The Unit B9 crew working in the eastern half of the site could not wait to start excavating their post hole and post mold from yesterday. Matthew was especially excited because he got to use an ice cream scooper to dig out the post mold.
The post hole and post mold extended down into a Mississippian midden, and at the bottom of the hole, they found part of a fabric-impressed saltpan.
A few meters to the north, Brittany, Kathryn, and John found several teeth from a large herbivore and another square post. The post is lined on three sides with limestone slabs and inside is an iron ring. It is possible that the square posts from their unit and the one to the south are part of the same structure, but it is too early to tell.
Closer to the center of the site, Amanda, Constants, Fiona, and Hannah broke ground on Test Unit B8. Last year, we found about a dozen historic pottery sherds in a nearby shovel test. So, perhaps there is some sort of structure nearby.
Maddie, Devon, Nicolas, and JP also made an interesting discovery today. They are excavating a test unit into a possible stone/earth oven so that Maddie can get a botanical sample from the oven. Their unit is located a few feet away from Unit A1 from last year. Below is an image of what the oven looks like in A1’s profile.
However, this feature is not present in Maddie’s unit. Our best guess is that the contents of the oven were swept to the edges and that Unit A1 just so happened to hit the edge of the oven. It looks like we’ll be excavating another hole into the “rock pit.”