I had the opportunity to work on the Strawtown site this past weekend. Quite an experience it was. Strawtown is noted for its complexity. It was here that 3 different cultural groups (the Oneota from Iowa, the Western Basin Tradition from northern Ohio, and the Fort Ancient Tradition from southern Ohio) converged, and merged, over a millennium ago. The current project is an attempt to unravel the nature of this cultural merging which produced what is called the Oliver Phase of local prehistory. Work has slowly been progressing on this site for several years now, but there is still a long ways to go.
Here are a few photos to show the area in which I was working.
We collected a great deal of data and many fine artifacts in the 2 days that I was there. I’ll come back at a later time to talk about all of that.
This time around I want to show y’all a bit of the lighter side of things. While archaeological digs can be hard work, with long hours in adverse conditions, there is still generally time for fun and relaxation. And this proved to be a fun weekend!
Following the end of the workday Friday, Shelby, Sharon and I took off for a hike down to the nearby river. Or, as the photos below will show, it would be more accurate to say that we hiked INTO the nearby river.
Afterwards we went back to the site and joined some of the others around the bonfire before calling it a night.
Then, on Saturday, we took a mid-afternoon break to try our hands at spear-throwing using an atl-atl. A new experience for all of us.
So, all in all, it was a weekend packed full of both work and play. Looking forward to getting back to more of the same, hopefully, this upcoming weekend.
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