The Accidental Archaeologist

Tetris Archaeology

Day Seven was a loooong day. We had some VIPs showing up in the form of two professors from East Carolina University, so we wanted to be on top form. We started by finishing lower levels in the first trench and the “fat boy” trench in advance of laying out a fourth trench which overlapped both by a little. Of course, while shoveling near the water level in fat boy, one of the students uncovered a plank of wood sticking up out of the sand. Everyone got terribly excited, and there was speculation all day on what it could be…boat? coffin? treasure chest? Sadly, I’m guessing the boring reality is that it is the side of a shutter well stuck in there by the Victorians. Oh well, we’ll let ‘em dream for a bit. And who knows? I could always be wrong. We’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, by mid-morning we had moved a gigantic backfill pile out of the way, strung up another 3m x 6m trench, and thrown all hands at digging down to the lower levels. One of the undergrads called it “Tetris” archaeology, ‘cause we now have two trenches at right angles a little ways apart from each other, and another one overlapping and connecting both of them. The idea is to get that trench down to the same floor that now exists in the first two, so we can get a better look at the whole floor, since we think it’s the living floor at about the level of 16th century. We’re not sure, though, so we need a better look at it to tell.

There continues to be a lot of joking around and laughter on site, which is a good sign. Some folks are definitely feeling the hard work, and the 06:30am wake-up seems to come earlier and earlier each day, but, other than some dragging feet first thing, everybody’s doing the job with minimal complaint. They’ve started giving each other ridiculous nicknames, and I’ve started to be known as “Mom” by quite a few of them, thanks to my tendency to nag them about every little detail. I do spend a lot of time standing on the trench edge yelling, “Don’t step there!” and “Go put on some more sunblock!” Luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to run the site solo for the last couple of days because Mark has been busy elsewhere, in this case schmoozing with the ECU profs. They were quite impressed with the operation and perfectly happy that we were taking it on. With other academics, there is always the danger of a certain amount of territoriality and stepping on toes, but I didn’t get that at all from these guys. That’s a good sign that they will cooperate with us later.

In other news, the weather continues to be gorgeous and sunny. Despite the sunblock, I’m sure to go back to England with a typical archaeology tan…elbows down and neck up. I’ve made plans to take a couple of days off next week, but I’m likely still to have a fair amount of catch-up work in the latter half of the week before flying back. Strangely enough, though I like being in Carolina, I’m actually a little homesick for England. I’m looking forward to getting back to that side of the pond, de-crudding my dig kit, having a REAL pint at the pub, and having a long wallow in my own bed.

Until then, we continue to dig…