Wrapping up our second day on site, I am astounded by all the things we’ve learned and the number of artifacts we’ve already recovered. The ground is full of broken pottery, shells and bones, though not everything is of interest to the archaeologists.
Mornings are spent in the field. We first cleaned the site, mapped it, and today began removing a layer of dirt. I personally appreciate the meticulous nature of all the work- every task has clear guidelines and is all done in small increments to keep all the data we collect organized.
In the afternoons, we cleaned all the things we found. Using water and small brushes, we removed all the encrusted dirt and left the pieces out to dry. In the coming days, the next step will be to catalogue all these artifacts for the archaeologists.
The archaeologists on site have shared their knowledge with us about where and when what we are finding is from; much of it over 2000 years old. While trying to comprehend that what I had in my hand has existed for that long, I thought about what will be left of us when another thousand years pass. Will there still be people that far in the future? What will they say about us? What is the legacy we leave behind?
