Summer 2006 Fieldwork
Update: Diagnostic Lithics and Radiocarbon Dates
begin to shed light on the Chronology at the Blueberry Site (8HG678)
By: David
This summer Professor Butler and
his students from UCF and
The test pit grid (high probability
grid = 25 meter interval between test pits) is virtually complete. There are still a few judgmental bounding
test pits (less than 25) and a very small area (less than one acre) in the
southeast corner of the property has yet to be assessed. In addition to identifying the extent of the
site along the ridge south and west of last year’s grid work, the work done on
the test pit grid over the summer produced several diagnostic projectile
points. For example, one late archaic/early
woodland Culbreath point (in the center of a midden context containing sand tempered plain and
One significant step taken to maintain spatial control of the test pit grid was taken over the summer. Each positive test pit location was recorded with a highly accurate hand held GPS device (Garmin GPSmap76CX). This spatial data provides detailed longitude latitude coordinates for each of the positive test pit location. These grid points were then downloaded from the GPS onto a computer, integrated into GIS software, and used to produce aerial and topographic maps illustrating the extent of the site. These maps and the coordinates of each positive test pit will be included in the Blueberry site report along with the results of detailed lab analysis investigating individual test pits and an overall assessment of all test pits.
The data recovered from test pits will complement data recovered from a series of Test Units designed to concentrate on the most significant areas of the site and provide the opportunity for identifying intact features. The Test Unit (2X2 meter block unit) that was open last year (previously known as XEA4; now known as Test Unit 1) was completed over the summer (the field crew is forever grateful for Charles Reynolds taking the time out of his busy schedule to backfill the unit). This unit was excavated to a depth of 260 cmbd (250cmbs). An archaic layer comprised mostly of finish flakes/pressure flakes persisted until 240 cmbd. The final 20 centemeters (240-260 cmbd) of the unit was sterile (contained no artifacts). This is good because otherwise Professor Butler would not be able to sleep at night wondering what might have happened if we had dug a little deeper…
Two distinct middens
were present in the stratigraphic profile atop the archaic occupation. They were separated from the archaic layer by
50 centimeters of white sand with a very low density of artifacts. They were separated from each other by 30
centimeters of white sand with a relatively low density of artifacts. These anthrosols
(soil horizons/stratigraphic layers created as a byproduct of human activity)
were much darker than the surrounding strata (10YR 4/1 brown –vs- 10 YR 7/1 light grey) and contained multiple features
including over 20 post molds and three hearths.
Additionally, these midden strata contained a
very dense artifact assemblage dominated by sand tempered plain and
One charcoal radiocarbon sample was
processed from each of these midden contexts. Additionally, the carbon residue (residual
protein from what was previously cooked in the pot) from the inside of a
pottery sherd was assessed from the upper midden context (the midden
closest to the surface). The organic
residue from this
We are currently excavating the second 2X2 meter block Test Unit. This unit will provide our first opportunity to compare radiocarbon samples from the same stratigraphic layers from separate areas of the site. This step will begin to generate a comprehensive understanding of variation in the landscape (such as differential erosion, sediment accumulation, or disturbance) that may affect the stratigraphic and temporal association of artifacts and features across space and through time at this highly significant landscape.