Elsewhere, we are working on a very exciting trash deposit -- this dense scatter of garbage accumulated over a period of time as local families discarded debris from their houses. Below, everything in the unit is an artifact -- everything but the kitchen sink. We have recovered several bags of pottery -- including large cooking pots, storage vessels, small bowls, and large pans. The whitish objects in the photograph are deteriorating pieces of limestone -- probably originally used to line fireplaces and hearths in nearby structures. The bone preservation in this midden is extraordinary -- we have recovered hundreds of pieces discarded from meals. These fragments include deer, turkey, bear, turtles, fish, snakes, and many others that will be carefully examined in the lab to tell us more about the diet of the Castalian Springs people.

Below, Nemanja and Kristen carefully expose and remove fragments of pottery and animal bones from the midden.

Below is a finely worked drill from the midden deposit.

Over at Mound 2, excavation of the circular stains did indeed prove them to be postholes (about 45 cm in depth) -- there is a fifth post at left, but not enough of it was exposed to allow excavation. Interestingly enough, three of these posts are slanted outward while the fourth is an upright post. This suggests the possibility that the edge of the mound was surrounded by an outward slanted defensive wall at least during part of its existence.

At least two more of the yellow-brown clay "caps" are visible in the walls of the postholes -- where these posts were dug through earlier building stages.