August 16: Prep Day

Today we grabbed all our equipment and headed out to the site to clear brush and lay out this year's excavation units. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but it will probably be one of the toughest days we will have. The temperature was close to 90 degrees and the brush was this rare specie of man-eating blackberry cane. Although the site caretaker did a fantastic job of maintaining the area over the past year, it always works out that we need to clear a little more. Thankfully, Jonathan brought his chainsaw and we had enough people to pitch in to hack and rake. Kudos to Michael and Jesse for single-handedly picking up the massive bush and moving it to the other side of the property! Nature lost today's battle, but I think we will be feeling a little stiff tomorrow.

Before

Let's Kill This!

Shooting in the Squares




We've narrowed the cellar location down to two possible places. So, we are opening one 10 by 15ft. and two 5 by 10ft. areas with the hope of locating it. Hopefully we will have our questions answered this year.


The disappointing discovery we made was the extent of the damage done by the looting (reported earlier this year). They dug down to our previous level in the large grid square from last year. We are not sure if they stopped at our final level or if they went past. Someone also removed our datum, which was extremely frustrating but quickly remedied.


By the end of the work day, we had the entire area cleared and our grid squares were laid in. Tomorrow the fun truly begins!





After!