DUG DUG and DUG, results ;)

[trevmma]

well me and flintseeker went on a dig back to the shelter where i found the drill bi point and triangle. we attacked the thing everywhere at 1foot depth average, came up with lots of triangles broken and unbroken and some hopewell style blades broken as well. we dug 3 or 4 test pits deeper and came up with nothing, is it possible that missisipian era was the only people in the cave? at 2 ft. is grey clay, what do we do next, or would u call it dug good?

new dig finds from wax shelter dig

lat weeks finds

 

[wells]

I'd be wondering - how thick is that clay layer? and is there cultural bering layers under the clay? Trial and error and hard work produces artifacts. Have Fun.

 

[GaRebel1861]

Nice finds!

 

[1320]

Based on your test screens, I'd say it's a strong possibility that your shelter may have had only one era of occupancy. Any other shelters close by or would this one be the Mac Daddy of the immediate vicinity?

 

[trevmma]

so far i think mack daddy, lol. there is more closer to the ohio river.

 

[Ohio_Doug]

Did you do any digging in front of the shelter? Outside of the overhang? If not I would recommend it.

 

[trevmma]

we dug just to the drip line, but i made sure we left room in the front to dig that stuff
thanks for the tip

 

[1320]

If it's the Mac Daddy, it might be worthwhile to get under that clay. Is the clay compacted and/or cloddy? Bob and I dug a shelter last year that had serious compaction (clay). Under that layer was sand!? The artifacts were in that layer (Woodland) but it was too much effort to continually bust the clods by hand. We did find one large point under that layer though, also Woodland. We gave up on it, that clay was just too hard on the body and equipment.

There is one shelter nearby that was excavated/documented that had large scale beds and storage pits made of clay. The archaeologist's opinion was that the clay was brought in....interesting.

 

[scepter1]

I would give it another shot. About 8 feet out from the drip line, in the area with the most sun, and a good territorial view (imagine it without any trees)... Down a couple of feet to see if you punch thru that clay

Rich.