Week 2 at the Dig Site

The second week of digging, another girl, Christina and I moved units to work on a burial because we both have taken a Human Osteology class and therefore have experience with bones.
So, here’s the deal with this tomb/burial. It was –apparently- first excavated last season. However, whoever was doing the excavation, didn’t have time to complete it before the end of the field season, so they essentially threw the bones into a pile, and covered it up until the next field season. Also, a giant tree root disrupted the burial. This is what is called a secondary burial, AND an example of BAD archaeology. A unit containing a burial, or any unit, for that matter, should never be left partially excavated. That’s just horrible professionalism. And leaving the bones in the condition in which I found them is completely disrespectful of the interred individual.

The following are my archaeological field notes for the Inca burial I excavated.



July 14, 2009
Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Capa (layer) 1
Excavators:, Meg, Christina, Jose

We cordoned off a square unit where the tomb is suspected to be located. We drew a picture of the surface layer, measuring various rock/plant points in the unit. We then removed one inch of the surface layer.
We then ran into a problem. We “hit” the metal covering of the tomb, but it was in the NE corner of the unit, not in the middle like it was believed to be. Then, it was also brought to our attention that there was a second burial nearby to the NE of the first burial unit, and directly at the base of some large Wacca stones. The 2nd burial is extremely shallow, and a portion of the cranium was visible. It has been extensively broke – more like pulverized ; small cranial fragments litter the area surrounding the cranium. The nature of the burial is unknown (i.e. whether it’s been disturbed, partially/poorly excavated). We then had to extend our unit out 50cm N and 50cm E. We then began removing the surface layer surrounding the believed tomb “entrance”
We found several large pottery shards and several bone fragments while excavating the superficial layer. This does not bode well for the possibility that this burial hasn’t been disturbed.

July 15, 2009
Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Excavators : Meg, Christina, Jose

We began by cleaning up the profile and leveling the unit off to the level of the metal circular tomb covering. NE of the tome cover, we uncovered a piece of wood, 2x4in that appeared to extend underneath the metal cover – likely for structural support - We also found several bone fragments, 8 fragments – 2 of which were identified as cranial. Potshards were also unearthed. Once all the loose dirt surrounding the tomb cover in our unit had been cleared away, we slowly lifted the circular cover off from the east end to the west end and lifted it off.
There were 3 stones visible on the edge of the tomb cover. It was unclear whether or not the stones were structural or placed there by the peple who discovered the burial last field season and placed them there for support. The wood went all the way under across the diameter of the tome. We lifted that off and discovered that more stones lined the matrix of the burial in a well shape.
We began slowly scraping through the moist dirt. A canine tooth was uncovered and I uncovered several bone fragments and a tooth. The tooth is either a premolar. The tomb is filled with a lot of clay that is a mauve-y colour and yellow and green. A metacarpal was found and several bone fragments after lunch.

July 16, 2009

Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Excavators: Meg, Christina, Jose

We began by cleaning the sifted dirt from around the tomb, which had been placed over the tomb as a cover for the night. We then took a picture of the tomb as it was left yesterday afternoon. The next task is to section off a smaller portion of the unitl, so it just surrounds the tomb.
Task 4: we will remove the wood chunks and rocks lining the tomb, as they are not Inca construction, but were placed there last field season after the bones were discovered. We removed all the man-placed rocks. On the N end, there appears to be natural rocks, we have left it in place and have decided to excavate around it, as it might be part of the original structure of the Inca tomb. -→ interpretation
A plastic bag was placed over the bones from last field season, in some terribly poor attempt to shield the bones from the elements. It has filled with compact clay. This has made removal of the bag difficult and lsow since several bone fragments are lying directly underneath the plastic bag.
We continued to widen the circular pit created by the contemporary stones, and found many bone fragments in the matrix of the pit.
The compact cay is moist and has a mauve tint to it. We were able to unearth a significant amount to loosen the bag and place less stress on the underlying bones. We then ended for the day and covered the bones.


July 17th, 2009 - Friday

Sitio: P.A.S.
Sector: Qochapata
Subsector: 3
Unidad: 14
Excavators: Meg, Christina, Jose

We continued to attempt to remove the plastic bag sitting atop the pile of bones. I removed the first bag, and we realized that there were a total of 3 bags used to cover the bones.
The soil surrounding the bones is very moist and compact, mostly due to the extensive clay deposits surrouding the bone and on the layer above the bones. We were able to – after loosening the clay and expanding the matrix of the pit – remove all 3 pieces of the plastic bags.
LIST OF IDENTIFIED BONE FRAGMENTS FOUND [AS IS] IN THE BURIAL PIT:
1. proximal end of a Tibia
2. distal end of a right femur
3. proximal phalange
4. 2 distal phalanges
5. cranial bones (4 visible)
6. 2 mandible fragments
7. Left Maxilla
8. possible head of a femur (fragment)
9.transverse process of thoracic vertebra