Getting Up and Running

Today, was our first day of work, and we spent most of the time getting the site set up. First, we toured the site and looked at all of the areas that we will be working on for the next five weeks. After we sharpened our trowels and shovels, it was time to get the brush cleared from the trail going down to the site and the excavation area.

Patrick Livingood, from the OU Department of Anthropology, took a crew and began mapping the surrounding area and laying in shovel test locations on a 10 m grid.

The first excavation area was placed around the test unit where the remains of a structure were uncovered last summer.  While we were clearing brush from around the excavation area we found a snake, probably a young timber rattlesnake!!  It was safely relocated to a new home away from the excavation units. After the site had been cleared, we then learned how to string out a unit, a 2 by 2 meter square, and begin digging our first 10 cm level.  Even though the digging was slow going, some interesting artifacts were found today! One is the small projectile point that came up in the screen just before we ate lunch.

After lunch we found a piece of a jar that was decorated!

By 2:30, it was time for everyone to pack up and cover the units as well as pack up all of our tools so that they would not be disturbed over night. Everyone was tired from the heat and humidity, but we can't wait for another GREAT day, just like today!


Sarah Dumas, Meghan Hemric, Bryce Denton, Richard Jaggers