Notes from the field

Here's a summary of Day 1 of the digging from our contractor Jim Hall:

 ......'It has been pretty interesting. After all those National Geographics, there I was bagging the rocks and the bones. We found no human remains today; only animal bones and lots of shells and rocks from fire pits. The awl was a big find.

The site was difficult for them to interpret. As you look at the sidewalls of the excavation, it appears that the material has been put down in clear layers as opposed to disturbed and all mixed up.

Then, out of nowhere, a piece of brick shows up in a layer. Suddenly you are no longer 600 years back in time and the material that looked undisturbed is determined to be disturbed. It was interesting to listen to the discussions  between the archeologist and his assistant as they analyzed their findings. I was surprised at how much speculation is stacked upon speculation until the working theory collapses or seems to stand up.

Even then, there was the possibility that someone else might interpret their findings differently so the material had to be bagged and catalogued.

When they leave the site, the material is washed and every item in the bags is looked at, sorted, and weighed and who knows what else.

We were just getting started when it occurred to me that Dave, as a Native American, might have some difficulty with this process especially if we found human remains. I gave him the option to leave but he had no problem working on the project. In fact he asked the his wife be the second sifter.

My initial reaction was no but our archeologist was all for the idea. He is expecting either an archaeologist or lawyer from one of the tribes to show up and having a Native American working on the site was a big bonus.

If all goes well, we should be done with this phase tomorrow.'