ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 7

Here is the Nevada Appeal article about our excavation. in the photo is my partner, my sub-supervisor, and my site supervisor. and yes that is my unit.

day 7. we finished measuring our stratigraphy this morning. it was obnoxious because some of the layers disappeared and others switched places. we then went to town on our feature 4 charcoal and oxidized soil. this feature covers all but the SE corner of our site. we excavated down to level 5 dirt on the NE side. and in the NW quadrant we excavated 10 cm and stopped because once you hit 10 cm on a level you need to get new paperwork and everything. this helps to breakdown where things are and how deep. we mapped in all rocks bigger than a fist. we found a bottle neck, lots of bone (bone found yesterday was from a cow) and more cloth (canvass insulation??)

our unit is now deep enough that excavation has taken on a new method. i have to lay on my stomach now to reach in and dig up dirt. it's not so bad... unless i have to stand up. then i get a terrible headache after having my head down so long.

had more tourists today. the UNR professor over everything we do, Don Hardesty, came today. and here's the exciting bit. my partner and i were knighted today. we are now in charge of our own screening :) this has sped things up a bit. before when we would screen we were not permitted to dump our waste (rocks, pebbles and dirt left after pulling out artifacts) without it being checked by the supervisor or one of the two sub-supervisors. now we decide when we're done and can dump without someone else checking our screens. yay!

ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 6

day 6. the rodent did not return! yay! ha! we scared it off. ok so a lot happened today. we finished level 3 dirt and moved on to level 4 dirt. the problem with level 4 dirt was the whole west half of the unit (i had mislabeled the site is the opera house and the hole we are digging is a unit of that site) was covered with a charcoal layer. which was very exciting. this we have been looking for. for real this time. ok so stratigraphy review. top soil (level 1). level 2. ash/plaster. oxidized soil. level 3. level 4 with charcoal layer (identified as feature 4). then there is oxidized soil underneath. so what i think is going on (i could be wrong but it the most plausible explanation out there) is there is a house/shed on the property and when that was built i think a lot of the dirt was shoved to the side and piled up. this would explain our crazy stratigraphy. and the charcoal and oxidized layer that we are hitting now are the actual burn layers of the fire. this charcoal layer yeilded interesting stuff today. we found large pieces of wood and burnt wood. boatloads of nails (again) and larger than rodent bones and bits of cloth (possibly wallpaper??) the screening of the charcoal layer was very dirty. my partner and i were completely covered in sooty soil. i almost forgot we found a cluster of burnt plant seeds (unknown what they are specifically). we ended the day measuring and drawing our crazy stratigraphy. we get our line level and measure every layer at 10 cm intervals. it was difficult because our unit is on a slope and the stratigraphy we were measuring is on the west side at the top of the slope. not fun. especially since all the surface dirt likes to fall in our hole and i kept falling downhill.

had more tourists today. and a reporter from the Nevada Appeal (Nevada's oldest newspaper). she took pictures of our site and my partner and supervisor and sub-supervisor. i had gone down to the lab for a bottle for bulk sampling of the seeds so i was not photographed. whew. we found another metal button today but forgot it and lost it. oops.

ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 5

day 5. the rodent came back.it wasn't as bad this time. i had a lot less clean up this morning. we finished level 2 dirt. found more oxidized (burnt) soil and ashes and charred wood. we found a piece uf half burnt lumber (about 6 cm long) with three nails in place. that was very exciting. we also found a metal button and a bead with the little metal loop in it (part of an earing?) those were also exciting. my line of rocks were not foundation :( we began excavation on level 3 dirt today. our hole is less than 50 cm deep (level with NW corner. we are on a slope) so no worries with having to reach down too far. the issue my partner and i have been having is with surface dirt getting into our site. Nevada is very dry and the dirt is very finely granulated and as we dig out dirt we get the loose dirt from the surface around our site falling in. in our screenings we have found boatloads of rusted metal. it far outweighs anything else we have found (except maybe plaster but we don't collect that except to show some was there)

we had tourists today. a family. they came in and looked at the sites and we explained what we were doing and looking for. they had seen us on the news and had been looking all over Virginia City for us. the news finally put us on last night and this morning (channel 4 in Reno).

