Dropped off my truckload of equipment for the field school about 7:30 this morning. Another gorgeous day for June fieldwork -- maybe some of the best I've seen in many years of field schools there. As they say, this too shall pass.... I'm impressed by the high spirits the students have maintained so far with shovel testing under not so ideal conditions.... They came trooping in carrying other equipment from our storage area still excited to see what the day would reveal...
And indeed Day 3 did yield some interesting things directly related to our project goals -- our first large piece of a giant salt pan rim. While the irregularity of salt pans makes estimation of size difficult from smaller rim fragments, my guess is that this one was probably 40-50 inches (100-130 cm) in diameter (excited hand models Maddie and Miranda).
In a not so far away shovel test, another crew found a nice rim with bifurcate lug handle and body fragment from a large pot.
So, how many days does it take to find the center of distribution of salt pans at a lick? Three days. I'm reminded of an 1970 Tootie pop commercial, which may quite possibly be one of the most horrible convoluted puns about "licks" and "centers" I've ever constructed... But anyway -- here's the link should you have missed that commercial:
These discoveries confirm what Paul and I had suspected about what would be the most important area to test this summer -- a small rise or knoll directly overlooking where we think the four mineral springs were located in the good ol' days.
Elsewhere,other crews continued working in good spirits despite still hitting water and not much else.... Here Amanda, Crystal, Melody, and Lauren continue to slog through a screenful of muck.
Yeah, it's slow progress on shovel testing for the first three days for those accustomed to more rigorous time constraints -- but given that this is a field school with inexperienced crew members, and with the soggy, sloggy circumstances -- understandable I think. Hopefully, the shovel testing will finish up tomorrow -- and we'll shift to looking at the most promising area for test units after that. Closed up another very productive and nice day today... See you tomorrow!
