Take two!
I started to wrte something about my week but got all kinds of distracted. We'll see how it goes this time!
Living in a tent is going well - it helps that Texas is pretty dry. that said, it was supposed to rain this weekend, so we'll see how well my stuff fared. It's beet pretty warm at night (30 Celsius - I don't have my thermometer clock set to Fahrenheit so I can't help ya there).
There are two blocks open atm, both are just about a meter deep (90 some cm. I don't have my notes here for precision ;p). I'm in block A, moving around through various 1x1m units, some of which have nothing in them, some of which have some flakes and occasionally other exciting artifacts. We found a strange bifacially flaked tool of some sort, which we called the Chunky Monkey. It looks like it was made by a ten year old. The Block B peeps have found a couple of (mostly unfinished) Clovis points, and another biface suspected to be pre-clovis. We've also found a couple of what look like (fragments of) teensy blade cores of some sort, as well as some quite small flake blades (we in this case means me and Becca - we also excavated the Chunkey Monkey, but someone else had found it first. We didn't know what it was until it came out of the ground, though).
The site itself is actually an alluvial deposit - this is stuff washed in to a river (well creek, now) bed that has migrated around inside the little valley where we're digging. The deposit we're digging has been dated geologically (I don't know the specifics) to around 15000 BP, which means the stuff inside it should, theoretically, be of age with it. However, the clay tends to dry out and create deep crotovinas (sp) and vertic (verdic?) cracks, which lets stuff fall down in from later deposits. For example last week we also found an archaic point - whoops! This later material is generally found in a darker black soil or in association with crumbled limestone, so it is easy (well, easy-ish) to tell if your stuff is intrusive. We don't map the soils every level, but it is enough to see the changes in the site overall - as I said, it's pretty deep. And of course you do note all the important stuff in the paperwork and map all artifacts, and there are two photos of every unit per level.
All our dirt is wet screened with water recycled from a little pond nearby, which an be pretty messy. We 1/4" screen everything, and keep all artifacts. We also take a 25x25cm sample from the south west corner of every level and screen that through 1/8" mesh and keep everything save the soil for later testing.
So yes, very slowly digging a very deep hole! That's what I've been doing! I found out that we don't have to backfill, though which is a relief, because as I said, those pits are pretty deep.... and we washed away all our dirt! Apparently they'll bring in someone with a backhoe later to fill in this year's trench.
We have three breaks - one at 10:30 for snacks and hydration, one at noon for lunch and hydration, and one at 2:30 for hydration and, if peeps want, freezies (a.k.a. icy pops). People are on rotation for organizing these things, and I was on snack/lunch duty last week. Dinner is at or around 6:30, and peeps volunteer to cook. Last week we ate really well, and this week sounds promising as well! If they still need peeps i might volunteer to cook the last week.
There are showers, and I usually take mine after we end for the day around 4:30 and before dinner if I can. After that I might read for a bit, and hang out, etc. I usually go to my tent around 9. Then I'll write for a but and go to sleep between 9:30 and ten, to wake up shortly after six and start work at seven!
And that's my week :)
Living in a tent is going well - it helps that Texas is pretty dry. that said, it was supposed to rain this weekend, so we'll see how well my stuff fared. It's beet pretty warm at night (30 Celsius - I don't have my thermometer clock set to Fahrenheit so I can't help ya there).
There are two blocks open atm, both are just about a meter deep (90 some cm. I don't have my notes here for precision ;p). I'm in block A, moving around through various 1x1m units, some of which have nothing in them, some of which have some flakes and occasionally other exciting artifacts. We found a strange bifacially flaked tool of some sort, which we called the Chunky Monkey. It looks like it was made by a ten year old. The Block B peeps have found a couple of (mostly unfinished) Clovis points, and another biface suspected to be pre-clovis. We've also found a couple of what look like (fragments of) teensy blade cores of some sort, as well as some quite small flake blades (we in this case means me and Becca - we also excavated the Chunkey Monkey, but someone else had found it first. We didn't know what it was until it came out of the ground, though).
The site itself is actually an alluvial deposit - this is stuff washed in to a river (well creek, now) bed that has migrated around inside the little valley where we're digging. The deposit we're digging has been dated geologically (I don't know the specifics) to around 15000 BP, which means the stuff inside it should, theoretically, be of age with it. However, the clay tends to dry out and create deep crotovinas (sp) and vertic (verdic?) cracks, which lets stuff fall down in from later deposits. For example last week we also found an archaic point - whoops! This later material is generally found in a darker black soil or in association with crumbled limestone, so it is easy (well, easy-ish) to tell if your stuff is intrusive. We don't map the soils every level, but it is enough to see the changes in the site overall - as I said, it's pretty deep. And of course you do note all the important stuff in the paperwork and map all artifacts, and there are two photos of every unit per level.
All our dirt is wet screened with water recycled from a little pond nearby, which an be pretty messy. We 1/4" screen everything, and keep all artifacts. We also take a 25x25cm sample from the south west corner of every level and screen that through 1/8" mesh and keep everything save the soil for later testing.
So yes, very slowly digging a very deep hole! That's what I've been doing! I found out that we don't have to backfill, though which is a relief, because as I said, those pits are pretty deep.... and we washed away all our dirt! Apparently they'll bring in someone with a backhoe later to fill in this year's trench.
We have three breaks - one at 10:30 for snacks and hydration, one at noon for lunch and hydration, and one at 2:30 for hydration and, if peeps want, freezies (a.k.a. icy pops). People are on rotation for organizing these things, and I was on snack/lunch duty last week. Dinner is at or around 6:30, and peeps volunteer to cook. Last week we ate really well, and this week sounds promising as well! If they still need peeps i might volunteer to cook the last week.
There are showers, and I usually take mine after we end for the day around 4:30 and before dinner if I can. After that I might read for a bit, and hang out, etc. I usually go to my tent around 9. Then I'll write for a but and go to sleep between 9:30 and ten, to wake up shortly after six and start work at seven!
And that's my week :)