Last Friday we were fortunate to have another beautiful sunny day, allowing us to continue our work in New Castle. This was an important day as it marked many transitions such as the opening and closing of several STPs along with beginning transit work on the North lot.

In the morning section, many students began work on the anomalies that Peter Leach identified with his GPR survey. Fallon Rice worked on a shaft feature anomaly that was between 1.15-2ft below the surface. She dug to 1.3ft when she reached a layer of randomly laid brick. This layer prevented her from continuing to dig the STP but it also provoked many questions. She did not think that the bricks were laid in a pattern and this made her wonder why were they there and what did they come from? Fallon was even more curious when she discovered compressed ash between the bricks. This made her question whether or not this could have been some sort of fire pit. Fallon’s STP also struck the interest of a group of school children who stopped to discuss what she had found.

Marissa Kinsey also worked on one of the GPR anomaly STPs. Her anomaly was a large circular feature about 1ft below the surface. After digging to level 3 and just over 1ft, she found a layer of soil that had a high concentration of ironstone. This made her question whether or not the layer of ironstone could have been what showed up on the GPR as a circular feature. Interestingly enough, Marissa’s pit (like Fallon’s) contained ash, in the form of noticeable patches found in levels 2 and 3.

Some of the morning folks, Emily and Elanor, had a chance to set up the transit and lay out STP sites in the North lot. They laid out two rows of STPs 25 feet apart, marked each with flag, and then took an elevation measurement using the transit and stadia rod.

In the afternoon session, Becca, Collen, and Kate began their work where Emily and Elanor left off. They measured each STP and labeled them. It was Becca who had the honor of beginning the first STP on the lot. This STP anomaly  is believed to be the corner of a foundation of a building structure. By the end of the day, Becca had removed only the first layer of soil. When this dirt was screened, Becca, Collen, and Kate were in shock of the amount of objects found, such as pieces of brick, glass, mortar, and pieces of schist. They all remarked that finding artifacts in the first level of soil on the Water lot was a rare occasion.

Other afternoon students continued digging STPs in the water lot. One of these students, Leah Sachs, worked on the same pit as Marissa. She dug past 1ft and decided that Marissa had been correct; the anomaly that the GPR had picked up was the ironstone. The decision was made to close out the hole at approximately 2 ft.

This was a rather eventful day in the field. Our hard work is becoming evident as more and more STPs are closed out. There is also an excitement in the air as we begin to set up STPs in the North Lot. We are all terribly excited to find out how our findings in the north lot will compare to those in the water lot.