Back at it for our third week. Shovel skimming is how most of the dirt is removed from each level unless there are sensitive objects or features identified -- a level is 10 cm thick (about 4 inches). Here Lauren works through the dense deposits in the western units. If she looks a little "grainy" that's 'cause she's hiding behind the mosquito mesh of their fancy tent.
Slightly overexhuberant troweling in a dense section of Mississippian midden by Nick, Holly and Macie -- rich with well preserved food bones and other things.
Large fragments of broken vessels showing up in two of the midden units -- here a large portion of a ceramic pot left in situ temporarily.
They all clean up nicely at the end for the photos though.
We may have solved part of the mystery of our confusing westernmost units -- here shown with a relatively clear break between dense fired limestone fragments at left and relatively clean clay fill at right.
In June 1893, William Edward Myer excavated Mound at Castalian Springs. He described the mound as sixty feet in diameter and five and one-half feet in height, in which he placed a 30x28 foot excavation block. He found that the northern and eastern sides of the mound consisted primarily of small fragments of limestone ranging from 1.5 to 3 inches in diameter (resembling the stone used on “macadam roads”). Ashes were scattered throughout the stone, but the rocks did not appear to have been subjected to fire. Currently we think the "clean clay fill" we've been excavating in two units is indeed the clean clay backfill of Myer's June 1893 unit. The dense rock to the left in the photo above is intact mound deposits -- pretty much exactly as he described them. That mysterious shotgun shell pictured from Saturday found in that fill was indeed produced in the late 1890s-early 1900s.
A few interesting objects from today -- here, a rim fragment from a wide-rimmed plate, something like a wide-rimmed modern soup bowl.
More fragments of large pans continue to show up -- here a rim.
We continue to find broken projectile points -- most of which are from time periods many centuries (or even millenia) earlier than the contexts in which they are being found. We know that Mississippian peoples did collect ancient projectile points -- sometimes to reuse for different purposes, and other times perhaps simply for the same reason that we collect them -- as curiosities from ancient times. In other cases, they are probably simply accidental -- dug up when Mississippian peoples were digging pits and postholes around mineral springs that attracted people and other animals for over 12,000 years.
Most intriguing though was the discovery of two bone tool fragments -- awls and needles used in hide working, textile manufacture and repair, and in tattooing kits.
Exciting start to our third week. More news tomorrow!