Day 12 Tuesday May 19 2009

Today at Hiidankangas we had a smaller group so we focused on the Lower Clearing. We continued the previous days work of clearing loose dirt left by the tractor as well as the organic layer. Located was hearth with fire-cracked rock at the center as well as a bunch of quartz flakes. All the finds were mapped in using a transit total station, many of the students were trained using this device. Also used to map coordinates was the high accuracy GPS unit, Sam walked the entire Lower Clearing site to create a high resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM).

Today, Katie supervised work at The Thing. Working on the Geological trenches were Katie, Mike, Keegan, and Max. Katie and Mike finished lowering and mapping the depths of T109 on top plan. Once they finished T109, they joined Keegan and Max, who had been working diligently on lowering T209 to the bottom sand. Surprisingly though, the ditch that runs through the unit continues down at least 70 cm on the South wall. After cleanup, while waiting for Eva and Hunter to return, Katie took the team over to the Sand Pit Wall and gave them the rundown of the activities that had occurred at the end of last week, and describing some of the theories that go along with such finds.


Eva and Hunter were continuing to take soil samples along a ridge leading South of the 2006 and 2007 sites. After lunch she continued taking samples on the flat ridge on the other side of the road from The Thing. There has been no indication of human occupation, as in depressions. Though the flatness of the area would suggest otherwise, as it is a prime area for activity, hence the interest in continued sampling.


Not too long after lunch Eva was needed to take cores at the Hiidenkangas units. So both teams working in the area of The Thing headed over to lend assistance to the days activities at the Lower Clearing.

Later today, in lab, Eva showed Loretta how the phosphorous spot testing works, the intensity of the color indicates concentration of the chemicals.