The skies finally clear!

After a holiday week with only two short morning stints in the field, today we were finally able to get in a full day of fieldwork in good weather conditions. Even though much of the day was spent by one crew trying to reconcile the total station to last year's unit locations, the last remaining shovel test was backfilled, and a new unit was staked in using an old but reliable optical transit (see picture to right with Patrick Johnson using the transit to help Tonya Chandler align a corner stake to be hammered in, with Cody Poitevint viewing from a different angle).

In addition, elevations were taken for new units adjacent to one of last year's excavations, re-excavated last week. Prior to the start of excavation, all wall profiles in the 2009 unit were carefully cleaned and examined by this year's field crew (pictured in photo to left are Norma Harris in the excavation unit, with Hallie Johnson, Danielle Dadiego, Sydney DePalma, and Jennifer Melcher looking on during the discussion). We know we have at least two superimposed mission structures in this area, but as yet their identity and size/shape is unknown. We hope that further excavations this year will clarify the complex stratigraphy in this area of the site.

Not all fieldwork is archaeological; the video below shows a large pine snake crossing the dirt road adjacent to a newly-staked unit.



This video shows Norma Harris coaxing escaped goats back into their pen next to our crew's favorite lunch spot.