Wednesday, 05 July, 2023

AM

Opening elevations: 

NW: 28.00 m AE

NE: 28.00 mAE

SE: 28.28 mAE

SW: 28.22 mAE

Continued removal of topsoil layer, north to south, with pick. Topsoil demonstrating consistent Munsell colors throughout. Moving through continues to be slow due to the heavy amount of tree roots. There are small loose stones (limestone) throughout. Small broken pottery and tile fragments are found out of context within the topsoil layer. 

Towards the center of the trench from both the north/south and east/west boundaries, in a small depression, special find 1 was discovered:

Special find 1: Iron slag: sf-ca94-2023-1-1

19.79/14.55

Locus 1

28.13 m A.E.

This heavy but small piece of iron slag was discovered in the center of the trench in the topsoil layer. There was no associated cultural material or features with this special find. 

PM

The picking method continued across the trench from north to south. Approximately 4.5 meters have been excavated using this method. Bedrock has not been exposed as the topsoil of Locus 1 continues to be sorted through, however, on the eastern boundary of the trench a rock outcropping has emerged toward the center of the north/south boundaries. This may be bedrock. Large amounts of tree roots and small stones continue to make this work progress slowly, though the pace of work picked up in the afternoon.

Closing elevations:

NW: 28.00 mAE

NE: 27.98 mAE

SE: 28.28 mAE

SW: 28.22 mAE

Totals:

Locus 1

Pottery (bulk find 4) 14

Bone (bulk find 5) 0

Tile (bulk find 6) 15% of bucket (11cm deep, 25cm diameter)