ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 15

we went to town on our unit today. in the 1st 15 mins we had excavated 2 or 3 buckets of dirt. ok ok ok so it was mostly hay and roots and stuff. but the dirt was nice and loose and ready to come out. under the hay layer in the NE corner we found feature 4. 6 bricks laid N-S and 4 bricks across laid E-W. together they measure about 70 cm along the N wall and 40 cm along the E wall. we came up with several possibilities. hearth, step, foundation, etc. beyond and below the bricks in the NW corner there are several large rocks packed in. this has possibilities. we also found a layer of dirt that was peppered with coal. this lay at the level at the bottom of the bricks. because there was so much coal we collected the biggest pieces (but only so many of them or that would be too much) as a representative sample. the rest we tossed aside. (except those i kept (and yes i got permission to do so) for a certain nephew of mine who is always asking for coal). we also found an old safty pin and a couple of bottons. the cool thing we collected today was a part of what we believe to be a horse harness. leather and all. cool, eh? we finished level 1 (10 cm below surface) and all but paperwork for level 2 (20cm below surface). i can't wait to get back tomorrow and find more stuff. my only complaint is i can't seem to get away from rocks. they make excavating difficult. and there are quite a few rocks and bricks that had been tossed there that no one cared about where they landed. the site we are now excavating is where a barbershop and a saloon sat right next to each other in 1890. in 1920 the owner of the land had a stable there. hence the hay and harness.