Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The Excavation Continues!

By Rory McEathron

We (the Museum Director, two American professionals, and I) continued with the excavation of archaeological site GT-4 today. The project, which I code-named Operation Queen Conch, is starting to move along more rapidly. Over 30 holes have been dug and innumerable conch fragments and bone pieces discovered.


Neal and I worked together again today, which I really enjoyed. As we worked, our topics of conversation changed again and again—from TV shows to baseball (my favorite sport) to snorkeling—and I think that we both learned a lot about each other today.


At the same time, the dig became much more exciting as we began finding Lucayan artifacts. The artifacts—which range from shell beads to fish vertebrae—date to around 800 A.D. and are usually buried around 40 centimeters deep. We started using a finer screen to catch more artifacts and it quickly paid off, as we found several bead fragments and a few complete beads. It was the beginning of what would turn out to be a day of many holes and even more artifacts. I’m learning a lot and am definitely enjoying this experience!

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