| Dig
Diaries 2006
Luis Fernandez
Archaeology Field School Journal
Day 1-- 5/8/06
Orientation
5/9/06
Arrived at the site, my first day on the job. Examined area believed
to be the canal keeper’s home. Cleared the brush where the
home is believed to be. Pulled weeds out and put in the stakes.
Began the process to dig in the site, and fill buckets. The site
is off of a road, and the top soil and top of the dig is a lot of
rocks. We have found glass so far.
5/10/06
Continued to dig in the E2, SE area. There are so many roots so
it is not the easiest to dig out the soil. Today when we first got
to the site, I arrived the same time as Robin. We unpacked the shed,
and put together a large swing sifter. This will allow for each
person to go through their own soil without having someone help
them. All four of us are now digging in the site.
5/11/06
Cold day today. We were in the lab cleaning some of the artifacts
that have been found. Cleaning involved using water in buckets to
rinse the objects. Some of the artifacts included a large type of
bowl with a black or brown base. Half of the parts found are black
on the base other are brown. We are unsure if they are two different
artifacts or are the same.
5/15/06
It was a very rainy today. We meet in school today to do indoor
labs. We looked over topographical maps to get a good understanding
of them. We also looked into graves and tombstones to understand
the past better. Made plans for pizza with the group.
5/16/06
Cold day, high is 60 and cloudy. The rain from yesterday flooded
the site. We all came to the lab instead. There we used Excel to
learn how to catalog the artifacts we find. We began the process
to identify the artifacts from levels of a previous dig. We will
also go on a canal boat later today. Tomorrow should be warmer.
5/18/06
Today at the site there are more buckets so there is a lot of sifting.
Three of the team members last night were up late celebrating Archaeology.
So today is fun. Next week should be warmer, so we are hoping that
we can jump into the river. Lots of digging to make up because of
the rain.
5/23/06
Today we are getting a lot of digging done. We have just about completed
the 1st level. Soon we will do the 2nd level. At current speed the
first level should be done by the end of today or early tomorrow.
We still have not won the KISS-FM cruise on the radio.
5/24/06
I completely cleared out EU-2 as Kelly went through all the soil.
After digging thoroughly through the area we found much less than
we thought. Thus, dug two test pits. We viewed a map and began to
think the house maybe not where we thought it was.
5/25/06
Today we mapped out the canal and dig site. Mapped out from the
railroad bridge. The West Branch School will be coming out today
to see what we have been doing. We will show the site and the lab
to them.
5/30/06
Today is very hot. I took all of the data we had and created a map
of the area that was a little more precise then the blown up one
that we had. I also did a lot of extra measuring to try and find
a more accurate measurement of were the foundation of the house
was.
5/31/06
We finished up our last day of digging. It was important for us
to fill back in our test pits so we did that. Unfortunately when
we arrived at the site the heavy rain from last night made the site
look more like a pool. We cleaned up the water to dry it out. Tomorrow
we are supposed to get a bunch of kids. It should be good. We left
early to finish up the quizzes from the book
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Muncy Canal site
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Robin
Van Auken, archaeologist for the project
Meet Robin Van Auken and find out more about the field school she
teaches for Lycoming College
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