8 July, 2001

We worked a half of a day today, it was Saturday and we had to make up for one very rainy morning. It was warm and sunny, a pleasure to work. I worked on my quadrant (S1E1). I was hoping to finish the quadrant but was not able to do so. I am starting to learn the layers of the soil and the feel of the texture more and more as we dig. There were two sik sik holes in my quadrant. There was grass in the holes where they have lived at one time.

In the afternoon, we went for water again. On the way back we saw a whale off shore by a few hundred yards. Some of the team has also seen seals, not me yet. There is still snow at the bottom of the hills going into the water. It seems odd being July to see snow and ice. I was told that it would get colder again in September and maybe snow again in October.

Even though it was Saturday, we still had to do our paperwork >from the morning, making sure our sample are written up, and put in the correct categories. A typical day is 8 A.M. to noon, one hour off to eat and dry up because it is so wet most of the time. After lunch we work until 5:P.M. Then after supper we work on our paperwork once again. We sometimes do not finish this until late, but the paperwork is an essential part of archaeology.

It still seems surreal because even after we finish we can go for a walk because it is so bright outside. There are many children playing outside even up till midnight. We saw people playing frisbee on the beach at midnight!

We were given a special treat today; we went to a reindeer roundup. The reindeer were being inoculated to prevent a virus. It was amazing to see them; it was my first time. On the walk back to the village (a few miles) someone stopped o give us a ride on their 4 wheeler. The people in the village all drive around on 4 wheelers, there are only a few trucks in the village. I think I can make a great reindeer sound!

On Sunday, I went for a hike with Roger. There is a very high hill, I think it is considered a mountain, overlooking Wales. It is called Razorback; it was a spectacular view. Once again it was also very very steep. On top we saw three cairns or Inuksuks. An Inuksuk are rocks mounted to create an image of a person. One can construct one to show the path or way. An Inuksuk can be built to show where good hunting is, or it can be built in memory of someone. I am not sure why these are here. They could be at the top of Razorback because there are sacred graves up at the top.

We could see across to Diomede and to Siberia. An exciting adventure for a Sunday.

We spoke a great deal about tyhe Bering Sea and seeing Siberia. This was the land bridge at one time!

Wes is fixing one of the lines before he works. Staying inside a unit is very important.

We have just finished excavating a level. We are ready to go on to the next.

We had to work in all kinds of Bering Srait weather. The fog rolling in usually meant wind, rain, and colder.

We had to walk across the village to get our drinking water from the stream coming down the mountain. I am filling one of our containers in this picture.We estimated 30 gaalons come off of the mountain every minute. Just an estimate.