This week at the University of Akron archaeology field school at Cascade Falls Metro Park we continued the ongoing process of excavating the main Prather House Site, primarily continuing to focus on expanding the existing Unit B and starting the excavation of Unit D.
Starting on Monday we arrived expecting far poorer weather and were relived to hear that it would be unlikely to rain for the rest of the week. However, our happiness regarding the weather was soon undone when we were told that we would be required to move one of the large pile of dirt created from the previous weeks’ excavations to make room for the excavation of Unit D. It took us the greater part of the morning shift to move all the dirt in the pile, using our shovels and buckets, from the original pile to one further away from the unit.
Other than this, on Monday, I also learned how to use the dumpy level to measure the depth of different parts of the excavation. This is done with two people where one holds the pole with the depths marked and the other operates the level by calling out the depths as the measuring stick is moved through different parts of the unit. In the afternoon on Monday we begun to remove the top soil using shovels and sifting through it for starting Unit D which is 1 meter by 2 meters unlike the others being 2 meters by 2 meters.
Moving onto Tuesday, I spent the morning working on excavating the newly created Unit D, this time with a trowel as we had removed the topsoil on Monday. In the center of Unit D there was a large pile of bricks and other building materials which we are still unsure of the reason for them being there. It is being excavated in a manner to platform it, which is to dig around the pile and leave it undisturbed.
Then, on Tuesday afternoon, I transitioned into excavating Unit B again. In Unit B, the most interesting finds on Tuesday were some electrical wire and a plug for an electrical device and some latex pantyhose. The pantyhose were likely used for gardening purposes and was an expected find but Tuesday made the first encounter of them in the excavation.
On Wednesday we continued to excavate and move back and forth between Unit B and Unit D. In Unit D I found the rest of a makeup container that was first excavated in 2018 when the other half of it was found. Other than that, we continued to find more glass bottles and broken glass made up the majority of the artifacts found on Wednesday. The major discovery that day was that the site must have been left before being buried for a number of years as bottles were found quite deep that were dated a few years after that Prather house burned down.
On Wednesday I begun to feel rather under the weather and for this reason was unable to attend class on Thursday this week. All in all, this week we continued to expand the units and learned much more about the lives and conditions of the Prathers and are all excited to get back out and continue expanding the units next week.