SEPTEMBER 10, 2005

From: Scott Beld
Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2005
To: Oxbow Archaeologists
Subject: 20MD263 - September 3, 5, and 10, 2005

Hi Oxbow Archaeologists,

We made it out to the site Labor Day weekend and yesterday. Labor Day weekend, John, Marianne, Kevin, Nik, Conrad, Dee Dee and I made it out. Yesterday, Nik, Kevin, Conrad, and I made it out.

On Labor Day weekend I started to backfill the 60 West trench. We excavated the 2 x 2 meter unit at 46-47 m west to 70 cm and started the 75 cm level. We got to the bottom of the 2nd A-horizon. Surprisingly, we didn’t find much F.C.R. in it – only 1 or 2 pieces. Yesterday, morning we finished the 75 cm level and got a few more F.C.R. below the 2nd A-horizon. I’ll probably take units ON-47W and 1N-47W a little deeper next week. Late Yesterday afternoon I finished backfilling the 60 west trench (see Photo 1).

Yesterday afternoon, Conrad, Nik, and I also opened new units at 110 m west. We’ll probably open a 3 x 3 m unit here. We managed to take the first 10 cm off a 2 x 3 m area (see Photo 2). There is actually quiet a bit of material in the upper levels of these units, i.e. flakes (mainly Bayport chert), grit-tempered pottery, and bone fragments (see Photo 3). Most of the pottery we were finding had plain surfaces and that together with Bayport flakes made it look sort of Middle Woodland in the field. However, when I got back to the lab and washed off some of the sherds to photograph for this update, I found a fingernail impressed sherd – probably a rimsherd – that indicates a late prehistoric occupation (see Photo 4). We C-14 dated a fingernail impressed rimsherd to 1300-1400 A.D. at 20MD534 a year ago (see the Feature 5 rimsherd on the website -- http://www.chippewanaturecenter.com/Oxbow/6-18-03.htm). I’ve also seen similar pottery in the Naugle collection and we have some fingernail impressed rimsherds illustrated on the Sumac Bluff webpage (see http://www.chippewanaturecenter.com/Oxbow/sumacbluffpottery.htm). It will be interesting to see if we get early Late Woodland pottery and Upper Mercer flakes below this material in the next couple weeks! These look like quiet interesting units. There were about 6-12 flakes, 5-6 sherd/sherlets and a few bone fragments in each unit.

This Wednesday, I probably won’t be coming up to CNC. Marianne will be going to the Resource Building at 6:00 P.M. and will let you in (we’ll send another email if this should change). You can continue washing the artifacts from 20MD263.

Next Saturday, I’ll be up and we’ll continue excavating the new units at 20MD 263.

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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