picture of my charcoal!!!

More pictures from the lab to come

New updates for the site

I worked a lot last week and then it rained so I could not really get out there much but I did go out today with Mom. Yesterday, however, Mom and Dad went out while I was at work. Since we had so much rain in the last few days it was a good idea to check on the unit and bail out some water. Dad had never been out to the site before and I think he now has a deeper appreciation for what Mom and I do everyday. 
Along with the chert and charcoal Mom and Dad found yesterday, I also cataloged the chert and charcoal from today. We are finding slightly larger pieces of charcoal so that is exciting.
It started to rain today right after we had ate lunch, I had begun to level out some of the ditch that runs through the unit as we dig down. There are a lot of tree roots that need cut. We packed up and headed out a little earlier than I would have liked but it is not a good thing to be rained on when in the field, at least I think so.
When we came home today I looked at both the LiDar image and the map that Baby made of the site. I compared shape for one and where the gates occur in the enclosure. All of the gates are facing East and occur along a shorter 'edge' of the embankment. Mom and I discussed further the probability that this is not a fort or defensive and more ceremonial. So close to the Summer Solstice (tomorrow Tuesday the 21st) it got me thinking about how the gates might line up with sky markers, like sunrise on the Summer Solstice. Comparing this structure with other known earthworks in Ohio and along the Olentangy/Scioto rivers will be important to understanding the function of the site. Stay tuned for more, we plan to go back out Wednesday!

Day three of excavations

Day three of excavations and the heat and the dirt keep on coming!
Today Micah came out to help and it made things a lot easier. We started where we left off yesterday by extending the shovel test counterclockwise from the NW corner to the SE. The buckets of dirt were then sifted by yours truly, Micah and Mom.  This was dirty work and I got covered in it.

We found some more chert, what appears to be a projectile point tip, another piece of charcoal and a bullet casing. Dad looked at the bullet and says it is a 17 caliber, which would put it maybe 30-40 years old. There is a mark on the bullet but we have not identified it as of yet. It was kind of disheartening to find the bullet amongst artifacts which seem to be from Native Americans. Though we also found pieces of a beer can that were closer to the surface. It is evident that people have been out to the area and perhaps people have gone shooting? The charcoal that I have found I will hopefully carbon date and perhaps it will help with dates of the artifacts. Maybe someone shot into the ground? I kind of hope so.

Mom and I are taking a day off tomorrow and it is a well needed rest day, I plan on putting together paper work and washing off artifacts a bit.

Look at the trench

Sifting dirt oops sorry, sediment

view from above