I am resentful of the fact that Luke, Kaitlin, and I had to draw a bigger version of our profile wall... outside of field school... on a Sunday.
>:(
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Geoarchaeology Week
Not much to say about this week really...
I drew a profile wall. For those not in the know, a profile wall is basically drawing the layers (or stratigraphy) that occurred naturally at the site. We then name them, (unit 1, 2, 3, abc), define their texture (clay, sand, loam) and color.
I suck at determining colors of soils. I'm just not good at it. I messed up roughly 6 or 7 attempts at determining color in less than 2 hours. D:
We also did more survey on Mound E (and didn't have to draw a contour map of it... yay!) and did a resistivity test.
Resistivity measures the ability of current to travel through the soil. We put 72 metal pins in the ground and send current. Based on the differences between the points, one can determine how well it conducts electricity, which helps figure out soil type.
I have no idea what this will help us learn about the mound. We didn't discuss that.
Luke, Kaitlin and I talked a lot... and we DID sit around a lot doing nothing.
I also got very muddy and got bug bites... :\
back to excavation and waterscreen next week! YAY!
I really enjoy excavation, if I haven't indicated that previously
I drew a profile wall. For those not in the know, a profile wall is basically drawing the layers (or stratigraphy) that occurred naturally at the site. We then name them, (unit 1, 2, 3, abc), define their texture (clay, sand, loam) and color.
I suck at determining colors of soils. I'm just not good at it. I messed up roughly 6 or 7 attempts at determining color in less than 2 hours. D:
We also did more survey on Mound E (and didn't have to draw a contour map of it... yay!) and did a resistivity test.
Resistivity measures the ability of current to travel through the soil. We put 72 metal pins in the ground and send current. Based on the differences between the points, one can determine how well it conducts electricity, which helps figure out soil type.
I have no idea what this will help us learn about the mound. We didn't discuss that.
Luke, Kaitlin and I talked a lot... and we DID sit around a lot doing nothing.
I also got very muddy and got bug bites... :\
back to excavation and waterscreen next week! YAY!
I really enjoy excavation, if I haven't indicated that previously
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
What's new...
So, it's getting hot. More than anything, it's getting humid. :(
In good news: I am tanning now, rather than burning.
In bad news: I have awful tan lines :-\
Friday, I water screened. It was generally unexciting, and lordy I'm not so good at it... Especially with clay.
If you ever really want to get a feeling for water screening, get a block of clay (like, the hard compact kind from the ground, not the kind from the store). Soak this in water. Then try and force it through a window screen, while spraying it with water... It's not easy.
This week, my crew (consisting of Luke, Kaitlin and myself) are working on geoarchaeology... this rotation, according to last weeks' group involves a lot of standing around :-\
For those of you not in the same weather area as evansville, it rained a LOT this weekend. This meant that Angel Mounds was a huge mud pit. This in turn meant that we got to bail out the units. Fun fun fun. (side note: we might have destoyed a bunch of unit A on accident... OOPS)
After bailing water, I stood around a lot... A LOT. Then I learned how to set up and level Survey equipment. This was followed by lunch (in summary, ~3 hours of doing nothing but stand)
After lunch, it rained. and by rained, i mean it POURED. So we chilled out, in a shed for about an hour.
Then, for the next 3 hours, my crew learned about taking survey points. We then took 108 survey points over a mound (Mound E, the third largest mound at Angel). I'm pretty sure my pants were destroyed by wading through vegetation. We're thinking about bringing a machete tomorrow...
So... basically, I didn't do a lot today.
Great quote though.
"Ew. Why do you spit it out?"
"What, do you think I should swallow it?"
"Uh, yes. Then I wouldn't have to see it"
(That's what he and she said?)
This conversation had to do with hawking loogies... I think I have developed the same revulsion to spit that Alyssa has... but maybe not on the same scale
In good news: I am tanning now, rather than burning.
In bad news: I have awful tan lines :-\
Friday, I water screened. It was generally unexciting, and lordy I'm not so good at it... Especially with clay.
If you ever really want to get a feeling for water screening, get a block of clay (like, the hard compact kind from the ground, not the kind from the store). Soak this in water. Then try and force it through a window screen, while spraying it with water... It's not easy.
