E, and F. Here's a photo, taken from the top of the embankment, with Shelly in our unit (Unit F). In the background you can see some large sheets of plastic. We use these to cover the units each day before we leave.

And here is a shot of the entire trench taken from outside the ditch.

In this photo Amy is wrapping up excavation of another level in Unit B.

Now I need to stop and explain a little bit.

In front of Amy is Unit C. You can see the boundary line between Units B and C by the apparent change in color of the soil. There really is no actual difference; its just that Unit B has been freshly worked while Unit C was left untouched this day.

The thing to note, though, is that Unit C has only been partially excavated. What we've done there is created a 'profile' wall mid-way through the unit. When we find interesting soil features, such as discolorations, this allows us to get a cross-sectional view of what we have found.

We have found several circular soil discolorations in Unit C which is why we are focusing a bit more heavily on that unit. Each of these points have been flagged, and will have a profile taken. Some may turn out to be nothing but others may offer evidence of something we were hoping to find here.

Here is a view of those discolorations, looking downward from the embankment.

And here is a closer look at one of them in profile.

It may be difficult to make out in this photo but in the middle of the profile is a V-shaped section where the soil is somewhat darker than the soil around it.

This is a post hole.

One upon a time a wooden post had been erected in this spot. Over the many centuries during which this site was uninhabited, the post decayed. In its place it left new soil high in organic content; different from the surrounding soil. Too, as it decayed, additional topsoil eroded into the void it left behind. What you end up with is a 'mold' in the shape of the original post.

So, why is this significant?

A string of such post molds would tell us that there once had been a wooden stockade erected around the enclosure at the crest of the embankment. We anticipated that this would be the case but needed to get below the layers of topsoil to see if the necessary evidence was there.

Granted, one post mold does not make a stockade. But, if we continue profiling in this manner we may get additional. supporting evidence. What it looks like at this point is that we may have a double line of posts. Here is the same photo but with hypothetical lines drawn in.

We should have a better grasp of the situation in a couple of days. However, somewhat regretably, I'm not going to be on hand to report on this as it develops.

The decision was made mid-afternoon Wednesday that I am to head off to tackle another project. A new unit is to be opened up in another part of the enclosure on Friday and I get to go excavate there.

So, with that in mind, I'm gonna wrap this entry up a bit early in the week. Today (Thursday) was spent in the lab again. Nothing new really to add on that topic.

Here is a parting shot as I left our trench on Wednesday. I expect that by the time I get back here to take photos again, it will have changed significantly.

I'll wait until next week to talk about my new excavation unit.

Field School - Week 3

While I was in the lab Monday, those who were out in the field continued to make progress.

I returned to the site Tuesday expecting to continue working in the same unit I had been. However, instead, I began excavation in the unit next to it; the untouched unit between the two that had already been started. Excavation of the first 2 levels went relatively quickly. This is because we were working on an incline and actually only had to excavate on the highest side of the unit.

While I had been away on Monday work had also begun on the next unit in line on the exterior side of the embankment. By the end of the day Tuesday we had 4 active units. Here is a view from the interior end.

I should probably clarify some terminology at this point. Each 2m X 2m square is termed a "unit." Each unit has it's own unique designator. The unit in the foreground above is Unit A. This is the unit I first started digging in. Next in line is Unit B, where I started working Tuesday. Beyond that are Units C & D, at the crest of the embankment.

In this photo Sharon is taking final depth measurements for Unit A while Adrienne (seated) records the data. For the time being, Unit A is as deep as it is going to get. The goal now is to bring Units B thru D down to that depth.

The following is a view from the opposite end of the trench.

From this angle, Unit D is now in the foreground. Unit C is immediately behind it, at the same level. The dividing line between them is at the point where you see proturberences on each side of the trench. These are termed "bulks." If you look back through the photos you may be able to see that the units are outlined in string. These strings are tied to metal pins driven into the ground. The bulks are those points at which the pins are located. These points are excavated around so that the pins stay anchored in place.

Work continued on Units B thru D on Wednesday. By the end of the day, this is where we stood.

On Thursday we expanded the operation by opening up the remaining 2 units, Units E and F, in the ditch on the exterior side of the embankment. These units are only half the size of the others, being 1m x 2m. Also, we will be excavating these in 20cm increments as opposed to 10cm increments as the others are. These are being excavated a bit differently primarily because we have a different research objective for these 2 units.

With these we are more interested in learning about the soil development, or profile. We wish to gain an understanding of how the ditch was constructed by looking at how the soil layers are deposited.

By the end of Thursday, both Units E and F had been excavated through their first level and work had begun on the second. This is how they looked at that point.

I didn't stop to take any photos on Friday so have nothing to add in that regard. Essentially, the units look the same as they did on Thursday, only a little bit deeper. I can add, though, that work in Unit B has been halted, at least temporarily, so that we can focus more heavily on Units c and D.

Next week things are gonna change. We will be moving some personnel around to other areas. I have mentioned that we are digging in other spots as well but haven't talked about them yet. We will also be opening a couple of new units in a different part of the enclosure. I anticipate that I will be among those who get relocated. Not a bad thing. That will give me the opportunity to show more about the overall project.

And, while I've been talking about 'what' we are doing, I haven't really touched upon 'why' we are doing it. Nor have I talked about what we have found so far. Hopefully I can get into those issues next week as well.

Field School - Cataloguing

Monday was lab day for me. Thought I'd break that part of the chat out and deal with it seperately.

The cataloguing of artifacts is what comes after their cleaning. It is essentially the paperwork part of the project where everything that has been found is organized and documented.

Here is a view of our work area part-way through the process.

While this may look somewhat chaotic at first glance, it's really not. Or, at least we can call it an organized chaos. It makes more sense when you take a closer look at what is on the tables.


In this situation, each white piece of paper is a log of all the artifacts found in a specific shovel test probe (STP). Each artifact type receives it's own line on the document where it is described, a count is given of how many pieces of that type are present, and a total combined weight of those artifacts is noted. Each line correlates to a unique catalogue number. At the top of the sheet is all the relevant general information pertaining to the project itself. When the cataloguing is complete, the details on these sheets will be entered into the computer database.

Each artifact type also gets a smaller tan tag. Information recorded on this tag relates it back to the catalogue entry.

Here is another batch that is a little bit further along in the process.

At this point all the paperwork is complete. Now we have to write the catalogue numbers on the artifacts themselves. To do this we first apply a water soluble coating to the writing surface. This is done so that the numbers can be removed at a later date should the need arise. On lighter colored artifacts we apply a clear coating. The darker items get a white paint so that our black ink will be visible. You can see this on a couple of the items above. Then the numbers are written on top of that base coating. Afterwards, a clear coating is applied as a sealant so the numbers don't get rubbed off during handling.

Now they are ready to be bagged and boxed. The artifacts themselves stay with the tan tags, with each tag and its associated artifacts getting an individual bag.

For this project we grouped the invidual bags according to artifact type. All the similar smaller bags went into one larger bag which was labeled as to what it contained and where they came from. Then all the large bags were boxed up together, with the boxes being labeled in a similar manner.

The completed boxes go into the curation facility. There the artifacts will be available for future analysis.