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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Some Pretty Artifacts

Ariel's agate imported from the Alaska Peninsula at block B

Here are some of the pretty things that people have found in the last few days at the Kashevaroff Site excavation.  Mostly they consist of ground slate points and knives.  A lot of sea mammal hunting and butchering seems to have taken place at the site.

It's ironic but some of my favorite finds (that I will post about when I get back from the dig today) while significant are certainly not pretty.  For instance, yesterday we found some line weights at the site.  Finally some fishing gear - but what are they doing with line weights?  I would have expected net sinkers.  Grooved pebbles certainly aren't as pretty as a flashy bayonet.

We have also been finding cobble tools near the smoke processing pits.  Another ugly tool but they hint at the activities taking place around the pits.  And then there are the pits and tossed sods.  Yesterday we even found a sod quarry.  The latter finds are really hard to make into a pretty picture, but tell a GREAT story.

I like the pretty artifacts because they keep people excited and digging - moving lots of dirt.  But it is the more mundane artifacts, features and other clues that we find that get me really excited.  They tell the story of what Alutiiq people were doing at the site.

Leslie's bayonet tip from block A

Hannah's incised re-sharpenned bayonet from the main excavation

Christine's small ground point from a smoke processing pit at Block B

Solomon's flake knife from block B 

Hannah's ground slate flensing knife from Block B

Leslie's reworked bayonet from the bottom of block A

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