David Site

We went into the world of real archaeology. Dropped off by a boat, hastily making camp, and bush-whacking to the excavation site. That's Alaska, the Last Frontier for you. Yes, I am wildly exaggerating as the camp has been established in previous years and so trails, cabins, and other civilized things exist.

Plus, we have neighbours. Kate and Andy with their log cabin isolated on the Yukon River and their herd of dogsled dogs seem like something out of a reality TV show. Actually, they are presently being filmed as a reality TV show. It is not going so well as the producers are looking for more conflict, danger, and drama then Andy and Kate are willing to provide.

We had a productive day of excavation, finding lots of flakes, cores, microblades, and even some bone. Personally, I found flakes, which is always pretty neat. The pit I am presently excavating in produced a 4500 year old moose mandible in year's past. Tomorrow, we are likely excavating westward and starting an adjacent unit. I am optimistically concluding that we will find the rest of the moose skeleton. Perks of the site are the sandy sediments which allow artifacts to easily stick out and allow screening to be functional. (At :Little John the sediments were water saturated which only permitted hand screening- slower but more fun). Also PhD Michelle allowed me to wield the legendary megatrowel. One word: epic.

Stormin' Norman has been feeding us well- so any family reading this: don't fear, I am eating plenty to feed my growing muscle mass. Right.

Later we are going canoeing- Amandolin, Josh, and myself. Should be fun and hopefully provides a stunning view of the Calico Bluffs. One can hope and dream. If not, I can always take a trip to the outhouse.

Yes, you read that right.