This week, my crew (consisting of Luke, Kaitlin and myself) are working on geoarchaeology... this rotation, according to last weeks' group involves a lot of standing around :-\
For those of you not in the same weather area as evansville, it rained a LOT this weekend. This meant that Angel Mounds was a huge mud pit. This in turn meant that we got to bail out the units. Fun fun fun. (side note: we might have destoyed a bunch of unit A on accident... OOPS)
After bailing water, I stood around a lot... A LOT. Then I learned how to set up and level Survey equipment. This was followed by lunch (in summary, ~3 hours of doing nothing but stand)
After lunch, it rained. and by rained, i mean it POURED. So we chilled out, in a shed for about an hour.
Then, for the next 3 hours, my crew learned about taking survey points. We then took 108 survey points over a mound (Mound E, the third largest mound at Angel). I'm pretty sure my pants were destroyed by wading through vegetation. We're thinking about bringing a machete tomorrow...
So... basically, I didn't do a lot today.
Great quote though.
"Ew. Why do you spit it out?"
"What, do you think I should swallow it?"
"Uh, yes. Then I wouldn't have to see it"
(That's what he and she said?)
This conversation had to do with hawking loogies... I think I have developed the same revulsion to spit that Alyssa has... but maybe not on the same scale
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Thursday.
Today, we mapped.
Now, while this sounds like a pretty basic thing... OH LORD IT ISN'T.
It took us roughly 2.5-3 hours to appropriately draw this map. It was INTENSE. I didn't actually draw it... but I measured points.
Also, I learned today that I fail at doing subtraction in my head. Sad, but true, story.
I also got to excavate a 1x1 which was mostly sterile (so we used shovels)... and then I filled out paperwork
I feel that I kind of dominate at paperwork... just saying
Now, while this sounds like a pretty basic thing... OH LORD IT ISN'T.
It took us roughly 2.5-3 hours to appropriately draw this map. It was INTENSE. I didn't actually draw it... but I measured points.
Also, I learned today that I fail at doing subtraction in my head. Sad, but true, story.
I also got to excavate a 1x1 which was mostly sterile (so we used shovels)... and then I filled out paperwork
I feel that I kind of dominate at paperwork... just saying
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
This week... briefly
I.am.tired.
SO quick blogging
Monday! Learned about mapping, cleaning and photographing full levels! yay!
Also learned exciting things by way of ACTUAL EXCAVATION OF REAL STUFF!!! :D
Tuesday! Water screening. ehhh lifting heavy buckets of mud and water onto screens;physically pushing dirt through 1mm screen holes while using hoses... kind of hard, very exhausting... very wet and dirty
Wednesday! More mapping, more excavation... some sterile soil... some exciting red soil.
Lots of paperwork in the past three days.
Repeat Monday/Tuesday for Thursday/Friday (unless things change)
SO quick blogging
Monday! Learned about mapping, cleaning and photographing full levels! yay!
Also learned exciting things by way of ACTUAL EXCAVATION OF REAL STUFF!!! :D
Tuesday! Water screening. ehhh lifting heavy buckets of mud and water onto screens;physically pushing dirt through 1mm screen holes while using hoses... kind of hard, very exhausting... very wet and dirty
Wednesday! More mapping, more excavation... some sterile soil... some exciting red soil.
Lots of paperwork in the past three days.
Repeat Monday/Tuesday for Thursday/Friday (unless things change)
Friday, May 15, 2009
The Plow Zone
Continued working on getting through the plow zone.
We had some major bucket issues today. Mainly, when we excavated yesterday, we used up nearly all of our buckets. So, for the majority of the midday, there was nothing to do. We told jokes, primarily of the dead baby variety.
After buying 50 more buckets from the good ol' home depot, we got to work.
we excavated with shovels (thank god). It made everything much faster. I'm becoming an expert at taking elevations and doing paperwork. (oh the super exciting aspects of archaeology!)
Exciting thing today!: I found a groundstone tool in the wall of my unit! It was used to make stone tools from chert. We found the use-wear markings. From this, my supervisors determined that the person who used it was right handed.
