I dropped by the field school late morning to check on their progress. Although the wet field is hampering progress, the temperatures have certainly been more than tolerable for early June -- high 50s in the morning up to the 70s in the afternoon. The field neatly hides what must be a multitude of underground streams seeking their way to Lick Creek.
One of my tasks for the week is to relocate our concrete benchmarks from 2005. They were carefully mapped in relative to a multitude of landmarks (fenceposts, sheds, etc.) -- all of which were unfortunately destroyed during the 2008 tornado and subsequent cleanup. All four of them contain a large brass screw to assist in relocating with a metal detector. Unfortunately again, metal debris from the tornado's devastating impact is scattered all over that area as well. I suppose I should be proud that our excavation areas were so carefully backfilled that they are pretty much invisible on the surface 12 years later. So, my initial search was a failure -- better luck hopefully on another day...
We try to restore the areas investigated during projects like this as closely as possible to their original appearance. Here, one of the few shovel tests that missed the water has been backfilled.
Elsewhere, the water continues to rise in new shovel tests -- although a little less vigorously than yesterday (or maybe that's wishful thinking). Here, Macie, Holly, Shonda, and Nick carefully sift the wet clay next to their plastered buckets.
Dr. Eubanks (far right) continues to get in his daily 20 miles or so making the rounds to review progress and paperwork.
Different parts of the field continue to yield intriguing glimpses into what lies deep below. This projectile point emerged from nearly half a meter deep. Although several centuries older than the Mississippian deposits we're primarily interested in, we know that the springs were frequented by people over the entire 12,000 plus years of human occupation of the region. At the end of the last Ice Age, the springs appear to have been part of a large pond -- possibly created by the giant beaver, an extinct form documented in our 1995 excavations. The mineral-rich pond attracted many kinds of extinct animals -- past projects have also documented multiple mastodons, and flat-headed peccaries (a piglike creature). So, it's difficult to surmise what may be uncovered as the project unfolds.
Elsewhere in the field, one shovel test produced some intriguing hints of a relatively early Euroamerican presence -- early nail fragments, glass, and both creamware and pearlware hint at a previously unknown component. One of the earliest roads in Middle Tennessee (established late 1700s) passed directly by this shovel test. Although difficult to say from the handful of artifacts, it appears to likely predate the construction of the Castalian Springs Inn -- an intriguing mystery, but one that may have to await a different field season.
Another productive day -- hopefully the water will continue to find its way to a new home over the next day or so. High of 75 promised for tomorrow!