Having finished up the last of the shovel and auger tests, time to instruct students on how to lay out excavation units. Almost nobody ever believes in those math classes that the Pythagorean Theorem would ever be useful -- so we have to re-instruct them on how to use the hypotenuse to create a perfect large 2x2 meter square unit.
Dr. P's excitement in explaining how to strip sod is clear in the photo below....
Then off to explaining the use of the datum string and line level to get each 10-cm thick excavation level -- well actually level. Amy finds the bubble fascinating...
Ron Borders, the new Wynnewood Site Director and an alum of many 1990s Castalian Springs field schools, came over on his day off to help instruct students in shovel skimming.
Although we certainly expect the upper 20 cm are probably plow disturbed deposits, for almost all of our students -- this is their very first excavation unit. So, we use those first two excavation levels just as if they were the most important on the planet -- the best time to learn is when you have the least chance to mess something important up. Below, Ron watches as John, Brandon, and Matt work on finishing their first level. While we use shovels to skim down -- the final cleanup is done with trowels to provide a nice clean closing surface.
Not bad at all for a first try...
At the end of the day, John kindly loaned us his truck to pick up enough of my plywood sheets to cover all five of our excavation units. Given the likelihood of rain the rest of the week, we don't want to waste time bailing water out of the units. So, the plywood (covered with plastic) will shed the water and save us some valuable excavation time.
By the close of their first real "dig day" -- my weather station said we were at 99 degrees, high humidity, and nooooo breeze. Hopefully tomorrow will at least bring us a breeze.... The first week is not easy at all -- lots of muscles you don't use that much except in archaeology that have to be toned up. Perfect practice makes perfect -- but it hurts the first several days. More tomorrow.