By Sarah Coffey

Blog for September 18 and 20

On Tuesday, we finished Shovel Test 13, where we found the tin-glaze pottery last week, and continued working on Transect 2 to try and finish in the next day or two. On Thursday, we finished Shovel Test 7 and continued working on Transect 2. While digging Shovel Test 21, Dr. Dumas found a piece of colonial glass. After working for a while longer, I was screening Shovel Test 21 when the screen came out of the stand, so Dr. Dumas and I had to recover some material for the shovel test and put the remaining dirt that needed to be screened in buckets. Dr. Dumas drove back to the lab to get the stationary screens and also found a working portable screen to finish screen the shovel test material from 21. While working on Shovel Test 20, Sparky found a banana spider hanging from the wires on the phone pole next to us and named him George. Daniel used the stationary screens to screen the material from Shovel Test 22 and 7. By the end of the day, we were left with three shovel tests left on Transect 2!

What was strange about some of the shovel tests were the different depths we had to dig before getting to the chalk subsoil. For Shovel Test 7, we dug down about 90 centimeters before we decided to record the stratigraphy and backfill, because it just seemed never-ending. For other shovel tests, however, we dug no more than 15 to 20 centimeters before we hit the chalk subsoil. The different depths could be attributed to the different inhabitants of the Fort filling in gulleys with clay to flatten the area the Fort would be built on. Some could also be attributed to some soil washing as well, but not as much as holes being purposely filled to clear and level the area in and around the Fort.

Below is a photo of endless Shovel Test 7.