Day 8 - Blame it on the Rain

by B. Smith

Unfortunately, field work was somewhat thwarted due to on-again-off-again (but mostly on-again) heavy downpours. The rest of the week does not look too promising either, with a 40% chance of rain up through Friday. Today, however, was especially rough - there were even some flash flood warnings for nearby towns. The executive decision was made to park our van at the top of the hill away from the site, so that we would have high enough ground to drive out of if the ground got too saturated. We wanted to avoid getting quagmired at all costs. The weather seemed to enjoy tormenting us: at least twice it would rain heavily, only to subside right about the time we managed to pack up all of our stuff into the van.

The van on the hill, during a rare dry moment.

Despite the rain, we were still able to accomplish some things in the field. Primarily, all students were able to check the soil coloration of the bottom of their unit via the Munsell color chart. Some were even able to make considerable headway into their next excavation level.

Using the Munsell color chart.

We ultimately had to leave early, due to concerns over wet equipment and soaked units, but students were able to make up for the lost time with more time spent in the lab with Dr. Jeb Card. Even with today's setback, progress in the field is still coming along very nicely.