A brief report for today... Work continued on what we are now referring to as "Structure 1." The likely chimney and hearth base continues to become better defined as we dig deeper. The photograph below shows the "feature" outlined in yellow -- if you look closely, you'll see that the concentration of limestone blocks, chipping debris, and brick rubble has begun to form a square or rectangular pattern. Tracy, Amanda, Lesley and Mackenzie continue to carefully clear around the exposed rubble.
As noted on Friday, before we continue deeper investigations of this feature, we need to expose the top of all of it. As a result, we opened three additional excavation areas (outlined in yellow in the photographs below).
Our efforts are both helped and hindered by "Mother Nature" -- when we arrived this morning, the plastic covering our excavation units was filled with several hundreds of gallons of water from the weekend storms. Our first 45 minutes of the day were spent "bailing water" before we could remove the protective plastic. A friendly but fairly frightened mouse who had established a new home underneath our plastic during the weekend was forced to relocate. Of some interest are the results of the labors of the several dozen ant colonies that inhabit our excavation units. While we are not particularly thrilled about trowelling through an anthill and suddenly finding ourselves covered with multitudes of the little critters, the photograph below shows what many of these diligent workers are telling us about what lies beneath the soil. The grayish-white anthill outlined in the photograph is a mixture of ash and mortar brought up from two-three inches beneath our current excavation level. As we excavate deeper, we anticipate getting into less disturbed features of the site -- the ants are providing additional evidence to support our hopes!
Amongst the several hundred artifacts recovered today was one of particular interest to us. Our first bead. While perhaps coincidental, it is of interest that it is a "blue bead." From work throughout the south on slave sites, we know that African-Americans of the 19th century exhibited a preference for blue beads over other colors -- a preference that extends back to West African ancestors. While one blue bead does not a slave cabin make, it is another tantalizing hint that we are in the right place on the landscape of the Sam Davis Home.
After class on Tuesday, I have a meeting in Nashville and won't get home until 9:30 or 10:00 pm, so anticipate a very brief update for tomorrow's work! A full update will be provided on Wednesday on the next two days of work!