Day 37

Today we returned to the site after an 8 day absence, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. We brought all our recording equipment just in case the site had been disturbed, which was quite the feat considering only 1 of the cars was operational today. Nevertheless, the 8 of us and our gear piled into a single vehicle determined to reunite with our site. What we found was probably the best possible scenario. The two Wahehe men we paid to “keep an eye on the site” took us very literally and camped out there. This morning we found a still-smouldering campfire, pots and pans, and two people very happy to see us returned. It goes without saying that the site was not disturbed in our absence.

We will be in Iringa until August 20, which means that now we can really get to work and start extensively excavating the site. We opened 3 more units today (J-11, I-10, and J-9) to expand on the 3 we brought down to datum before we left for Dar es Salaam. Together, the units will form a 2 m x 3 m trench that will help us to starting looking for old living floors. Our ultimate goal is to get as many of the 20 units excavated as possible to a depth at or close to bedrock. That way, we can determine the full extent of Historic, Iron Age, Later Stone Age, and maybe even Middle Stone Age occupations at the site. We also have a few hypotheses to test along the way. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I don’t think anyone really intends to take a break for the next month or so. We can sleep when we are safely back in Canada, artifacts in tow.

Other than finding the site completely intact, today was a great success because it marked the magnificent return of Archaeology Dog! Awhile ago, I mentioned a great dog who followed some Maasai kids to the site and who seemed to be quite at home with archaeology. He likes to watch what we’re doing and then nap in the shade of the rock shelter. However, he is better behaved that some of our team members - he is always careful to walk around the units and he doesn’t disturb surface artifacts! Today he returned to the site for the better part of the morning, as if to welcome us back to the field. In return, I took about a million pictures of him doing adorable Archaeology Dog-type things. It was nice to come home.