This is box 12. It contains the next deposit from Project 23 to be excavated.
Deposit 12 facts:
- 10,000 pounds (pretty small compared to the others)
- Sits at north-east side of compound, front row along the north fence
- Excavators will be able to stand or sit at its sides
- No indication in notes as to what it may contain
- associated with 6 spoils buckets
Under the white tarp, the deposit is seen wrapped in plastic with supportive foam and fill cushioning its sides
Brain foam, Ew!
It will be an ex-home to mud daubers
and paper wasps
We cleared away the plastic and scanned the surface for fossils
This is it from the box so far, some very weathered large bone frags:
Before setting grid lines, we need to consider that the box's current orientation to north is different from its original orientation
Measurements written on the side of the box indicate its orientation from north as it was in the ground. The box north line is determined from these measurements.
The top board is cut down from one side and it's ready for digging
Karin found the 6 deposit 12 buckets from the shed and so far they have been more interesting than the box, containing bones from various large mammals
This is a sabertoothed cat tibia that had been broken in three pieces
The bone is lighter in color and more brittle than our normal asphalt protected bones
And upon closer inspection we see crystals growing on the cancellous tissue
Also, a horse tooth!
There are also fragments from other very large animals. I don't know which sides of the deposit they all came from, we will have to see as we go through the box, hopefully, maybe, where the rest of that cat, horse, and others are!
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