June 22, 2003

From: Scott Beld
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 3:38 PM
To: Oxbow Archaeologists
Subject: Ponton - June 22, 2003

Hi Oxbow Archaeologists,

This is the second part of this weeks update.

On Sunday (June 22) we went out to the Ponton site and excavated. Terry Martin, John H., John O., Maryann, Mary W., Greg, Lia, Francis, and I were there (see excavation2-4). We excavated five units.

510R497. John H., Maryann, and Mary W. excavated this unit. There is a possible postmold in this unit (see 510R497.jpg – the arrow points to the possible postmold). Decorated earthenware included Blue Transfer and Blue Edge (see 510R497 artifacts.jpg).

511R498. Terry, Greg, Lia and Francis excavated this unit. Items of note included a stoneware fragment with blue decoration, Old Blue Transfer Print and Blue Edge earthenware, a white clay pipe bowl/stem juncture, and a tooth (see 511R498.jpg).

514R499. John O., Maryann, and I excavated this unit. There is a possible feature along the south wall. Items of note included Old Blue, Light Blue and Red Transfer Print earthenware, a white clay pipe bowl fragment and a stem fragment (see 514R499 artifacts.jpg).

513R499. Terry, John O., Francis, Greg, Lia, and I excavated this unit. There is a possible feature along the north edge and 3 possible postmolds (arrows in picture, see 513R499 unit.jpg). There is possibly a fourth postmold above the three I marked with arrows! Notable artifacts included a burned gunflint, a handpainted earthenware sherd, and a bottle fragment (see 513R499 artifacts.jpg). The gunflint is only the second one that we have recovered from the site.

512R499. Terry, John O. and I excavated this unit. There were two possible postmolds or features in this unit (see 512R499 unit.jpg). I cored the bottom one – it is about 5 cm thick. Notable artifacts from this unit included Redware fragments, a white clay pipe bowl fragment, and a bottle fragment (see 512R499 artifacts.jpg).

We had a very productive day and left the site about 4 P.M.

Tomorrow (June 25) we’ll plan on working in the lab – I’d like to finish sorting the Ponton 1/8” screen samples from last year and get the lab ready for flotation and waterwashing operations.

Another item… I think I may have mentioned a couple weeks ago that a new mastodon has turned up around 50 miles west of Midland. At any rate, the lady who owns the property has gotten back from vacation and is trying to contact Dan again. So… there may be another mastodon dig that we can go on. If it materializes this one will probably involve going through spoil piles as opposed to digging in situ deposits. This could happen as soon as this weekend. I’ll keep you posted.

Other than that we’ll plan on excavating at Ponton on Saturday.

It was a great weekend and I’ll 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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