Roots are evil.

Today we woke up at 5 AM, very sore from yesterday's work. We met in the parking lot and discussed a few things before we left, and then we hit the site. Today was special because Nick celebrated his birthday today.


Well, happy birthday, Nick, you're on shovel testing duty! All the poison ivy you could want! We split into our groups to work on our units, while some people went to do shovel tests and others to do GPS mapping.


Shovel testing uncovered some really neat stuff: a piece of decorated pottery and some Late Archaic items, including a partial point. The Archaic stuff is older than our Caddo component, but still very interesting to find.


For the people digging in their units, there was one find that predominated: roots. We're beginning to see the downside of digging in a forest. These aren't small roots; these are thick cords of some sort of supernatural material that makes them nearly impervious to harm. The most common words of the day were, "Can you pass the root cutters?"


The major find was in graduate supervisor Adam Moody's unit, where we uncovered some charcoal deposits together with what might be a charred wood post mold. Most units are on their second level and everyone is hoping to get through the plowzone soon. We got our first taste of washing and rough sorting artifacts this afternoon, and are looking forward to some rest tonight. Before going out again tomorrow, of course.

Richard Jaggers, Sarah Dumas, Bryce Denton, & Meghan Hemric