Day 24.

23Apr09 Thursday
Back into the field and not a better day for it. Did not need the coat for the morning. Sun, some clouds; it didn't even get that hot in the afternoon. Worked on the tan a bit, all was right with the world.

Was tasked early on with what was assumed to be a pit near a structure that ELW and BJS were working on. Began digging and said pit's profile showed it cutting inward on one side, then as excavation continued the sides went straight down. TJZ came by to examine and decided it could be a post. We wouldn't know until I was done digging. Got to the bottom only to find he was right. He suggested that it might be a marking post of sorts rather than a structure post. Either way, for a post (well the few I've seen or what I've read about them) it was massive. Think the circumference of a relatively large tree: 2.5 ft across-ish. Didn't find much in it, however. Z. All yielded a sherd and a bit of RR. The other half contained nothing.

After, was tasked w/ excavating another post. It didn't get a feature number at first as it might just be a bunch of nothing. After about an hour digging TJZ decided it was nothing.

Dawdled a bit, cleaned up, asked what I should do next. TJZ sent me across the site to see if the guys digging w/ the machine (trackhoe) needed help tarping or filling tarp weights. So, I grabbed my shovel and trekked across the vast, flat expanse of this lot. It was a blustery bastard and that wind really whipped across the open in the middle. Got to the other side and reported in to MCT who promptly said: "You don't have anything to do either, huh?" referring to a girl who was sent over earlier.

Loaded tarp weight bags and tarp into SUV, played toss the clay balls near but not into the puddle w/ MCT, talked w/ JB about the digging and discussed the bobcat/backhoe attachment I used doing landscaping w/ Lee's.

Road back w/ dig guys to load truck.

Thoughts.
Have decided that actual features w/ nothing in them are better than non-features. NFs end up being all the paperwork, but I think they just get tossed aside. I guess they should, as they're not of any use diagnostically. But, I really feel there's some sort of linking metaphor between the act of digging this hole in search of something but finding nothing and life itself. This all would hinge on the individual recognizing feature digging and artifact procurement an art form. But, why couldn't it be?