we went up to the Barbary Coast site today. they have 2 holes up there. one found the foundation of the grocery store and the other founf the foundation of the butcher shop. the butcher shop was interesting. there was a lot of wood and there were brick stacks (2 or 3 high) 20 cm apart then some brick laid out below. with some brick rows that looked as though they had tumbled over. and around the brick layout was a leather band with nail holes in it. they think it was nailed into the foundation. another strip of leather was also attached and continued on. no one knows why the leather is there. we lack architects. any ideas?

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.

ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 3

day 3. today we finished the excavation of our layer 1 dirt. then we excavated the rodent hole we found. a rodent had disturbed the site while we were gone. we treated the cortavina (the technical term for rodent hole) like we would a feature. a feature is more than an individual artifact or it's something that is bigger and takes up a large portion of the site. anyway the rodent hole got feature status and was treated differently because level 1 was loose dirt and level 2 is hard packed dirt. the hole was loose tunneling by the rodent in the midst of the packed dirt. it was a mix of level 1 and level 2 dirt so it was done seperately. anyway the rodent hole ran from north to south on our site and from west to the middle. very few artifacts were found in this dirt. the cool thing we found today was a red cut stone about bead size. we think it was once jewelry or on a dress. believe it or not this little bit of excavation took up our day.

we took a trek up to the Barbary Coast site. it is in someone's backyard. they found lots of brick. they think it was a dump site and had everything shoved back to level it out and make room for the portable house that now stands there. they were puzzleing over the fact that one of the sites there had laid brick over wood (boards? beams? unknown at this time) they wondered if it was architectural. in the front yard the lady who owns the property is trying to get it ready for sod. she uncovered what we believe is the front foundation wall. it was cool to see.

channel 4 news here in Reno came today. they only came to the Maguire site where i was working. they shot film of the trench (dug to find the foundation) the two spots where the other students are working and my spot. they shot some students screening and they interviewed the guy who is technically in charge of the Virginia City excavations and one of my classmates. they asked me if i wanted to interview but i said no.

the Virginia City sites are open to the public to come in and see what we are doing and ask us questions and even join us in our work. there's a local lady who's been there 2 days now and she does the same work we do. i think it is a good opportunity for people to learn what archaeology is and how it's done.

ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 2

Day 2 today i started actual excavation. I'm working on the Maguire Opera House. excavation is a slow process. they remind us to go slow so we don't miss or ruin anything. my partner and I set up a 1m x 1m square perfectly aligned to true north (as apposed to magnetic north) then we took a picture and logged it in the photo log. we then removed all the small artifacts. artifacts are anything that is made by humans. we even collected a bendy straw! anyway. after that we mapped out the rocks bigger than a fist. when we were done with that we removed everything from the surface and began to dig. like i said it's slow going. we had to carefully with as straight lines as we could get (going down the sides) we removed all the loose dirt. this was our 1st layer. as we dug with trowels and swept the loose stuff away with a hand broom we removed all artifacts we could find. mostly we found broken glass and nails. the nails were all rusty and most of them were square. we also found plaster and burnt wood. (remember the Maguire Opera House was destroyed in a fire) under the loose dirt is a hard packed layer with an ashy grey color to it. we will dig this up tomorrow. one more thing. all the loose dirt from layer 1 was kept in a bucket which we dumped in a screen so we could pick out the artifacts we missed. good for us there wasn't much left :)

archaeology is a paperwork job. everything we do has to be written down. including the weather. i wish i could keep some of the stuff to show you but it it's a felony to swipe artifacts from a site. anyway. that's all we did today. doesn't sound like much does it? it kept us busy.

