Public Excavations at Strawtown, 2003 Indiana Archaeology Month

The Archaeological Survey is back at Strawtown for the third consecutive year of Indiana Archaeology Month excavations and activities.  Public education efforts at Strawtown during September will be performed in cooperation with the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department.  Members of the public are welcome to visit the site during the excavations September 16-20, September 23-27, and September 30-October 3. Accommodations for site visits by groups can be made by contacting the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department. Arrangements to participate in the archaeological work at the site can be made by contacting Dr. Robert McCullough at (260) 481-6892 (mccullor@ipfw.edu).  A map to Strawtown is available here.

Today we began excavating more of the features in the western portion of the block.  So far, the features have been shallow.  The base of one of the pits contained a discontinuous layer of burned soil, suggesting the feature was used as some sort of heating/cooking pit before it was filled with refuse.  One of the other features contained a large decorated rim sherd with a loop handle.  This is the first sherd of this kind we have recovered in our excavations.

The eastern portion of the block was mapped at the base of level 3 (100cmbd) like the east portion.  In many cases, the edges of the features in this area are not well-defined at this depth.  We will excavate level 4 in zones (defined by differences in soil color and texture).  At the base of level 4, the features should be better defined.  We can then make good decisions about how to excavate them.  Based on level 3, there may be one or two large storage/refuse features in this area.

Thunderstorms tonight - we'll be bailing tomorrow.

Feature excavations have begun in the western portion of the excavation block.  The sizes and shapes of the stains in this area suggest the features are not especially deep.  Some of the stains may be composed of multiple features.  We will not be able to determine this until we begin excavating them.

The eastern portion of the block appears to contain one or more larger features.  We're still removing the upper layers of soil to expose the edges of these features.  Sediment from the tops of these features (at the base of the plowzone) contained relatively high densities of pottery, including several rim sherds.  The edges of these features will be exposed tomorrow, and they will be mapped in plan view.

Today we got help from more Amy Beverland Elementary students, as well as children and parents from the Life Learning Homeschool.

We're back for our second week.  The first thing we had to do was bail out the block.  We cover it with plastic every evening before we leave.  Weekend rains had filled it about halfway up.  So it took over an hour to remove the water with buckets. 

Excavation of plowzone continued in the northern and eastern units of the 5m x 5m block.  Several features have been exposed in the floor, and removal and screening of plowzone is going rapidly.  We may have time to join up this year's block with our excavation block from last year, and so we moved backdirt out of the way to clear room for new units.

There seem to be a lot of artifacts (ceramics, stone tools, etc.) coming from the easternmost units in the block, and features are showing up in the floor as we get below plowzone.  One of the units produced two Late Prehistoric rim sherds (see photo to left).

We had a good time with a homeschool group today.  The kids were excited and interested and full of questions, and we had to restrain them from helping us move backdirt. 

We now have over 20 square meters open in the block.  Features 13 and 14, first encountered in 2002, are completely exposed in plan view.  These features are visible as dark stains against the lighter subsoil in the top photograph.

The floor in most portions of the eastern part of the block is now at 100 centimeters below datum (abbreviated 100cmbd).  A datum is a point of known location or elevation, from which other locations or elevations can be measured.  To control the elevation of our excavations, we are using a rotary laser level.  This level spins rapidly and emits a level laser beam in all directions.  We use a sensor to detect the laser beam and a folding ruler or tape measure to measure the distance from the laser beam to a surface or artifact we are excavating.  This allows us to keep our excavations level and keep a high degree of control.

We scraped the floor clean of loose dirt and exposed a new surface so we could see differences in the colors and textures of the soil.  Before excavating the features, we drew a scale plan map of the block (only the units down to 100cmbd so far).  We placed strings across the block to mark the unit locations and help us map artifacts and features accurately.

We were visited today by a group of scouts led by archaeologists from the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology in Indianapolis.  We also met with individuals and representatives from philanthropic groups who are interested in the possibility of helping us and Hamilton County Parks keep this program alive and growing.

