We’ve had a productive week, despite the almost-daily thunderstorms. Last Friday, we were joined by our first new volunteer of the season, Carol, and we opened up a new unit new to the ones we had been working on, along the western edge of last season’s units. Right after lunch, we were rained out. We spent our time constructing screens to dry artifacts on once they’re washed. On Friday, we we were only able to put in an hour or two when the rain hit, and we spent the rest of the day washing artifacts. Saturday, though, was beautiful! We had several volunteers – Barb, who returned again to help (after working nearly daily during the first summer of STP excavating!), and the Hill family. We made quite a dent in the two new units by the end of the day.

After recuperating on Sunday and Monday, Krissy and I returned to the site yesterday to continue work. We started excavation of the interior of the foundation found last summer, with the hopes of determining the structure’s use, in addition to continuing work on the units from last week. We were able to put in a full day on Tuesday, but were rained out today in the afternoon.
While we’ve found that there is indeed a pit feature beneath the foundation, we’re not quite sure yet what it is, as the pit extends below the north and south walls of the foundation. I’ve posted a series of photos on the blog which show the layer-by-layer excavation of the interior of the foundation done so far. Check out those photos and others here.

Keep your fingers crossed that the rain is done!