By Holly Bennett
Today was Day Two at the San Luis de Cabezon Site for UNM’s field
school. As our caravan of three black Chevy trucks arrived on site we were
greeted by two cows. Both were at a makeshift watering hole created by the
nearby pipeline construction. Little do they know that one day prior Professor
Crown found a baby cow leg during the morning survey. Though she amused the
crew with it all day long, the bone should serve as a cautionary tale for the
nearby loud and proud cow community. Needless to say we parked, unpacked and
the cows split…for a little while.
At the end of Day One the class had nearly completed all
work to start excavation. We had been designated specific locations to prepare
1 meter by 1 meter squares. So, our excavation of this site is a scatter of
test pits throughout the archaeological area. Six test pits were prepared by
the close of the day. When we arrived this morning the whole class was prepped
to begin work in these test pits. For some of us this our first time excavating
in the field, while others have had some prior field training. Regardless of
each student’s experience, we were all excited to get started and speaking for
my group of three, also a little nervous. Before we scattered away to our
designated spots, Professor Wills gave us our first official archaeological
form to fill out as we worked. He also told us all the information that we needed
to record in both our journal and the official paperwork. We learned very
quickly that excavation is not just digging. It is a complicated process of
muscle work and paperwork. It is important to make sure the work is not only
useful for the archaeologist on site, but also for other archaeologists and the
public.
After our morning briefing my group of three carried a
finely prepared UNM archaeology tool kit, a screen, a shovel, hand trowels, a
bucket, a dust pan and a dust pan brush out to our assigned squares. Please
note these dust pan brushes were the best part of our tools because they all
came with the name Elton for being so glam (They are bright green and work
fabulously)! All of the groups had the same assignments and our Professors and
Teaching Assistants were rotating around to help us. We had to collect any
surface artifacts before excavation could begin. In our square we found fire
cracked rock and a groundstone fragment. Not super exciting, but for
archaeologists in training its like Christmas! After taking care of surface artifacts by bagging them with
all proper data we made our first trowel cuts into the soil. Mind you I learned
very quickly archeological excavation is not about hulking out. I myself know
this because my natural response was to hulk out with my trowel; however,
Professor Wills very patiently corrected me by saying that the dirt should be
pulled back like pages in a book. We spent the remainder of the day peeling
back the layers of dirt and learning the basics along the way. For instance how
to most effectively use a trowel. I related the posture to how an ice cream
scoop is pulled towards you…but more importantly it is an almost flat motion
towards your body. As the layers came up we poured buckets and buckets through
a screen in order to find any remaining artifacts in the dirt. In Level One we
found some flakes and in the ground features some charcoal. The day ended with
a 10cm level completed. The process was all learning. The most important thing
I learned today is the Hulk would make a terrible archaeologist. Excavation is
a delicate and artful process that will take some time getting used to.
As for the cows, they reluctantly greeted us in the morning.
A baby was separated from its mother by our site and whined like any child too
far from mom during the day (don’t worry coercing helped them to be reunited).
A gutsy troop came for a quick sip and run in the afternoon.
So it was only appropriate to see them all lounging across the road as we drove
the three black Chevy’s out of the site and up the road headed home.
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