Week 2

Once we got below the dark layer that contained the bed of nails, we were no longer finding them as consistently.  It was quite a quick change from finding up to 10 nails in one screening to finding none.  The thin layer can be seen on the walls in between two layers of similar soil, so we think that someone could have spilled all those nails or dumped them there.  Today IPF came out and to help us with the roots in the southwest corner and west wall.  The roots were slowing us down because of having to dig around them, so they came and cut out them with a chainsaw.  This allowed us to fix up the walls and corners that we were having problems keeping them straight because we were unable to get completely under the root to clear our the dirt.

Although we were no longer finding nails every bucket, we were still finding new artifacts.  I found a clip of some kind, which at first I thought could also be a part of a zipper, although the piece inside seems to go along with it being a clip.  Desiree found a broken piece of glass as well, we at first thought it was melted, but after talking with Professor Goldstein, we think it could be a piece of a bigger glass object.  We found a round metal object, which we at first thought was a coin, probably a dime by the size, but it seems almost too light, so until we clean it we will be unable to determine if it is because of erosion or if it is not even a coin at all.  Another artifact we found was a type of wheel that seemed too small to be for a modern desk chair, which could have been on the bottom of a cart or some kind.

Jerica and Alex are finishing up another level, before they might call their unit sterile and move to the new one, Unit D, which was dug out of the west wall near Unit A thanks to the help of Campus Archaeology field crew.  Josh and Kayleigh are getting closer to finishing the excavation of their feature, which seems to be a pit where someone may have dumped the remnants of a fire along with some bricks and pieces of broken ones.

This week has been really hot, yesterday was not so bad because of the breeze, but this morning the humidity was pretty high and there was no breeze so everyone made sure to drink lots of water and to try and stay in the shade.  Tomorrow is supposed to be just as hot, but we will not that stop us from getting the next level done.  We have the guide holes all dug out, just need to shovel skim the level down another 10 centimeters.

Author: Cooper Duda