Day 17: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome



Today was an interesting one in terms of weather, although we did get a reprieve from the heat. Instead, we were treated to the constant threat of rain. It stormed overnight and water collected in the tarps laid down over top of our units. We spent almost an hour bailing before we could open up for the day, and even so we had to keep a close eye on the weather radar in case we had to close up quickly.

But we prevailed, and got a solid half-day of digging in... before we did, in fact, get stormed out around 2pm and headed to the Edgerton library. We made the most of our digging time, with Jadon and Veronica in Unit 04 getting down to level so we can finally see what is fully going on! 

There is a wall trench running roughly WNW to ESE across the center of Unit 04, with a possible hearth feature to the north, and at least one (possibly 2?) parallel rows of post holes south of the wall trench.


As we zoom out with this drone shot, we can see that the wall trench in Unit 04 runs perpendicular to both parallel trenches in 01 and 02. Until we find the corners we can't be certain that these are three walls of the same structure (as opposed to neighboring structures), but given the placement of the possible hearth, it is a definite possibility. This will be one of the questions we try to answer in the next couple of weeks as we continue work in Unit 05 and decide where to extend our digging areas.

As for the other units, everyone is basically done with digging and screening their southwest quads by this point, or will finish early tomorrow. Many people are working on digging the other three quads of their two-by-twos, and will have a good idea of what features they may have fairly soon. A couple units are working on wall and floor cleaning, and will get clear, good-quality photos taken before the end of the week.

And speaking of good photos, Rick got this awesome 360 image with the drone on Monday that shows our whole excavation block, and all of us hard at work! Catch me on the south side between Units 10 and 11 wearing the pink cap!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xBaCSz2cws2EYw7q9

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