Most of the morning today was spent on cleaning up our excavation units -- taking several of them a few centimeters deeper to see if we can better identify the features.

In this area, we identified yet another odd-shaped ash-filled feature with the edges burned to pottery consistency. These areas around the large pit feature are a bit difficult to interpret. They resemble natural features -- parts of a tree stump or roots that have smoldered and created an amorphous feature. But, the artifacts included in the ash are somewhat puzzling -- fragments of unburned pottery within the ash for example. We will have to ponder on these features for some time to come.

Elsewhere, the crew worked stripping about ten units down to a lower level.

Larry took on the tedious and mind-numbing task of cleaning the dust and grass out of the older excavation units.

Later in the morning, my nephew Keaton dropped by to help Uncle Kevin show the college kids how to dig properly.

Thanks to the hard work today -- we were able to clear up several of the mysteries of this structure. Having all of the excavation units cleaned up at the same time greatly helps in interpreting the "big picture".

We've now confidently identified portions of all four corners of the structure, most of the walls, and the central post.

Over the remaining three days, we'll be excavating selected sections of trenches and probably opening another couple of units to clarify a few remaining questions.

Soon after lunch, the promised rain began to gather on the horizon -- with several weeks of practice, we closed up quickly and efficiently and headed to the lab for some welcome artifact washing time.

While the showers and small storms passed by for the rest of the afternoon, we washed up a few thousand artifacts in our field lab.

Including this fine example of a small flint arrowpoint.

More news tomorrow!