ARCHAEOLOGY CHRONICLES 1

day 1 in Virginia City, Nevada. famous for the Comstock Silver Lode. we took a tour of the town today. we will be excavating the 1st opera house that was built there. Maguire's Opera House burnt down in 1875. by then it was no longer the Maguire Opera House because a guy named Piper bought it. Piper also built the Piper Opera House that still stands today. they are renovating the building. i learned the origin of the term "upstaging". the audience floor is flat with removable chairs to accommodate dancing. and the stage slopes upward by about 5 inches from front to back. so a guy in the back goofing around is upstage of the main actor. the ceilings are made of canvas. and the acoustics are really good. every famous performer stopped there from the time it was built until the early/mid-1900s. Mark Twain lived in Virginia city before he changed his name and made a point of coming back (he had moved to California) to the opening of the Maguire opera house and stayed in town until they made him leave. in their day the Comstock Opera Houses were of THE places to go.

next we wandered about the courthouse. also more than a century old. it's all fancy looking and there's an unblind-folded lady justice on the front. it used to be you had a choice between seeing and blind justice. there are a bazillion saloons. most of which are still saloons that sell hot dogs and such. one is an ice cream bar. anyway we saw the odd fellows house and a few others. we walked up what is called Barbary Coast, which is the second site to be excavated this summer. Barbary Coast became a slang term in the 1800s to mean the ghetto of a city. the term comes from the coast in africa when Jefferson decided to get involved in foreign affairs. they showed us some foundations poking up out of the dirt where we will be digging there. there's a grocery and a tin shop (which has 3 standing walls) and residences and saloons and a lodging house across the street. there's also a mansion (can't remember the name) that had a flushing toilet before 1900. they ran water in from Lake Tahoe because the local water was nasty. (still is according to the supervisors).

archaeologically we learned screening today. dump a bucket of dirt in the screen and sift out the dirt and pick out the artifacts. we did this at the maguire opera house that burnt down. we found plaster, charcoal, melted glass, non-melted glass, a rodent tooth (looks more like a claw to me) a few steak bones, a couple of buttons, a suspender hook, a bolt that looks like the ones that hold tires on a car, nails, other metals. all kinds of stuff. then we went inside and cleaned the stuff off and sorted and labeled it.

it's a long day. we meet at 7 am to drive up and come back about 4:30. it's a full-time job. too bad I'm only getting 6 credits (2 classes) for this. this dig is very important for my schooling and my career. i just remembered this dig is a public dig. that means it's a tourist attraction and we have to chatty with them and let them see the site and everything. same with reporters for newspapers and TV. so keep an eye on the news for the following keywords: Virginia City, Comstock, Maguire Opera House and Barbary Coast.

DRAGONS

so my favorite race on my world are the dragons. dragons have always fascinated me. and i have often wished they were real. but if they were in this day and age they would soon be killed by idiots. anyway dragons often crop up in my stories because i love them so much. dragons are a mysterious race that no one (on Orean) really knows much about. they are very powerful. they can change their shape and look like other races. they fly, breathe fire and each color of dragon has their own specialty. when dragon turn to evil they lose their power and become weak. this was set in place by the creator as a protection for the peoples of Orean. an evil dragon with full power could cause serious damage. so all dragons are good because they don't want to lose their power. if they do go bad they can always change and become good again. there are many other things about dragons but they are secret. their origins are old and quite unusual and mostly forgotten. even dragons can't remember how they began. but i know of course because after all they were created in my imagination. but that doesn't mean i am willing to share all their secrets at this point in time. pehaps later when they world sees my stories and can figure out what's going on. i hope to write my stories as movies. i have learned that i am better at writing scripts than books.

OREAN BASICS

ok so i just noticed that my blog title isn't reflecting in my posts lately. so a little more of orean.

orean has one creator, who created the world and the races. he is a creator who cares and is willing to help those who ask. he is sad that the elves and the gnomes have gone atheist so helping them has become a little tricky. he does not come where he is not wanted. he doesn't force his hand. people make their own choices - they are NOT his marionettes.

after the creation of the world he created life and death. life is brown like the earth and she carries a baby blanket for the newborns. death is pale and wears a black cloak. he carries a scythe to reap the souls of the dead. life and death are husband and wife. they have a couple thousand children (they're immortal and in love- what do you expect?)

