Last Week Rally Time

 During a field season, time is elastic.  Some days feel like they stretch on for weeks. Others pass in a blink of an eye.  At lunch yesterday I suddenly realized we only had four(ish) work days left - and an awful lot to accomplish in this time.

Our huge "to do" list has a lot to do with the incredibly prolific work of the team's excavation pace. At Smallpox Bay we have cleared more than sixty meter-square units following out lines of post holes to fully map multiple early structures and are up to Context # 2017 (we started at 800). We now are mapping the exposed features (more than 70) in situ and then excavating them. Additionally we've exposed a large swath of previously excavated units in order to map and 3D model the entire site next week with drone footage.  

In the past week we also reopened Oven Site Cistern (hibernating since 2017) and began new excavations at Oven Site North in the hopes of revealing the "Captain's House," the mansion allotted to the captain of Smith's Fort which our previously excavated kitchen served.  I have thus necessarily separated the Ewan-Xander dynamic duo, with each running their own site and leading their own teams.  (They grow up so quickly!).

The stage is thus set perfectly for our Open House and public tours on Sunday June 23.  The Bermuda National Trust has secured a boat for transport. To sign up, use this link:  https://www.bnt.bm/event/archaeology-tour-at-smiths-island/ 

Sadly, I have to report that several items were stolen from our site a week ago, including a small chainsaw, several hand saws, and lopers/pruners, I spotted a man wearing work clothes wandering the site at 6:30 one morning while doing dawn photogrammetry. It is a shame that someone helped themselves to our gear, given our daily need of the equipment and tight funding of the project.

On a more positive note, Colin Campbell bid a very considerable sum at the BNT Gala to dig with us for a day, funds which will support the renovation and development of our archaeology lab in the Globe Museum cellar.  We have a great unit chock full of 17th century material awaiting you, Colin!