OCTOBER 15, 2005

From: Scott Beld
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005
To: Oxbow Archaeologists
Subject: 20MD253 - October 15, 2005

Hi Oxbow Archaeologists,

Marianne, John, Dave, Nik, Kevin, Conrad and I made it out to 20MD263 yesterday and continued excavating units in the 110 m west block. It was a beautiful autumn day and we opened new units on the north side of the block, expanding it into a 3x4 m block. Our two new units are 1S-109W and 1S-110W (we’ll open 1S-108W next week). We excavated these two units to 25 cm. There are lots of Bayport chert flakes, bone fragments, and some pottery. Conrad made the find of the day – a heavily reworked flake knife made from Bayport chert (see Photo 1). In the afternoon, Conrad and I trowelled the 25-30 cm level in units 2S-108W and 4S-108W. There were numerous flakes, bones, and pottery. One cord-wrapped stick or cord decorated bodysherd was also recovered (see Photo 2).

This week we’ll meet at the Resource Building on Wednesday evening.

Next Saturday we’ll plan on excavating at 20MD263. We’ll trowel the 25-30 cm level of units and begin excavating unit 1S-108W.

Next Sunday is the MAS Fall Workshop in the Visitor Center at CNC. In the morning I’ll talk on the Ponton site (and our historic period research) and Terry Martin will talk on faunal identification. In the afternoon Dennis and Kyle will be demonstrating brain tanning, firemaking, etc.

Hope to see you at the site.

Scott

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Scott G. Beld, Ph.D.
Research Associate II
The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology
1109 Geddes Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079
Phone: 734-764-0489 (UMMP Main Office)
734-763-9253 (My Office)
Fax: 734-936-1380
Email: sbeld@umich.edu
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