Day XIV

Dig day number fourteen was extremley hot. But, everyone is back in the field after various bouts with allergies, sore throat, eye infections, ear infections, and heat rashes. We even had two more volunteers help out for the day, Natalie's family came to visit, and Brian prepped the site for community day.

Jordan and Lauren finishing up a unit at the wall area.

The Mooneys.

Brian mowing inside of the fort.

The survey crew finished their mapping of the southern earthwork of Fort Confederation and barracks; they plotted nearly 600 points across the terrain using the survey station which will result in a great topographic map. In addition, Jordan and Lauren finished excavating unit 47 at the wall area, revealing (mostly) a huge tree root.

Surveying... and tree climbing. Actually, Boone is bending the tree back so that the survey machine (left) can locate the prism (right).

Unit 47.

Personally, I continued to excavate unit 201. I went a little crazy and breached into layer B by removing too much soil while hacking away a giant piece of chalk that began in layer A. It was a good reminder that going slow is usually the best choice and, when peeling back layers of dirt, to be weary of soil changes in texture, color, etc. However, it wasn't a big deal and I was able to finish the first two layers of unit 201 just as the day was ending. I have to say, as nerdy as it sounds, I'm looking foward to drawing a profile wall if I finish this unit before the field school ends.

Layer A.

Layer B.

Profile view of unit 201 layer B.

Lastly, finds of the day are multiple pieces of Choctaw pottery with recatlinear engravings, and a deer's lower jawbone with teeth still in it. Eleanor found her pottery piece a few meters directly south from my unit, and Rattlesnake Ron and Brian found their piece in their unit from the 2012 season as they we're cleaning it up. Littlefoot, in addition to her forty-plus nails, excavated the eerie looking jawbone and teeth one meter to the south of my unit.

Eleanor's Choctaw pottery.

Captain Rattlesnake's Choctaw pottery.

- Light Horse