Monday, October 15, 2007
Poltergeist II. We returned to the excavation and removed the second burial. It was an adult male, the osteologists will examine the remains later this week to determine the age at death. He lay in a coffin painted red with dozens of the diamond-shaped decorations on the sides and a few on the lid. I was able to determine that there were originally three rows. A small crucifix was at the foot of the coffin, and we also found 5 handles (the sixth had apparently broken off as the coffin was being placed in the grave, we found a part of it underneath the body).
The man was wearing an undershirt, a shirt or jacket, and pants (as indicated by the various kinds of buttons). No shoes. They didn't check his pockets and in his left pants pocket held a coin purse and his right pocket had a hard-rubber comb and three very corroded silver coins. This was very unusual- it suggests the man was buried in the pants he died in.
I have lots of paperwork to complete tomorrow. Ryan asked about photography. Before we remove burials we have to have a permit from the state museum here. Usually photography does not take place on skeletal remains because many Native American groups object to such photography, thinking it is disrespectful of the dead. Instead of photography we carefully draw the remains on graph paper, adding in the location of buttons, coffin hardware, and whatever else we find.
An interesting couple of days, that's for sure.
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The man was wearing an undershirt, a shirt or jacket, and pants (as indicated by the various kinds of buttons). No shoes. They didn't check his pockets and in his left pants pocket held a coin purse and his right pocket had a hard-rubber comb and three very corroded silver coins. This was very unusual- it suggests the man was buried in the pants he died in.
I have lots of paperwork to complete tomorrow. Ryan asked about photography. Before we remove burials we have to have a permit from the state museum here. Usually photography does not take place on skeletal remains because many Native American groups object to such photography, thinking it is disrespectful of the dead. Instead of photography we carefully draw the remains on graph paper, adding in the location of buttons, coffin hardware, and whatever else we find.
An interesting couple of days, that's for sure.