We have one more 1x1 m unit before we start on level 1--the first layer that would have actual material culture that was undisturbed by the plowing. This will be happening tomorrow during the Public CSI Archaeology day at Angel.
If you're in the Evansville area, stop by! I may/may not be there... I haven't decided yet
Also discovered(confirmed?) today: IU is not a good model for 6ยบ of separation. It's usually closer to 1 or 2 degrees
We had some major bucket issues today. Mainly, when we excavated yesterday, we used up nearly all of our buckets. So, for the majority of the midday, there was nothing to do. We told jokes, primarily of the dead baby variety.
After buying 50 more buckets from the good ol' home depot, we got to work.
we excavated with shovels (thank god). It made everything much faster. I'm becoming an expert at taking elevations and doing paperwork. (oh the super exciting aspects of archaeology!)
Exciting thing today!: I found a groundstone tool in the wall of my unit! It was used to make stone tools from chert. We found the use-wear markings. From this, my supervisors determined that the person who used it was right handed.
We have one more 1x1 m unit before we start on level 1--the first layer that would have actual material culture that was undisturbed by the plowing. This will be happening tomorrow during the Public CSI Archaeology day at Angel.
If you're in the Evansville area, stop by! I may/may not be there... I haven't decided yet
Also discovered(confirmed?) today: IU is not a good model for 6ยบ of separation. It's usually closer to 1 or 2 degrees
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Angel Mounds Field School
Since this is apparently the hip thing to do, I'm creating a blog to document my 6 week experience, training as an archaeologist.
This summer, I'm going to be excavading two 3x3 m areas where a building used to be at Angel Mound historic site, one of the largest Mississippian sites, second only to maybe Cahokia.
Today was day three, but first recap of what's been going on.
Day 1 (5/12/09)
We got a lot of lectures... like 4 or 5... about the site, archaeology, native americans in prehistory, material culture, archaeology at angel mounds, etc. I got to try flaking stone tools. It was hard. I'm bad at it
We also took a tour of the site... basic synopsis: there are mounds. 3 are big, 4 are not. People lived there. we're excavading this "structure." not a building, not a house, a "structure" from 1100 AD that was burned down.
Cool things about the structure: 1) there's no evidence that anyone ever lived in it or did any specific activity like stone tool making or. 2) it was burned down for some reason, and was put out very soon after it was burned 3) it had a woven floor matting. This has NEVER been found at any other Mississippian (period in history when Angel Mounds was active) site. it's kind of a big deal.
Fact: Even though I spent no more than 2 hours outside, I managed to get sunburnt. :(
Day 2
RAIN.
We started the day with... more lecture.
But, the weather cleared up pretty quickly, so we went out to the site.
While other people were constructing water screens (a method to separate artifacts and other small non-dirt things from the soil that we dig up), the rest of us went to work
We shoveled out the two old excavations (which were filled with sand). If you didn't know, sand is pretty heavy, especially in large amounts. I'm still sore.
We eventually started trowel-ing the old site, to get it back to it's old conditions, since it's the other half of our "structure."
This took all day, aside from doing "profile walls," which was generally tedious and unexciting, especially since other people were starting to excavate our units :(
Fact: I got sunburn, even though it was overcast all day... and there were tornado watches and it looked like it was going to rain all day long.
TODAY
So, last night in Evansville, it rained. A lot. A LOT. So... we had to individually bail out the old units of their water. All of our sites were covered in tarps, so they were pretty unharmed. The tops of the tarps were full of water... which we got to scoop out so it didn't alter the excavation with runoff etc.
Today, after the water was gone, we started excavating. Exciting stuff... sort of.
Since the site is anywhere from 600-900 years old, we had to dig a little to get to the sites... which sadly all has to be done by hand.
Angel Mounds used to be farm land, so we have what is called "the Plow Zone." As the name implies, this area was the soil that the Angel family used to plow for their farm, so none of the artifacts have context, so we just kinda whack at it and dig it all up.
From my 1x1 meter square, we got 14 bucks of dirt. within my unit, we found a stone tool flake, some unused chert (what stone tools are made of) and some fired daub (daub is basically mud, which in our case was burnt down and is a neat red color instead of normal dirt colored)
This took roughly 7 hours today.
