This week we focused on uncovering more of the Spanish-colonial foundation we first discovered three weeks ago. We decided to adjust our original research design plan Monday after much discussion in order to accommodate the discovery of the foundation. Initially, our team had planned to excavate test units on both the east and west sides of MacArthur Avenue. The unveiling of the foundation, however, prompted us to shift our design to focus on defining the exterior boundaries of the foundation. We opened six smaller units, each measuring 100 cm long and 50 cm wide. One of these exposed the northeast corner of the foundation of the adobe home.

While the foundation on the west side of MacArthur remains our primary focus, we are also augering the east side of the site. Augering is one way to learn about the soil layers in that area without doing full excavation. An auger is a tool resembling a pipe, approximately 10 cm in diameter, that we hand-crank into the ground to collect the soil below the surface. Like excavating, we auger in 10 cm increments and then wetscreen the soil to identify the presence or absence of cultural material. This information will help us decide where test units should be placed during the next field season in Summer 2004.

This week’s “Artifact of the Week” is a ceramic sherd. It is a piece of British whiteware dating to approximately the early 1800s. Although much of the pottery found at Spanish-colonial sites is hand-painted, this design is transfer printed. Transfer prints are pressed upon the pottery before glazing. Blue on white patterns were the first colors used in transfer printing. From this piece’s wide curvature we can infer that it was part of a large bowl.