Day 9 (by Ella)

​It's always hard to get back in the swing of things after a long break, but we didn’t let post-spring break lethargy slow us down this Friday! As usual, we began by removing the water that had collected in the units. It was colder out than it has been in the past few weeks so there weren’t many critters to contend with except one mouse that was slow in evacuating. We continued on with our work despite our new friend and accomplished quite a bit by the end of the day.
 
To begin the day, Sam and Caroline finished up their unit after reaching the end of the plow zone in Unit 3. After completing the necessary paperwork and taking pictures of the finished unit they split up to help in Units 4 and 13.
 
In the block, JJ and I continued our work on Unit 6, specifically the matrix around Feature 11. We started at about 110 centimeters below datum and slowly scraped our way down, stopping periodically to piece-plot uncovered artifacts. It was a slow process as the unit was filled with fire crack rock and flakes, but we managed to make it to about 120 centimeters below datum by the end of the day.​

Excavation of Feature 11 in progress.

Ben began his work in Unit 4 by very carefully scraping the surface of the unit with a trowel. In removing all of the loose dirt, it becomes easier to see slight or pronounced color variations in the soil that could indicate a feature or other important aspects of the unit. This is an important first step, as these variations can be very difficult to see at times. After completing this task, Ben began piece-plotting any artifacts he came across and later worked with Sam to map out Feature 12.  
 
Over in the wall section of the site, Robert and DuVal worked on excavating Unit 13, where they came across two diagnostic Savannah River points. One was partial and was missing the tip, but the other was quite large and complete. These points were found in situ, meaning they were found exactly as they had been left and were not disturbed by plows or other intruding forces. The fact that these artifacts were both diagnostic and found in situ makes them very valuable to our understanding of the site.

When 2:30 rolled around we packed everything up and covered the units (at record speed) with the big blue tarp, officially marking the end of another fun and successful field school day.