Fact: I didn't get any NEW sunburn! :D
Tonight, 10 of our 13 field school kids went to Los Bravos for dinner.
As the only true Evansville "towny," I get to be the resident expert on where things are. It's more exciting than it should be.
All of the kids are super cool (we even have some grad students working with us, as students). Our staff of supervisors are all pretty chill it seems.
Our two directors are both at least over 55, and one of them is probably 70. The older smokes a pipe. They have the cutest old man bromance ever.
If anyone is interested in coming to the site, please feel free to let me know! I'd have to give you an intellectual-sounding talk, and you can make fun of me (and see a REAL LIVE ARCHAEOLOGY DIG!)
So, that's my summer, so far
This summer, I'm going to be excavading two 3x3 m areas where a building used to be at Angel Mound historic site, one of the largest Mississippian sites, second only to maybe Cahokia.
Today was day three, but first recap of what's been going on.
Day 1 (5/12/09)
We got a lot of lectures... like 4 or 5... about the site, archaeology, native americans in prehistory, material culture, archaeology at angel mounds, etc. I got to try flaking stone tools. It was hard. I'm bad at it
We also took a tour of the site... basic synopsis: there are mounds. 3 are big, 4 are not. People lived there. we're excavading this "structure." not a building, not a house, a "structure" from 1100 AD that was burned down.
Cool things about the structure: 1) there's no evidence that anyone ever lived in it or did any specific activity like stone tool making or. 2) it was burned down for some reason, and was put out very soon after it was burned 3) it had a woven floor matting. This has NEVER been found at any other Mississippian (period in history when Angel Mounds was active) site. it's kind of a big deal.
Fact: Even though I spent no more than 2 hours outside, I managed to get sunburnt. :(
Day 2
RAIN.
We started the day with... more lecture.
But, the weather cleared up pretty quickly, so we went out to the site.
While other people were constructing water screens (a method to separate artifacts and other small non-dirt things from the soil that we dig up), the rest of us went to work
We shoveled out the two old excavations (which were filled with sand). If you didn't know, sand is pretty heavy, especially in large amounts. I'm still sore.
We eventually started trowel-ing the old site, to get it back to it's old conditions, since it's the other half of our "structure."
This took all day, aside from doing "profile walls," which was generally tedious and unexciting, especially since other people were starting to excavate our units :(
Fact: I got sunburn, even though it was overcast all day... and there were tornado watches and it looked like it was going to rain all day long.
TODAY
So, last night in Evansville, it rained. A lot. A LOT. So... we had to individually bail out the old units of their water. All of our sites were covered in tarps, so they were pretty unharmed. The tops of the tarps were full of water... which we got to scoop out so it didn't alter the excavation with runoff etc.
Today, after the water was gone, we started excavating. Exciting stuff... sort of.
Since the site is anywhere from 600-900 years old, we had to dig a little to get to the sites... which sadly all has to be done by hand.
Angel Mounds used to be farm land, so we have what is called "the Plow Zone." As the name implies, this area was the soil that the Angel family used to plow for their farm, so none of the artifacts have context, so we just kinda whack at it and dig it all up.
From my 1x1 meter square, we got 14 bucks of dirt. within my unit, we found a stone tool flake, some unused chert (what stone tools are made of) and some fired daub (daub is basically mud, which in our case was burnt down and is a neat red color instead of normal dirt colored)
This took roughly 7 hours today.
Fact: I didn't get any NEW sunburn! :D
Tonight, 10 of our 13 field school kids went to Los Bravos for dinner.
As the only true Evansville "towny," I get to be the resident expert on where things are. It's more exciting than it should be.
All of the kids are super cool (we even have some grad students working with us, as students). Our staff of supervisors are all pretty chill it seems.
Our two directors are both at least over 55, and one of them is probably 70. The older smokes a pipe. They have the cutest old man bromance ever.
If anyone is interested in coming to the site, please feel free to let me know! I'd have to give you an intellectual-sounding talk, and you can make fun of me (and see a REAL LIVE ARCHAEOLOGY DIG!)
So, that's my summer, so far
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