The start to Day 11 was a little different than the other days. We usually meet at 8 o’clock at the designated building. However this day we met up an hour later at 9. We did this because of the rain that morning. This is actually the first time that the weather has delayed us from the site. So far we have been extremely lucky to not have rain on Fridays. Thanks to this delay I was able to eat a real breakfast. I usually just get things out of the vending machine for my breakfast and lunch, but this time I got three Chick-fil-A biscuits: one for breakfast, two for later. I am still convinced that this was the greatest decision of my life. When we got to the site the rain had stopped. Like what always happens when we return after it rains, we had to drain the water that was trapped in the tarp that was covering the excavation unit. After that we got back to work. On the previous day, Day 10, I had missed the field school for personal reasons. Also the two days before, I was working in a different unit away from everyone else. So while I was gone from the normal units I missed a few things. I took a look in all of the 2 x 2 units and was surprised that there was so much being dug up. One thing specifically caught my eye in someone else’s unit. To me it looked like some kind of point. I asked someone, who was older and was more knowledgeable, what it was. He simple said: “It’s interesting that’s what it is.” Unfortunately there was nothing that interesting in the unit that I was working in this day. It is worth saying that this day was the first day that I piece-plotted with only a trowel. Piece-plotting is when we skim the surface of the unit and every time we hit/find something we stick it with a marker. The last times I piece plotted I always used a regular shovel. The reasons that we used trowels today were because there was so much stuff, that we wanted to get all the in-between places that are not accessible with a shovel. There might not have been anything overly interesting in the unit that day (although to my standards everything is interesting), but there was a lot of stuff. It was mostly flakes and cultural rock, possibly fire exposed. It only took about an hour and a half before so much was uncovered that we had to methodically bag the items. It was so much stuff that me and my partner couldn’t finish before we had to leave.
It has been five days and I am still feeling the effects of piece-potting with a trowel. Without a shovel I was forced to crouch to do my work. Now my thighs are sore. I have to say that it was a pretty good workout.
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Student Blog (2017)Blog posts written by the students of the 2017 Broad River Archaeological Field School Archives
April 2017
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