Then come the races. elves, gnomes, dwarves, dragons, imps and more. they have varying degrees of magic. they all live 4-500 yrs. there are no humans on orean.

FINALS

it is that glorious time of the semester that brings finals. there's always a feeling of great satisfaction that comes with finals. end of semester.... it's such a happy thought. if i could i'd sing you a song about it. finals are so final. i never have to take these classes again. they are done. over. final. this also brings me one semester closer to graduation. by the way i'll be graduating in 2009. now THAT is something to be happy about. i hate school. i'm only going so i can get my bachelor's so i can get a decent job. if a college degree wasn't so vital in the job market i would not be going at all. this explains why i love finals so much. i am ready to be done. more than ready. finals.... they make me happy....

JOLLY HOLY DAY

i know i have mentioned this before, but i just want to say how much i LOVE holidays. they are so happy. everyone is happy and jolly and nice and actually care about others than themselves. ahhhh happiness is a jolly holiday. i think holidays are what keep people sane. i can not imagin a world without them. always working or in school with no breaks from the grindstone. we'd wither away and die without these holidays. it makes me happy that htey are scattered throughout the year. there's a holiday almost every month. thanksgiving is big so we can express gratitude for all the other holidays too. let's be more grateful for our holy days. for indeed they are holy. they brings us together in gratitude for something good. a person. an idea. an act. a remembrance.

HAPPY HOLY DAYS!

PARTIES

so my roommate's birthday is tomorrow, so we had a party yesterday. they started showing up around 7:30 and hit the pool and hot tub. we had refreshments in the apartment afterwards. mostly virgin margaritas daqueris and pina coladas. we made them ourselves. well we had music and nintendo. a bit of dancing. and people sandwiched everywhere. we had about 40 people smashed into our little apartment. good thing we had a balcony for overflow. around 11 we gave the security guy a shock by informing him that there was no alcohol. we were quite loud but not loud and rowdy enough for anyone to complain. our neighbors are really tolerant. things started to die down after that and about 1:30-45 the last people left. i was already asleep. i couldn't stay awake any longer. i tried. it was crowded. it was late. but it was loads of fun. i'm ready to do again... next month after i've recuperated from this one.

CREATING STORY

creating story is up a going! join the fun and get the imagination pumping iron! just do it. the first post for each member is anything they have written... poetry... fiction... non-fiction... we even have a petition! if by some chance you have never written anything that is too bad but repentance is around the corner! write something now! if your imagination is totally dead you can just jump in on our first writing exercise... character maps! (click creating story link on side of blog and read details there) anyway it's fun to see what others have written and what others think of your own stuff. there's no such thing as too many writers in this world.

WRITER'S BLOG

i've been thinking. i know many people who are writing stories or want to write stories. so why not encourage them? i was thinking maybe what we need is a writer's blog like the toon club blog. different writer's submit different stuff and everyone else comments. what you like and what you don't like and why. we can also throw out general suggestions and exercises to become better writers. sounds good to me. let me know if y'all are interested. i think it would be fun.

HOGFATHER

hogfather by terry pratchett is the best book ever written. seriously. read it. it's hilarious. terry pratchett loves to make fun of things and in hogfather he makes fun of anthropomorphic beings like santa clause and the grim reaper. as well as a few others. and yes it does have a definite story line. the first discworld books tend to be random nonsense that are too funny to describe but they soon develop full story content. and they are all hysterically funny. terry pratchett understands people and how they think. and he is good at getting them on the page. anyway in hogfather the hogfather (santa clause) is missing. and death fills in for him. someone has to do it. intrigued yet? imagine a scythe carrying skeleton as santa clause. there's a movie too. read the book. watch the movie. you won't regret it. find out the origin of the tooth fairy. wyrd sisters and soul music are discworld movies too but you have to get those at a library as they are not sold now except for a mint on amazon.