My First Day of Excavation - authored by Emily B.

Emily and Melinda Screening

Today I woke up around 5 am to get ready for our second week of field school.  I gathered my things, ate my breakfast, and left around 7:45 am.  Driving to Dana Adobe in Nipomo, California I thought about the skills I had learned the week before, hoping the things I remembered would help me this week.  I was excited to see familiar faces when I drove up to the Dana Adobe around 8:45 am.  Everyone seemed pretty excited for the coming week and the excavation portion of field school, I was very nervous.  We started by setting up tables and chairs in the front, or East side of the house.  The volunteers surprised us with donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate, which was awesome!  During our orientation we learned about the cultural diversity of the site.  We learned that the Dana Adobe is both Prehistoric and Historic, which means different processes and procedures.  Research questions for the prehistoric period sites include: How has landscape changed culturally and naturally? What are the connections between the Clovis point and paleocoastal evidence?  The historical period research questions include: What is the identity of a rancho?  Who were they and what did they do here?  What was the cultural and natural landscape change?  We also discussed previous findings on the Dana Adobe property and future projects for the historic site.  These future projects will be community based and educational for visitors about both the Adobes past and the Chumash who inhabited the area.