ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 4

day 4. today was interesting. it began with the rodent hole. the rodent visited the site over night. the little goober. messed up our dirt. so we had to dig the dirt out of the hole and sift and bag it before we could move on. the rest of the day was spent on level 2 dirt (the herd packed dirt under the loose surface stuff). we removed quite a bit of it. there are several large rocks lined up that we are hoping is foundation which is the particular thing we are looking for in our 1 meter x 1 meter hole. however it could just as easily be more debris. we need to remove more dirt before we can determine. in our level 2 dirt we found a plaster layer. it was ashy grey in color and was lens shaped. it did not run the the whole meter from north to south and tapered at the ends. underneath that we found oxidized or burnt soil. woot. this is something we have been looking for. evidence of the fire that burned down the opera house. the plaster layer because it was not consistent throughout the site was given feature status as apposed to dirt level. it is a large something of interest (or intrusion like the rodent hole).

we worked later than usual today because the professor who's in charge of the whole thing came to see our sites and he didn't arrive until the time we usually pack up. the day was extra hot too. yuck. hot and dry. double yuck. I'm glad i don't have a dust allergy. i just have to worry about the sagebrush everywhere. we had our first tourists today. three people came to look at the sites and asked us questions about what we were doing and such. i was complimented by the supervisors and the professor on my nice straight walls around the site perimeter. straight walls are important because as you go down it makes it easier the see the stratigraphy of the dirt layers and accurately measuring depths. tomorrow is Saturday and I'm kinda disappointed i won't be going up there. i like excavating.