23 July, 2002

It looked like today (one of the last days to excavate) would be a nice 
day out. It was beautiful as when walked across to the mound, blue sky, 
no wind. Someone had to say it!!! We started digging and the wind picked 
up, and then up some more. It then started to rain a little. Next thing 
we know, the wind IS REALLY PICKING UP AND THE RAIN IS COMING DOWN IN 
SHEETS SIDEWAYS! But, being true archaeologists that we are, we continue 
to dig. It's hard to tag and write observations in this weather, but 
what are you going to do? Close to 11:30 we were all hoping Roger would 
say break early for lunch. No way, it was our last days. I will now stop 
the whining. It does not matter what the weather. Any find is exciting. 
After lunch, it did clear a little. Raven must be watching out for our 
welfare.

One of the most important aspects is cataloging all of the samples. This 
takes a team effort because there is so much to catalog. A great thing 
about Arctic archaeology is there are so many samples. Remember, we are
excavating into perma frost. It is like taking things out of a freezer. 
They remain frozen.

Amy and Marissa are discussing the dig. Marissa is an artist from Anchorage who is helping us out with her art.

Jim and Amy are backfilling the trench on the mound.

And now, Teresa and Margie are backfilling. It is very heavy work, but never the less very important.

Here is tel 079N with most of the dirt put back. It was kind of sad to do this.