A Great Day of Survey - by Fernando

I should have worn that sunscreen… Those were the first thoughts that entered my head waking up. The echoes from the sun’s rays rippled through my arms, face, and neck, reminding me of the previous days exploits. The sounds of the early morning shuffle littered the hallway and made their way past my door and into my ears. It was 6:50 am. After getting dressed and putting my pack together, I made my way to the kitchen where about half the field school crew were eating, reading, cleaning, and doing all manner of things people do in the morning. My breakfast consisted of a half toasted bagel smothered in cream cheese and topped with salami. It was delicious. I stood and watched the wind blow through the trees behind the station from the kitchen window as I packed my lunch and steeped my tea. It was going to be a good day. I sat down on the hammock outside the kitchen door to get the info for the day and drink my tea. Hammocks are among my favorite things in the world, right next to ice cream and back rubs. With our teams sorted and survey areas divvied, we were ready to set out for the road.

Pack on my back and a lightness in my step, a smile formed on my face as I walked out the fence into the rest of the day. As we trekked down the road, Dusty spotted an island fox in the brush ahead of us, its ears poking out from behind a shrub, giving it away. As more of the group came up behind us, the fox trotted out from behind the bush and into a clearing. No bigger than a house cat, but 1000 times more adorable, the fox sat and watched us as we watched it, its ears winking in the early morning dew, it drew a collective “awwwwww” from everyone in the group, including myself. When everyone had their fill of the ridiculously photogenic fox, we started back on our way to our survey area. 

The path included, but was not limited to, a steep, rocky incline and a road crossing several gradients. Almost immediately after reaching our first transect spacing, we came across a handful of lithic artifacts, which were primarily flakes. Initially, while conducting our transects, we only found the occasional isolated artifact and not much else, however, before reaching the end of our boundary, we stumbled across a lithic scatter that included several flakes consisting of multiple materials, including mudstone, quartz, local chalcedony, and meta-volcanic rocks, and a few scattered shells. After we mapped the area but before we began our next transect, Chris and Terry came bounding over a ridge towards our lines. They joined us for the remainder of the survey and dropped some knowledge on us in regards to identifying materials. About 5 minutes into our next transect, Terry found an immaculate biface, and not half an hour later, the site was littered with colored pin-flags. We found a pestle, a dart, flaked tools, and a core, among debris that numbered at about 80+. When the day ended and we began our descent back to the station, I had learned how to conduct a survey, map a site, create a record of the site, and how to identify and classify different types of artifacts and assemblages. We then celebrated the signing of the declaration of independence with burgers, beer, cake, and music. It was a great day.