Day 1: Set-Up Day (by Shane)

What is there to say about the first day at a dig site? Winter break was filled with anticipation for this field school. There was a swirl of thoughts in my mind of what to expect. I was not too much off the mark. It might be better to call the first day a pre-day, or a set-up day. Not to say that the day was not eventful.

It was almost like spring cleaning except in the middle of winter. Although winter in South Carolina is more like fall or summer sometimes. So, the day was beautiful. We cleared things away such as foliage from the woodland floor, and any tree limbs that would impede our work in the future. This must seem like a no-brainer, but it had to be done before we could put down the excavation units. I helped set up a 2 meter by 1 meter unit, which took some trial and error for all involved. For most of us it was the first time at a site.

1 m x 2 m unit laid out (Unit 7).

However, before the cleaning there was a big reveal of what already had been uncovered. Dr. White pulled the tarp up to reveal beautiful strata . . . and mice! There was also a frog in one of the other tarps, which honestly was my favorite part of the day. It reminded me of when I used to play in the creek as a child. We found many little creatures, but no artifacts of course. Like stated before this was a cleanup day. So, no actual digging. We were told that an Archaic artifact was found when the site was first discovered. It was even said that there was the potential for Clovis artifacts, which for me is very exciting.