5/7/2014

Dru Keyser                                                                                                                             May 7, 2014

36LY0345 Glunk

    Today we returned to the Glunk Site (36LY0345), and because it had rained last night, the ground around our excavation units was fairly moist.  My goal for today was to bring the Northeast quad down to the end of level three, and begin working on the West wall breakdown.  I had already brought the Northeast quad down to twenty inches, so I did not have very far to go until I was finished with it.  Just as I began working on it, my trowel revealed a feature in the soil.  A very odd stain appeared in the sandy matrix.  This stain, seen below, had a black outer ring, followed by a red inner ring, and then very dark colored soil on the inside.

As you can see, I bisected the stain in order to determine why it was there.  I came the the conclusion that it may have been a part of pottery firing pit because the black layer may have been burnt clay or ash from the fire, the red layer was most likely a red clay slip, and the darkened soil was likely an ash collection that became mixed with the sand.  After completely removing the stain from the Northeast quad, I completed the quad and began working on the West wall breakdown.

    I began by doing a quick wall clean-up so I could determine the stratigraphy of the soil.  Then, I placed a popsicle stick at the depth that there was a change in the color of the soil (eight and fourteen inches).  I then began on the North section, but not long after I had made my way to the first popsicle stick, it began to rain, so we quickly gathered our materials and covered our excavation units before leaving the site for the day.