Highbanks and river romping

Over Thanksgiving break mother and I went out to Highbanks to the Nature Center to take a closer, hands-on look at the artifacts that are there. They were artifacts from Baby's excavation that are on loan from OHS.

I really wanted to see if there was basal grinding on any of the points and I did feel grinding on all three, most noticable on the broken point. I also examined the pot sherd more closely and will hopefully get some more information about my observations soon. The sherd is grit-tempered and may be from the base of a vessel or the side-piece of a very large vessel due to the very slight curve. There is a dark coloration on the interior surface which suggests it was used for cooking. There also seems to be burnt sections on the broken edges. Mother suggested this was from oils on hands that had touched it over the past 50 years. I think it may be that the vessel broke in the fire while cooking and that it how broken edges were burnt. In any case the Highbanks staff (Elizabeth and Debbie) were as wonderful and helpful as always. I love bouncing ideas off of them and getting their input on my project.

A few days later, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, mother and I decided to go to a chert outcrop suggested to me by Jim Murphy. This was located along the East bank of the Olentangy River, North of Highbanks. I invested in some fishing waders and got to it. The River was pretty high and rather fast on Saturday so I had to be careful not to fall. The tributary river that the outcrop is visible at was beautiful!

We collected a bunch of samples of chert and had a wonderful time. Stay tuned for the results of the chert analysis!