No photos today, it was busy and not much to take pictures of, to be honest. I started my new trench which was last excavated in 2008 so we had some trouble finding the last excavated surface — it had been backfilled in. But we eventually found it and will finish uncovering it tomorrow. Reminder for any archaeologists out there and anyone else: Write everything down. We couldn’t find our benchmark and spent quite a bit of time looking for it — probably stolen — but it would have made the search much easier had its exact location bee written down. Also, there were actually two sets of backfilling: one in 2008 and then another one at a later date, probably 2010. The second one confused us because we expected the old surface right under it, but it wasn’t there. So we wasted quite a bit of time figuring out that it was much deeper. The other lesson is to not do all that stuff at the last minute: Make backfilling your trench or whatever an integral part of the excavation, ensuring that you note down somewhere prominent exactly how you did it.
It’s a difficult trench to excavate and I’m glad they trusted me to do it, but it’s a bit nerve-wracking (which explains why I woke up at 2 and couldn’t get back to sleep. . . .). I know I’m up to it, but have to keep reminding myself of that fact.
