Week 4 with Eric's Crew

This week, we switched our teams around to explore the site with varying experience and research goals.  Supervisor Eric Swanson had his team begin the week after a record-setting weekend of rain.  The environment surrounding the site and our shovel tests clearly showed it.  It wasn’t until Anna Consoliver-Zack and Matt Slycord began excavating a new shovel test that the true gravity of what the rain had done to the soils became clear.  After digging 39 cm into the shovel test, ground water began flooding the floor, and the shovel test was covered for later excavation.

The following day took the team towards the edge of the brick-lined well.  The brick-lined well shovel test allowed Matt and Anna to dry off in the sun, and was relatively easy, despite the test’s proximity to such a large cultural object.

Eric, Anna, and Matt returned the next day to test the densely wooded area along the western property boundary.  While keeping a keen eye out for cultural features along the surface, the local wildlife played an essential role in providing the team with company.

Discovering a small variety of historic ceramics, glass, and iron artifacts throughout the day, the team located a large brick conglomeration on their last shovel test.  The heavy concentration of brick, mortar, and sandstone in this shovel test indicates the possible location of a pier that would have supported a structure of some type.  While Matt and Anna meticulously cleaned, profiled, and mapped the shovel test, they provided essential data that will aid in the interpretation of this dynamic site.