By Paul Williamson

Friday, it was a good day for us. We are learning to excavate our units more efficiently. The digging partners from the survey test units were shuffled around some. There are currently three excavation units open with two to three people working on a unit and one person overseeing the water screening. The two graduate students are working where needed from moment to moment. Everyone rushes to be of service when someone needs something. I was able to work in the unit with the clay feature that Sam and I uncovered a week ago (pictured to right). The clay feature (see below) runs the entire two meter length of the excavation unit

and seems to be circular, which is very exciting because we know that the Anhaica Apalachee homes were built in a circular fashion and that they used clay for not only the walls but also the floors. We only uncovered the feature today and will do more on Monday.

Everyone has now decided on what they want to contribute on Public Day next Saturday. We want it to be informative as well as exciting and memorable for everyone.

One of the bad things about working in hard clay that we did not anticipate was how quickly our shovels would become dull. To combat this dire problem, everyone stopped early today, grabbed a file, and set to sharpening tools. Andrea allowed us to practice with the atlatl for a few minutes (an atlatl is a piece of wood designed to make throwing a spear much easier) and, believe it or not, no one got hurt! With about five throws apiece for ten students at twenty meters, the only people to pierce the target were Moe and Michelle (the two graduate students).