Rain!

We're making excellent progress towards completing the units in Block 1! Of the four 2m x 2m units, two are nearly complete. Unit 6 in the block's northwest corner has proven to be a complicated mix of fill- and construction-type features that the students have had to use their best archaeological skills to figure out. Here (left), students Meagan Rhea and Amanda Dahlberg display yet another pipebowl fragment recovered (this time with a maker's stamp!) and the saucer that had been teasing us since Week 1.

Unfortunately, rain has plagued the last two weeks, hampering our thus-far awesome progress. Last Wednesday, the crew got caught in a torrential downpour! The students were able to quickly protect the exposed archaeological remains and paperwork, sometimes at the expense of their own personal belongings!

Here (above) the crew recovers from last week's deluge.

After a nice, relaxing Memorial Day weekend, the crew was anxious to get back to work. We hope to expand Block 1 east to chase some rather awesome, artifact rich features. The features, seen in Unit 3, Unit 5, and Unit 6 of Block 1, have contained dense concentration of domestic and personal artifacts that are informing us about the types of people that occupied the house over time and who worked in the Arcadia complex.

Unfortunately, today we weren't able to make the progress we'd hoped. We did manage to get in a few photos. Here (right), Trey Ropelis and Meagan Rhea show off their crazy photo prep skills: They managed to not only shade the unit for the photo by elevating the tent, but keep creatively keep their feet out of the shot, as well!

At promptly 10:45 am thunder rolled in. We managed to eke out a bit more work before it became abundantly obvious that all hope was lost. Fortunately, unlike during last week's storm, we made it back to the Visitor's Center before becoming well and thoroughly soaked.

After lunch, students got a chance to learn how to assemble and prepare our Sokkia Total Station unit. This is a surveying machine we use to make accurate and thorough site maps, as well as record elevations. The students found out it is far trickier to get the Total Station perfectly level than one might think. Here (left) Salina Hebert and Meagan Rhea give it a try.

Though the ten-day forecast doesn't look too promising, the Arcadia students will be doing their best to squeeze in what little work we can manage to between the raindrops. Check back soon to see how overly ambitious this plan turns out to be!