First week of Digging

July 6- 10th

This was the first week of digging. We started by sectioning off 3 spaces for 3 trenches. One was 1x10m, and the other 2 were 1x5m. We prepared the units with levels, string, and plumb bobs. It wasn’t terribly exciting, but we were just setting up. We then took photos of the surface layer, and then promptly cleaned off the superficial layer. The units were oriented North to South. We were excavating at the Sacsaywaman Archaeological Park at the site, Qochapata. The Inca built a ceremonial edifice there, at the base of some sacred Wacca stones. The Peruvian team that has been working on that area for awhile had already uncovered a lot of the buildings of this plaza-like structure. So, it was really neat to be working right next to standing structures. Of the three units, 2 units were expected to contain part of an Inca wall. My unit was one of them.
Archaeology is a very slow process, tedious, and definitely not Indiana Jones-glamorous.
The following entries are the entries in my field notebook for the first week of digging. This will give you an idea of what we are expected to record, and the not-so-exciting finds of the superficial soil layers.

July 7 2009
• Today we excavated at Unit 3 of Qochapata in P.A.S., subsector 2. We prepared the unit, took pics, cleared vegetation and cleaned the superficial layer. The superficial layer of unit 3 is made of hard-packed clay with small rocks distributed equally. Unit 3 slopes from the N-S. A marking stick protrudes from the ground at meter 1. This stick was placed to mark a possible wall prior to excavations. In the NW portion of unit 3 there is an area of organic soil with hair coming out of the ground. In the S part of unit 3, two area of carbonous ground exist.

July 8, 2009
Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 2
Unidad: 3
Capa (layer) 1
Excavators: Buzz, Meg, John, Christina

We begain excavating layer 1. Found a dark spot of dirt in NE corner of the unit. We found a small piece of carbon in the S section of the unit. Small, sharp rocks were found int eh SW corner. in the middle of the units we found a large section of very compact dirt; it was a lot like the surface soil. There are many roots in the midsection casuing the soil to become compact.
Artifacts found: carbonized plant, pottery shard.

July 9, 2009
Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 2
Unidad: 3
Capa (layer) 1
Excavators: Buzz, Meg, John, Christina

First task: we begin by excavating level 1 and getting to the darker, softer dirt that was partially uncovered yesterday. We have to remove the compact laye of dirt still found in level 2 and remove all roots, which are believed to be the cause of the compact dirt portions we use large pick axes first. Layer one is very rocky.
Interpretation: the rocky layer coincides with a theory that possibly all the small, sharp rocks are flakes left over from stone-cutting when the Inca made the wall adjacent to our unitl. The roots are proving difficult to remove but we’re starting to make progress with the compact/rocky layer.
Task 2: In the south part of the unit are many small rock fragments. We are removing the small roots around the rocks and are going to uncover them ore but not unearth the rocks. We cleaned the unit and tooka photograph. Rocky inclusions are ine the North and South edges of the unit. After break, we removed large roots. They’re creating a hole in the Northern end of the unit. A noticeable soil change has emerged in the N corner of the unit; it’s much darker. Few rocks are in the NW corner of the trench.
We also found our first pottery shard, about 2inches in diameter.
(all of these entries include corresponding drawings of the trench)*****

July 10. 2009
Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 2
Unidad: 3
Capa (layer) 1
Excavators: Buzz, Meg, John, Christina

Today we excavated capa uno at unit 3 and removed compact dirt layer along the NW and NE corners of the unit. Surrounding our feature 1 – which is the dark, circular area of soft soil surrounding the marking stick – to see if this darker, softer dirt continues underneath. It really doesn’t. We created a border, demarcating the feature one form the rest of the unit. Potshards were found on the E edge of the middle section of the unit. We left them and excavated around them becaue there may possibly be a concentration in that area of the unit. A camelid bone was found in the S portion of the unit.
SOUTHERN SECTION: I found an interesting small mound of unfired clay and black organic matter. This led to the discovery of the compact, fine, most Southern part of the unit, and how it slopes down significantly into the soft, dark soil I uncovered. I followed the slope of this hard layer 1 down into the soft soil and leveled it out for the day. It might have been a compact walking surface.