Oct. 15 - Geophysics & Excavation

I was on the geophysical survey team today. It was a straightforward process, kind of like mowing the lawn. First we set up a square to designate the boundaries, simply by using Pythagoras. I hadn't heard the word "hypotenuse" used in quite a while, so that was rather nostalgic. We ran the $25,000 machine up and down the target area in strips half a meter in length. The machine uses electromagnetic waves to detect variations in the statigraphy. The real-time feedback, while not too detailed, did display something under the ground. Most of those are probably tree roots, but hopefully there are structural remains also. We'll have to wait until the data is processed to get a better idea of what's there.

That being a straightforward process, I also visited the excavation team from time to time. They were carefully scraping up thin layers of soil little by little, later sifting through it to find any artifacts. It was surprising just how much stuff comes out of the ground, even though I don't think we went too deep into the ground. I also got to see a bit of total-station-ing in action near the class. That, too, is a rather straightforward process, but it was good to see it happen since prior to I only had a theoretical understanding of what went on there.