Note that the stuff I poured out on the tailgate for the above photo is not anything that needed to be kept clean, it is what we just sifted from our old throw dirt. There are no bags labeled "West" because we are leaving the west half of the shelter untouched for future study. Leaving an unexcavated area will prove to be very important should we make a culturally important discovery, as it will allow further study to validate out finding.

It's actually proving to as easy to save and record everything as it is to just dig like rabid armadillos. You can dig a little faster this way since whatever you don't see in the darkness of the shelter will still get picked up in the screens. When you find a significant feature you can quickly record it with digital photos and some quick notes. Holding a consistent level keeps you from missing spots. On top of that you have these neat little bags full of stuff to study until next time.

At this point we are certain that this shelter has not been previously disturbed. Although this site is on a good sized piece of private property, nearby city limits are getting dangerously close. Current population growth causes me to believe this property will be subdivided in the near future and we will lose access while modern developement will probably destroy this very special place. We are planning to take advantage of our opportunity to record this site as well as a group of independent Avocational Archaeologists can. I will try to share our efforts so we can all learn something about the people who lived here for thousands of years before us.

Click here for page 2 of the NEW YEARS DAY DIG.

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