They say I'm digging well. You have to be very careful and only go about 10 centimeters or so at a time. We use the small pick axe to loosen the dirt, a big brush similar to a broom to brush it away, and a paintbrush if we find something to get it even cleaner. I also have a small spade that I use, especially when loosing an object.
Today's piece had to stay in the ground until they could take pictures so I had to dig very carefully and slowly around it so it wouldn't break. Then I had to dig all around the area to make sure there weren't any more pieces and then I found an animal bone! (Thank goodness it was animal.)
My pottery!
After we get it pictured, we have to register it. It has our East and North numbers, registration numbers, numbers that indicate what level it was found, and other complicated things like that. After it's registered, it's put into a special little zip lock bag and then it's archived until it can be cleaned, numbered, drawn and analyzed. The digging is only the first bit!
My section
The archeologists keep an eye on everything and take pictures at each level so they can fit all the pieces of the puzzle of what happened and what kind of room it is, or town it is, or what have you. Some things are easy to explain, but others take a bit of work. It's very scientific the way they do it here on this dig.
It's really fun and interesting to think about who lived in the house you're digging out. I'm fairly sure I'm working in an area that was a kitchen, so all the jugs we found must have been used to cook. Did someone cook something for Jesus with that pot? Who wore the perfume from the bottle we found? And the thing is, no one has seen it since that time. How's that for blowing your mind?
I never thought that one day I'd be sitting on a small step stool using a paint brush to move dirt around. This is certainly one aventura de la vida!
Can't wait to see what's next!
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