Day 2: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Look at what Brett found! It's a comb made of bone.

  Day two of the dig started off bright and sunny and it wasn’t long before a few artifacts were discovered such as the bone comb pictured above. The excavation of the oven area continued and several more students were assigned units, myself included. I spent most of the day removing the top soil from my unit and excavating a feature found just under the very top layer of leaves and other debris. A clear layer of charcoal was present in the south-east corner of my unit, possibly from a modern-day campfire. Although the feature is much more modern than what we are really looking for, it is still evidence of human interference and I was able to learn a few techniques for documenting and excavating a feature found in the soil.

   

The water screen was also set up today so we could begin screening the soil from our units. The picture below shows Dr. Dumas instructing two students on how to use the water screening system. 

Archaeology often requires a bit of engineering.

We wrapped up our day at the site around 4:00 this afternoon and returned to Land Hall for a yummy dinner of pizza followed by a presentation from Dr. Dumas offering some insight into the history of Fort Tombecbe. Can’t wait for day three! 

Jordan Mahaffey

Day 1 - Gett'n the Trowels Dirty

We just returned from our first day in the field. The part of the site where we are working is pleasantly shady with a hint of spider and chance of chalk, 100%. We made amazing progress setting things up today, but more importantly, we established a few ground rules. Naturally, no site can operate efficiently without rules; ours are pretty straight forward:

1. Don't poke the string
2. Don't pet the spiders
3. Remember the water
4. Cow

There's been some fantastic ideas bandied about over some of the old features at the site. I won't say more, I'll leave that for when a decision is made. However, this idea could lead to an very exciting find later in the season. Of course, everyone who comes out to the Public Archaeology Day will get a chance to hear it discussed first hand (hint, hint). As for now, we're content to uncover what appears to be French pottery. And chalk. Lots of chalk. Seriously, we're all really excited about this season. I have a feeling it's going to be great!

The 2012 Fort Tombecbe Archaeological Field School
Left to right: Brett Shaw, Brian Mast (Black Belt Museum Educational Coordinator), Andrea Zrake, Jordan Mahaffey, Kayla Slay, Alex Nelson, Lauren Stephens, Susanne Crouch, Nadine Armstrong, Ron Stafford (Volunteer). Not picutured, but ever present, Dr. John Hall, who raised the flags of France, Great Britain, and Spain over Fort Tombecbe

First Blog: Sunday, May 20, 2012

Today’s first meeting with my instructors and classmates was very interesting. Everyone was very nice even though no one knew what to talk about. Dr. Dumas went over what we would be doing over the next few weeks, which was helpful considering I did not know what to expect. I was a little intimidated, seeing that everyone else seems to have past experience with archeology field work. 

Being from Sumter County, I know that the ticks and red-bugs are bad, especially when the winters are fairly warm. This does not mean that I am thrilled about the insects and plan on applying and reapplying insect repellant. I also plan on drinking plenty of water. 

After Dr. Dumas went over the syllabus with us and discussed our plans for the next few weeks, we went downstairs to eat a very delicious meal of spaghetti and salad, followed by brownies for dessert. Over dinner, we learned more about one another and Dr. Hall discussed various topics. 

This blog is slightly short, but not too much happened in between five and seven o’clock besides the orientation and dinner. Overall, though, I am very excited about the next four weeks and furthering my education in archaeology. - Nadine Armstrong