This is the nice bifacial tool or point Dr. Jeff Rasic found today. Ines from Germany found another which had lost its tip.
We found some beautiful artifacts today. There were five of us digging in the big L-shaped unit and finding evidence of ancient tool makers. Ines found a bifacial tool (a stone tool that was shaped on both sides instead of only one) which had broken and lost its tip and base. It's a large dark-colored scraper you could hold in your hand. Ten-thousand years ago or more, it may have been an important tool for a family preparing hides for clothes to keep them warm in winter. Who was the last person to touch it before Ines in the year 2010?
Later, Dr. Rasic found another bifacial point and this one had the tip intact! It's quite rare to find a complete projectile point (spear head) because this stuff is basically the garbage dropped by ancient people. They wouldn't drop a tool that was still useful, especially one they had worked so hard to create. It's hard to picture what people were like based only on the garbage they left behind thousands of years ago, but that's the challenge of archaeology. It's like solving a very complicated puzzle.
Here is the view of our dig site as seen from the top of the bluff. We have spent most of each of the last 7 days carefully excavating, screening and collecting from this spot.
Our L-shaped excavation is the center of our attention here at Raven Bluff. Ever since the first day when we cleared away the old soil that was filled back in after previous years, we have carefully enlarged this dig. All day long it is surrounded by researchers discussing tools and artifacts found, the layers of soil and rock around it, and other details of the site. I like to go up there in the evening and enjoy some quiet time around the site. It's interesting how much attention this ancient garbage gets. There must be other sites with bifacial projectile points, but because we know this site is a good place to search, we will continue to scour the soil here taking careful notes. Every new artifact helps paint a more clear picture of the settlers who came here across the Bering Land Bridge.
This is my little corner of the excavation - the north wall. Those little white bags are the artifacts. The unit is a one-meter square divided into quadrants such as north west or south east. There is one bag for each 10-centimeter layer of each quadrant. My previous fourth graders will recognize the teal-blue string on my right wrist from our end-of-the-year ceremony.
The other big news today was the arrival of four new team mates. I'm sure the hungry mosquitoes will be glad to have some fresh blood in camp. Roger, one of the original 10, left today and four new folks came in: Gerad, Jess, Craig and Darrel. We know Darrel because he taught our first aid class back in Fairbanks. Craig is here to write a story about the project for the BLM public affairs office and Jess and Gerad are both archaeology students. Should be a great bunch. I had them each share their fondest memories from third and fourth grade during dinner and we heard some funny stories. Courtney was in third grade in 1998 and Steve was in third grade in 1963! What a wide range!
Here is the scene around our main excavation this afternoon. You may recognize a couple of new faces - Gerad and Jess who just arrived today. This L-shaped hole is the center of our universe out here.