BONUS: Monday, June 4th
I helped bring artifacts from the Heister house to The Speaker's House as they will be used in the lab work. Additionally, I helped the archaeological head find the units from past excavations that will be relevant for this year's field school. I wasn't planning on getting dirty today, but of course that was unavoidable because I attract mess, and more specifically, dirt.
Hours: 12:00pm to 6:30pm
Overall Working Hours: 6 hours 30 minutes
Tuesday, June 5th
Today was the first day of the archaeological field school, so it was pretty much an introduction/setting up day. We introduced ourselves (I was horrible at it, as expected, because I'm awkward), and learned a bit about the history of the site. Then, while the other students/volunteers were given a tour of The Speaker's House, the head archaeologist and I determined where the excavation units would go; this was easily done for the barn units as the 2016 units were found, but because we still hadn't found many indications for the units on the east side of the house, we had a difficult time. Once the tour was finished, we all reconvened and went over various handouts we were given (a course description packet, an archaeology glossary sheet, a soil texture sheet, and an excavation manual packet). Finally, we were able to start with the units in the barn area. Here, we triangulated the corners for the two units and labeled their coordinates. Next we put string around the pins to show the edges of the units, and we then de-sodded the areas. While this was going on, two fellow diggers and I tried to triangulate the units for the east side of the house. This for some reason was a difficult feat, way harder than it should have been (I think it was because the elevation levels were so different causing the measurements to be easily messed up). But, we were eventually able to get the corners of the past units, so tomorrow we can triangulate the two units for this year.
I also took out the trash at The Speaker's House and at Henry's.
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Overall Working Hours: 8 hours
Wednesday, June 6th
As stated yesterday, we were ready to triangulate the two excavation units that will be located on the east side of The Speaker's House, so three fellow diggers and I did so. Once laid out, we stringed off the units and de-sodded them (both of these tasks took an annoyingly long time because the ground is not very flat and is instead extremely rocky). Finally, when this was done, we sifted the sod layer, and started excavating level 1 (level 1 includes the surface level because this area is topped by fill dirt).
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Overall Working Hours: 7 hours 30 minutes
Thursday, June 7th
The majority of the morning was spent reporting to and listening to reports by the museum committee of the Historical Society. It was very interesting to sit in and see the work that goes into the society, and it was a great experience/opportunity professionally to see how they are run. After lunch, my boss, a fellow intern, and the very knowledgeable workers went to Henry's carriage house to sort out the architectural artifacts from the random junk pieces that still remained. While it doesn't seem like we did a lot, today was jam-packed.
Hours: 9:00am to 4:30pm
Overall Working Hours: 7 hours 30 minutes
Friday, June 8th
Today I continued digging in the same unit. Almost immediately we saw a color change at the west end of the unit. This area then became Feature 157, and the remaining area became the start of level two. We took a picture of the feature and new level, then I wrote notes for the feature and the new level (and finished the paperwork on the previous level). The unit next to mine contained this feature also. I then started digging the feature in my unit, and found another weird circular feature that went into the other unit again.
In the afternoon, I began priming windows for The Speaker's House (yay painting).
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
Overall Working Hours: 8 hours
Saturday, June 9th
In the morning, we finished excavating the initial feature in my unit until we hit level 2, and recorded the necessary information. We then excavated level two until we hit a color/texture change, meaning we hit level 3. On the west side there was a concentration of shells. Additionally, we confirmed that the circular weird patch of dirt found previously should indeed be a new feature (Feature 158).
Then, in the afternoon I painted for a bit, then went to Henry's to give tours/work in the visitor's center.
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
Overall Working Hours: 7 hours 30 minutes