Garden Site
Excavations are well underway. Today was fine and very warm, and an improvement on the steady rain yesterday. Although we had shelters over the excavation areas on Day 2 the soil was very wet and water was seeping through the uphill edge of each square. Work had to stop on the 3D scanning of the garden site and surveying using the total station.
We are excavating a site with stone alignments running down a west facing slope. The stones, which were probably levered out of the gardens between the stone rows, acted as plot boundaries. Kumara were probably grown in the gardens but this is subject to confirmation after analysis of soil samples. Each cultigen plant (kumara, taro, yam) leaves distinctive microfossils in the soil.
Excavation, note the stone rows running down the slope
Sieving soil
Thegn Ladefoged, who has carried out research on gardens in Hawaii and on Rapanui (Easter Island), is directing the garden excavation. Excavation trenches have been placed across stone rows to look at the soil depth and texture on either side of the stones, and also to investigate whether the stones were sitting on the subsoil below the garden, or had garden soil underneath them. We also excavated other trenches between the rows to look at the soils. On Day 2 a stone alignment set firmly into the ground surface was excavated and the stones were resting on the underlying clay. On Day 3 we commenced excavating on two alignments which were at a slightly different angle on the slope to the other rows. These were found to be seated within the garden soil, suggesting they were placed there after gardening commenced. There is also a flat area above the garden which might have been an occupation site, and some test pits are also being placed on this area.
Excavation
After de-turfing off the topsoil with spades, we are hand excavating the garden soil, sieving the soil to look for any stone flakes or unusual materials which wouldn’t be found there naturally. Charcoal is extracted from a sample of soil to indicate what was growing there prior to when the gardens were used, but also what was growing between uses of the gardens.
Recording of archaeological excavations is essential as it is from the written and photographic record that the report is written. Each layer is described on a form and the surface of each layer photographed. The surveyors then come along with the total station and take levels in each corner. These heights are recorded as height above sea level. The forms are comprehensive and we are still in learning mode but can appreciate that the database, in which all information is entered, must have consistently collected information to be effective.
Checking the map made using the total station to make sure all rocks are recorded
Each evening, after work ends, we have a team meeting where each excavation group shares what they were doing with the rest of the crew. An archaeologist or senior student will then give a short talk about a research project underway or recently completed. As this is a field school to teach students about archaeology, they have a full on day in excavation and other activities then have to write up a field journal each evening which contributes to their final mark in the paper. After dinner, the staff and assigned students work late into the evening checking and entering information captured on the record sheets into the database.
– Joe