Sunday, June 12, 2011
The OFFICIAL Field School Blog
Our group of ISU students is blogging over at colonialcherokeearchaeology.blogspot.com (I have done the last two blog posts). I hope to be a little better about keeping up with this blog, but it's been hard to find the time! More soon . . .
Friday, June 3, 2011
Field School, Take 2
I am back at field school again this summer, this time through ISU. As part of my graduate degree, I am taking the Advanced Field School this summer (along with an independent study course that corresponds to the topic of the field school). We are in Greenville, TN, this summer, and we are digging on private property in the nearby town of Chuckey. It is a beautiful site, right along the Nolichuckey river, and the only thing making the half-hour drive down twisty country roads is the amazing views of the mountains.
The site is in a farm field that was plowed recently, but is overgrown and planted for hay. It is terraced, with a steep bank coming up from the river that levels out for about a half-mile before another steep rise. The farm buildings are on the higher rise. The field itself is about a mile or mile-and-a-half long, with some slight hills and rises. We have done a pedestrian survey across the entire field, which involved walking along closely spaced, visually scanning and marking any artifacts we see on the surface. Unsurprisingly, we did not find much in the areas with lots of overgrowth. We then began a crawling survey, getting very close to the surface to look for smaller artifacts and artifacts that might be hidden by the undergrowth.
Interestingly, the group I've been working with has identified an area with high concentrations of bone and shell mixed in with the ubiquitous pot sherds, chert flakes, and fire-cracked rock. We have been working for the last day or two to find the edges of this area, and (even more interestingly!) we have noticed a gap of 3-4 feet around the edges, past which there are smaller concentrations of bone and shell. These look a lot like pathways in between possible occupation areas. Of course, we won't be able to tell for sure until we fully map out and collect the artifacts within this area. That should give us a better picture of major artifact concentrations, in an effort to more clearly delineate occupation or activity areas.
A lot more has happened, and pictures will follow soon, but we have no internet for the moment in our cabins and my laundry is done. It's back to the cabin for dinner and bed now!
The site is in a farm field that was plowed recently, but is overgrown and planted for hay. It is terraced, with a steep bank coming up from the river that levels out for about a half-mile before another steep rise. The farm buildings are on the higher rise. The field itself is about a mile or mile-and-a-half long, with some slight hills and rises. We have done a pedestrian survey across the entire field, which involved walking along closely spaced, visually scanning and marking any artifacts we see on the surface. Unsurprisingly, we did not find much in the areas with lots of overgrowth. We then began a crawling survey, getting very close to the surface to look for smaller artifacts and artifacts that might be hidden by the undergrowth.
Interestingly, the group I've been working with has identified an area with high concentrations of bone and shell mixed in with the ubiquitous pot sherds, chert flakes, and fire-cracked rock. We have been working for the last day or two to find the edges of this area, and (even more interestingly!) we have noticed a gap of 3-4 feet around the edges, past which there are smaller concentrations of bone and shell. These look a lot like pathways in between possible occupation areas. Of course, we won't be able to tell for sure until we fully map out and collect the artifacts within this area. That should give us a better picture of major artifact concentrations, in an effort to more clearly delineate occupation or activity areas.
A lot more has happened, and pictures will follow soon, but we have no internet for the moment in our cabins and my laundry is done. It's back to the cabin for dinner and bed now!
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