As we approach the halfway mark of the 2024 season (how has it been that long already?) Xander and I have been gridding up units at Smallpox Bay at a rate not before seen on this project. Aside from being an excuse to brush the cobwebs off our high school geometry, we divide our site into meter- squared plots for a variety of practical reasons. For the sake of mapping and relating all of our previous years’ work to the work we are currently doing this year, our grid of squares allows us to affix an otherwise abstract system of numbers, labels, and relationships to the physical site. Standalone, the artifacts we uncover from the ground can only tell us so much; location and concentration of these artifacts, and the context they are found in, are another part of the puzzle which our unit grid allows us to both track and visualize.
 |
| The team hunkers down by their units, excavating their plots one trowel scrape at a time. |
For Xander and I, it is also an indispensable part of our workflow. The grid helps us keep track of what has been dug and what still needs to be excavated, and in what order of priority different parts of the site are assigned out to our team. It brings order to what would otherwise be a staggering field of soil. Any project, after all, is much more manageable when you break it down into smaller tasks. In regards to this season’s goals, it’s also all about the chase! We have a very promising line of post holes in locus A (the northern main region of our site) running East- West that turns 90 degrees and starts running North. These postholes are fairly large and spaced three feet apart– all telltale signs of the outline of a structure. In order to fully establish the size and shape of this building, we need to uncover the entirety of its perimeter, so we strategically grid up and assign units to our team to chase the rest of these post holes by projecting out from our known ones where we expect them to continue.
 |
| Our tape tagging system in action on a field of bedrock. Red/pink indicates post holes and other features, and yellow/green indicates our grid. |
While Locus A has been all about strategic strikes, the tactic in Locus B up until now has been more about a grand sweep. That southwest region of our site contains thick soil with generally high concentrations of artifacts, and is a helpful complement to the work we are doing in our Locus A house- hunting. 17th century artifacts are diagnostically helpful and a sign that we are heading in the right direction, but a high concentration of 17th century material means a high amount of 17th century human activity– just the thing we want to see, and in fact have seen, to solidify our claim that this was the site of Moore’s Town. An abundance of early coarse earthenware has kept Rhiannon and I on our toes and has been a tough test of our ceramic identification skills!
 |
| The team watches on as Jay uncovers an artifact from the bottom of his unit. |
Us supervisors have barely been able to keep up with the demand our team has for more units. This isn’t just due to the fact that this is the biggest team assembled in SIAP’s history, but also because it is a strong team. We’re a good mix of experienced diggers and eager first- timers who have taken on the work with equal enthusiasm and picked up quickly on the quirks that come with digging in Bermuda. The numbers don’t lie: only halfway through our season, we have assigned nearly 150 contexts (distinct layers of soil in a unit), more than double the amount we had reached by this time last season. That’s roughly 70 square meters that Smallpox Bay has been expanded by. If an archaeologist ever tells you they can move mountains, don’t assume they’re being metaphorical.
This would already be an impressive figure without considering the hard working conditions. Where last year with its record- breaking deluges was a trial by water, this year has been trial by fire. It has been unseasonably hot and dry for Bermuda this time of year, but that hasn’t stopped our team from taking up the task unit by unit, fascinating find by fascinating find, and good joke by good joke. One record from last year that we have not been keen to break has thankfully been left intact, and that is our string of rainy days: we had our first rain- out day of the season only yesterday, and we took full advantage by transforming our common area into an impromptu artifact lab where we spent much of the day washing and inventorying (once everyone had a chance to change into drier clothes, that is).
 |
| A sea of artifacts is a beautiful thing, especially when masterfully organized on a drying screen by Ella. |
For the rest of the season, we hope to establish the outline of at least two complete structures in the Locus A area, including hunting down the rest of the partial (and surprisingly large) one that we have now. Depending on progress and the weather's agreeability, we may soon redirect our work to the equally promising and much shadier Oven Site. For me, this would be a welcome return to the place where my love for Bermudian archaeology began way back in 2017. For now at least, we continue to spread our unit grid far and wide, uncovering as much compelling data as we can with our whirlwind team.
 |
Happy team at the sifters.
|
 |
Xander (on the right) and I overseeing a day of digging. We get our hands dirty too, I swear!
|
 |
| Volunteer Daniel (left) and team member Skyler take elevation measurements. |
 |
| Xander and I, your friendly neighborhood field supervisors. |
Comments