Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Dig, Day 4. We continued in the two rooms today. There is a 1000-year-old pithouse in the south room, extending slightly into the north room. The Hohokam and their ancestors built houses by digging a shallow (sometimes deep) pit, and then erecting a framework of poles to form walls and the roof. Over this they packed mud to keep the rain out and to make the pithouse cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Pithouses usually have an entrance way along one side, with a small hearth just inside. Sometimes the floors are covered with lime plaster. Often archaeologists find artifacts on the floors- pots, manos and metates, bone awls, and other tools. Many pithouses were destroyed by fire.
An arrow point and a decorated piece of pottery, found this morning.
The house we uncovered appears to have burned, with charcoal still lying on the floor in some areas. Several manos, used to grind corn and other seeds into flour, rest on the floor, as do several large pieces of pottery. Next week we will carefully clear the floor to look for the hearth and postholes.
In the meantime, we will be starting a new area underneath the former porch of the house. In the middle room we have another large Presidio-era pit, filled with animal bone, pottery, and other artifacts.
What else? Even at 6:30 in the morning it seems incredibly hot here. I don't feel very hungry, maybe I'll lose that couple of pounds I've been wanting to get rid of. I've got to figure out what to do this weekend. Brian says come to Phoenix. Jonny is in town, so maybe I will.
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An arrow point and a decorated piece of pottery, found this morning.
The house we uncovered appears to have burned, with charcoal still lying on the floor in some areas. Several manos, used to grind corn and other seeds into flour, rest on the floor, as do several large pieces of pottery. Next week we will carefully clear the floor to look for the hearth and postholes.
In the meantime, we will be starting a new area underneath the former porch of the house. In the middle room we have another large Presidio-era pit, filled with animal bone, pottery, and other artifacts.
What else? Even at 6:30 in the morning it seems incredibly hot here. I don't feel very hungry, maybe I'll lose that couple of pounds I've been wanting to get rid of. I've got to figure out what to do this weekend. Brian says come to Phoenix. Jonny is in town, so maybe I will.
