(Friday May 30th)

After a few setbacks from the rain we continued on with our work on our prospective units. We are now working on the other side of the gully where the French barracks used to be. The back side of the barracks would have faced the drop off that is very steep and falls to a creek below; the front would have faced the interior of the fort. Now we hope to find whatever remains were left behind by the soldiers that resided there. Items could have been dropped behind the barracks while on leisurely time or through the floor boards of the barracks themselves. The building would have stood on cedar piers making it easy for belonging to be lost under the floor. After the French (1736-1763) and English (1763-1768) had long gone, the Spanish (1794-1797) built earthworks and in doing so moved a lot of the material from the barracks. This created a mix of artifacts from the French and Spanish, making it hard to date. One of the units we opened is partially on one of these earthworks and some pottery has been unearthed. The artifacts found in this unit might be harder to date and figure out a story for but they are still valuable because we can determine where it came from based on its appearance (meaning the glaze and decoration on pottery can determine French or Spanish made).

            I recently opened a new unit in the barracks area and there are a few steps before you can begin digging. One of these is using a Munsell chart to determine the color of the soil you are working in. First you take a sample of the soil with your trowel and slip it under/behind the chart and then using your best judgment determine which color matches. Some people dampen the soil to get a better idea of its true color.

            We gave one another tours of our units because it was Friday and we wanted to review everyone's progress over the week. Team Bakery had discovered some pieces of metal on what appears to be the wall of the bakery. Also by the bakery wall there is a darker area of earth that was probably under the bakery. The bakery was probably raised on piers like the barracks, creating space for objects to fall between the floor boards. There is a distinct layer of rubble that is from working on the bakery and then its destruction. On the other side of the bakery wall a nice profile wall has been made that tells a great story for the bakery showing all the layers of construction and destruction as well as clusters of nails, fired brick, and mortar. It will be exciting to see what else turns up on this part of the site.

In the barracks area we are just beginning but a piece of pottery was found and a small piece of animal bone.

P.S. we discovered that snickers look like profile walls! :) 

- Little Foot