20 August 2011

We opened another box!

This is box 12. It contains the next deposit from Project 23 to be excavated.
Box 12

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
Unwrapped

Brain foam, Ew!
Brain foam


Ew

It will be an ex-home to mud daubers
Mud dobber
and paper wasps
Paper wasps in a bad place

We cleared away the plastic and scanned the surface for fossils
Laura checks the deposit surface for fossils

This is it from the box so far, some very weathered large bone frags:
This is bone (very weathered)

Before setting grid lines, we need to consider that the box's current orientation to north is different from its original orientation
Preparing for gridline 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.
Finding North

IMGP2294

The top board is cut down from one side and it's ready for digging

IMGP2295

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

IMGP2297

This is a sabertoothed cat tibia that had been broken in three pieces

IMGP2296

The bone is lighter in color and more brittle than our normal asphalt protected bones
IMGP2301

IMGP2302

And upon closer inspection we see crystals growing on the cancellous tissue

IMGP2299

Also, a horse tooth!
IMGP2306

IMGP2310

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!