Today, 6-24-99, we worked in the rain all morning.  But we got a lot done.  We started out this morning by having a discussion on projectile points up in the lab.    We didn't want the rain to mess up any of our squares that we have been working in, so David decided that we should open up a brand new square and just shovel and sift plowzone.  So we opened square 20R200, which is just north of square 10R200.  We actually did not find much other than a few pieces of pottery, but we are confident that there will be more.
    Since there aren't many interesting pictures today, I thought that I would draw one and explain plowzone, midden, and subsoil.  Plowzone is the soil that, at one time or another has been plowed.  This means that any artifacts that are found here are in a disturbed context.  When we are sifting the plowzone from a specific square, all of the artifacts go into one bag just labeled 'Plowzone'.

    The subsoil is the soil beneath the plowzone.  This means that it is undisturbed and that any artifacts found here are 'in situ', or in the same place as they were left hundreds of years ago.  These artifacts go into their own bags with the exact horizontal and vertical positions labeled on the bag.
    The wavy line across the center of the picture that goes through the plowzone and the subsoil represents the actual floor of the Pisgah village.  In most cases, the floor has been plowed up.  However, postholes that were dug from the original village surface usually go into the subsoil which means that we can see them once the plowzone is excavated.  This is how we identify houses and palisades.
    The midden is a dark, organic soil that is the result of debris left by humans living there.  Occasionally we find midden associated with houses that is below the plowzone and undisturbed.  The artifacts from the midden are treated the same way as artifacts from the subsoil.

Click on the picture above!