Our field class started up this morning as it always does -- with a lot of slow and tedious work preparing tools and equipment for use. A beautiful morning to start work -- slightly overcast with a nice breeze. The afternoon was a bit less comfortable -- with temperatures up into the upper 80s/low 90s and the humidity almost in the same figures.
By 8:00 am, we were moving, unloading, and organizing the half dozen truckloads of equipment and supplies that will carry us through the next few weeks.
By mid morning, we had started laying out the grid for our first seven excavation units of our 2008 summer field season.
By late morning, we had started stripping the sod from the units. By closing time, the first "level" of each unit (about 10 cm or 4 inches in thickness) was about complete.
Our first efforts this summer are to investigate the "village area" on the western edge of this ancient town -- and investigating a low linear earthwork that might be a remnant of the palisade on the western part of the site.
We'll continue to work here over the next several days -- hoping to cross the trench of the palisade wall.