We’ve had some interesting developments at Hass Woods this week! If you recall from last week, we set out to find two possible features outside of the house foundation at the Sarah Boston Site: the drain, and the barn. Josh and Paul have been excavating nearby the exposed drain feature and have located the feature further down the hill; we’ll know soon whether or not there is an associated catch basin. As for the barn, the soil chemistry survey from last summer lead us to several potential spots with high phosphate concentrations (which would likely spike in areas of frequent animal traffic). We excavated three this week, two of which have exposed a roughly cobbled surface under the topsoil. We are still developing ideas about what those might be, but the linear and abrupt edge of the cobbling suggests that it is a cultural, rather than a natural feature. On Thursday, Dr. John Steinberg joined us on site with two of his geophysical instruments, The Electromagnetic Induction Unit (EM), and the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). He set up a survey in the area to the southeast of the house foundation to see if he could detect any subsurface anomalies that may indicate some kind of structural remains (ie. linear rock features, concentrations, or voids), and we will see the results of those tests very soon.
Despite heavy rains, we’ve managed to get a record amount of work done this week! In addition to the efforts described above we’ve also been working more on the 3D imaging project, as well as exploring some other areas of the site. Exciting stuff for the first full week of field school!

by Heather Law Pezzarossi