The Site

Here's what the site looks like. This is just the part we've started working on this season. Each square is a 5'x5' square. Those aren't regular feet, but they're something called metric feet (I think, but I could be wrong). Basically, it's 10", so for example, a standard 12" is what we would call "1.2 feet."




And here is what my newly finished unit looks like. It was pretty uneventful. There were just two "features," probably post holes. and some big rocks. We reached the subsoil and didn't find anything of any significance, so we are moving on.

A note about photographs from the site.....

I hope to post more pictures from the work site, but I haven't quite figured out what I'm allowed to take pictures of, or how to do it without neglecting the work (yes, they make us work!). I'll figure it out soon so you can all see what the work looks like.

First day of field school.....

Today was the first day of field school. We arrived early and spent the first 3 hours doing boring introductions, and a tour of the whole facility. Not only do the grounds contain the archeology sites, they also are the home to administrative offices, museum spaces, scenic walks, restored landscapes, and outdoor educational activity spaces. Then we went to lunch (when I saw we, I mean the 8 field school interns and our teacher Dr. Phillip Levy, and his son Felix who is 7 years old).

After lunch we went to the filed to work with Paul, the field supervisor. Paul is an archaeologist. He gave us all the information we needed to start using the tools and excavating our 5' squares. And, we learned how to use Munsell color charts to record the soil. Then we set out marking the grid for our squares. This ended up being more difficult than we thought it would be and it took us an hour and a half to mark 3 squares. We finally started digging, removing the grass first (this is as far as we got). I found an artifact! It was just a bent nail or piece of wire, but I was very proud of myself.

Now I'm ready for a nice warm shower, but the hot water isn't working in hte dorm building. Our TA Justin says he's contacted the school's maintenance about it, but it's been out for 2 days now. It's annoying.