Excavations continue on the block.  We now have 17 square meters open, and have exposed Feature 14.  In plan view (looking down at the floor of the block), Feature 14 is a dark, circular to oval stain that contains charcoal, fire-cracked rock, animal bone, and pieces of burned soil.  Until we excavate the feature, we will not know what its function was.  It may have been a food processing pit, a storage pit, a trash pit, or even a very large posthole. 

Portions of other features are now also visible in the floor of the block.   Once plowzone is removed from a large portion of the block and the edges of the features are exposed, we will clean the floor and make a large map showing all the features in plan view.  We will do detailed descriptions of the soils in and around the features, take photographs, and document the features in detail prior to excavating them.  Each feature will be assigned a number to identify it in photographs and notes. 

Following this documentation, each feature will be excavated separately by cross-sectioning.  We will place a profile line through the middle of the feature and remove half of the feature to expose a profile.  Careful examination of the profile will help us determine the function of the feature.  We will carefully look at the shape of the feature and the layers of soil and artifacts inside it.  Is it a deep pit filled with trash?  Was it used to store food?  Or was it a basin used for cooking?  Before excavating the other half of the feature, we will draw and photograph the profile.

If the feature is stratified (filled in with different layers of soil), the second half of the feature will be removed in layers.  If the feature is large enough, we will collect flotation samples.  These samples will be specially processed to retrieve seeds, small animal bones, and other remains that pass through a 1/4" screen.

We moved our excavations inside the enclosure today.  Although several possible features were present in the trenches opened up on site 12-H-1052 (outside the enclosure), it was clear that the area had not been heavily used by the inhabitants of the enclosure.  In consultation with the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, excavations were moved back to the interior of the enclosure.

Several important research questions remained unanswered when excavations were halted in Block 2 at the end of the excavations in 2002.  Portions of two features were exposed in Block 2 in 2002, but time and budget constraints did not allow the features to be explored further.  Based on the previous year's analysis (reported in ROI 301), it is possible that the remains of a prehistoric house are present in the Block 2 area.  Discovery and documentation of a Late Prehistoric house would be significant to our research, as well as to the park's plans to eventually create a reconstruction of the enclosure village on the park grounds.

The first step was to relocate our unfinished units from 2002.  We used the total station to get ourselves back on grid and lay out a 5m x 5m block around the 2m x 3m excavation area from 2002.  We removed the backfill that was placed in the unfinished units at the end of the 2002 season, and began excavating the block in 1m x 1m units.  The first goal is to fully expose the features in this area.

We got help from a group of Girl Scouts on Thursday afternoon.  They helped us screen, and found several  important pieces of pottery and tools in the dirt we were excavating.

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Today we finished excavating the five 1m x 1m hand units, arranged in the shape of a plus sign. The deposits exposed in these units were not complex.  The plowzone was variable in depth, and the boundary between the plowzone and the subsoil (the soil below the plowzone) varied from gradual to very abrupt.  These differences suggest that some portions of the site may have been eroded (or even graded), while others may have been protected (perhaps by modern structures such as a fence line, farm building, or road).

In any case, complex cultural deposits like those encountered within the enclosure itself were not present in the 1m x 1m hand units.  A backhoe was used to remove the plowzone between the hand excavated units to look for features that might still be intact below the plowzone. 

Several possible features (remains of posts, hearths, storage pits, earth ovens, etc.) were exposed in the floor of the trench.  We will be documenting and investigating these possible features tomorrow.

We also opened a 2m x 2m unit (Unit 6) in a portion of the site where relatively high densities of pottery were found during survey.  This unit is still in plowzone.

Today was the first day of school tours. Over a hundred children of the ISI Homeschool Group Co-op visited the site today.  The children (and adults) were treated to a site tour, a visit to our ongoing excavations, a Native American hike, and craft demonstrations.

We screen all the soil from the excavation units through 1/4 inch hardware cloth. We save all artifacts (pieces of stone tools, debitage from stone tool manufacture, pottery, rocks cracked by fire, etc.). Artifacts recovered from each level of each unit are kept separate.  Without precise location information, artifacts lose much of their scientific value.