Day IX

The ninth day in the field was wet. After leaving the field early yesterday due to heavy rain, when we arrived at the site it looked pretty much how we expected...

Bakery area.

Part of the palisade wall area.

The palisade wall trench uncovered.

After bailing the water off of the tarps and out of the units, it turned out to be a rather productive day. Three units (including mine!) were photographed and their paperwork finished, at least ten buckets were water-screened, and Eleanor, Tori, and I began to excavate the barracks; but not before driving ourselves crazy laying out the remaining flags. After surveying the barracks area the past few days, we were left with a few gaps in the flags that serve as a grid for the units. We filled those gaps in using the Pythagorean theorem ("a" squared plus "b" squared equals "c" squared); from two known points we measured out the diagonal side of a right triangle to accurately place a flag on the other side of an imaginary trench running through the earthworks of Fort Confederation.

Breaking ground at the barracks!

 After prepping the new unit with the rake, clippers, and trowel, I dug into the old Fort Confederation earthworks. I only had to remove barely an inch out of the northeast quadrant to uncover a seven centimeter long, trapezoid shaped piece of lead glazed earthenware that is a glossy reddish-brown. We expect to find a lot of artifacts in this area in the upcoming days because the soldiers lived in this spot during the French occupation of the site and the units that cut into the earthworks contain, possibly, material that was scraped up from the surronding areas during their constuction post-Fort Tombecbe.

Can't wait to get back out there tomorrow!

 - Light Horse