Despite the hard-packed soil, spirits remained high. We have recovered a few pieces of pottery, chert, and obsidian in the upper levels. Jason and Jessica have exposed an abundance of tightly packed cobbles at the base of Structure 1. Tomorrow, their job is to figure out if it is tumble or a purposefully built construction.
Over at Structure 9, there were fewer cobbles but the hard soil made for difficult digging. The boys (Jordan, Nery, and Bill - Katia was feeling under the weather and stayed in for the day) made headway. Jordan proved to be a quick study with the hand pick.
Nery, as always, was immensely helpful with the investigations. Here he assists in the screening and identification of artifacts. In a future entry we must feature Nery's contributions to the archaeology of the Jesus de Otoro valley. What we know of the valley and how our project functions would not be the same without his expertise.
We finished up in the field around noon and started the short hike back to the truck for our drive into town for lunch. Not only is it a relief to reach the truck (parked in the shade) but the hike offers a chance to see the local flora and fauna. Although not terribly exotic, we found this fellow to be impressive.
After lunch, we slipped into the lab for class and artifact washing and processing. After a quick discussion of artifact types we dove right in and began to wash all the material from the days excavations. By tomorrow afternoon today's artifacts will be dry and the students will get a tutorial on processing artifacts by type.
Everyone had the afternoon and evening off. It's been hot and dry here so everyone looked for shade or something cold to drink. A few students wandered around our new neighborhood, but most entered notes and caught up on reading for the next class. Now that the sun has set the project house is quiet.
More news from the field to come!
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