JULY 24, 2004

From: Scott Beld
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2004
To: Oxbow Archaeologists
Subject: Ponton Site - July 24, 2004

Hi Oxbow Archaeologists,

We made it out to the site yesterday. It was another beautiful day! John O., Dave, Frances, Kevin and I made it out (see Photo 1 and Photo 2 in the photo gallery below). It was a little slow as far as artifacts go – we only found a couple earthenware sherds, flat glass and F.C.R. – but we finished all the sections of Feature 5 that we had opened and I drew most of the profiles. I’ve attached a map of the area we’re excavating showing Features 4 and 5 (see Photo 3).

Feature 5, 516R498. Frances finished excavating this section. The bottom was at about 55-60 cm below the surface and was disturbed by a rodent burrow. Frances found a small Blue Edge sherd (probably from the rodent burrow at the bottom) and I found a second earthenware sherd late in the day (probably from the rodent burrow) while I was excavating to make sure we had reached the bottom of the feature. I was able to photograph the profiles but didn’t have time to draw them.

Feature 5, 516R493, Postmolds. Dave, John, and Kevin finished excavating the west half of the two probable postmolds that Henry and Elisabeth began last week. One burned Brown Transfer saucer fragment and a few F.C.R. and flat glass sherds were all that was recovered. The “postmolds” extended to about 55-60 cm from the surface. Photo 4 shows the bottom of the postmolds. I photographed and drew the profile (see Photo 5).

Feature 5, 517R495. I photographed and drew the profiles of this section.

Feature 5, 516R496. I also photographed and drew the profiles in this section (see Photo 6). The profile of the south wall of this section seems to show the feature dividing into two parts, east and west (see Photo 7). The west half (A in the picture) reached a depth of 80 cm below the surface. When we get to the units to the south well get a better idea of what the feature is. At this point I think it could be the cellar!

Our schedule will be a little different this week. We won’t be meeting on Wednesday this week (July 28). I have to pick my sister up at the airport and John has a business dinner. I think Brigitte was the only other person who could come, so we decided to cancel Wednesday’s session. We will meet the following Wednesday (August 4). Next Saturday (July 31) we’ll plan on excavating at Ponton as usual.

Hope to see you at the site.

Scott

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Scott G. Beld, Ph.D.
Research Associate II
The University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology
1109 Geddes Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1079
Phone: 734-764-0489 (UMMP Main Office)
734-763-9253 (My Office)
Fax: 734-936-1380
Email: sbeld@umich.edu
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