Hi Everybody,

This is our last week out at Fort Tombecbe, and I can honestly say that I am going to miss it. I learned a bunch of stuff here and met a lot of fun people.

This week has been a busy week for all of us. I have been digging the trench in my unit. So far, I have found many, many bricks and bone. I have come to love this unit because it has a lot going on it. It’s got the blocks on each side of it, the trench in the middle, and I’ve found lots of cool stuff like the bottle lip. I was talking with Dr. Dumas today about the blocks that are flanking the trench. I think it’s significant, but I’m not for sure why yet. 

My unit. The long hole was a builder's trench for the bake house. It was filled in with rubble after the bake house fell into disrepair. I am excavating out all of the rubble.



While Alex and Mr. Ron worked on cleaning up the palisade units today, we all were trying to finish up digging so we can finish up the paperwork, which entails mapping the profile wall, drawing the plan view, recording colors, and finishing any notes we need to make. Some of the units won’t be finished by tomorrow, but we will backfill to preserve everything. At least the next field school will have plenty to do! 



The finished palisade units. The widest long, dark stain is the palisade wall of Fort Tombecbe. The dark blob at the upper right is the corner of the southwest bastion. Only a part of it has been excavated--you can see the holes left by rotted posts in the builder's trench. The narrow trenches in the upper left are trenches for fence lines and what we think are drainage ditches for the fort.

 Brian and Mr. Ron have found some beads in the unit they opened up at the barracks. They’re tiny but really important because we haven’t found that many yet. Finding these lets us know that the soldiers here had beads.



Brian's bead.

Tonight was our last lab night, and we spent it sorting and labeling. After we wrapped up and everyone was leaving we heard a faint meow from Jordan's friend's car. We spent the next few minutes trying lure the cat out with Brett's tuna. Bienville finally emerged when one of our neighbors came out and helped us!



 

Bienville leaving with Nadine.