Expedition Report 13: April 21-23, 2006 On Friday, April 21, Mather and Sons used the excavator to redirect the West Tarkio into the abandoned north excavation area. This was accomplished by cutting through the west (downstream) end of the coffer dam for an outlet and constructing a dam between the north and south banks at a narrow point at the east (upstream) end of the north bank excavation. This left the original creek bed exposed and opened the south bank for exploration. This weekend, the volunteers concentrated on the area previously occupied by the creek. Ron suggested using a bilge pump to keep the excavation, which is below the water table, dry. This worked superbly. After about four hours of clearing muck by hand, skimming and probing, bone was encountered by a probe. This bone proved to be the scapula of a juvenile sloth. Ultimately, two scapulae, one clavicle, three vertebrae, a distal humerus and 12 ribs were recovered in close proximity. Five unidentified bone fragments also were collected. These specimens were numbered from one to 23, photographed and located with respect to two new control stakes set 18 feet apart just inside the coffer dam originally used to protect the dig on the north bank. Depths were measured from a new arbitrary level established on both control stakes and marked with a notch. Spoil was tossed onto the old coffer dam.
Participants were Meghann Mahoney, Sarah Miller, Feather Lacy, Ron Vogel, Katherine (Kata) McCarville, Lindy Seydel, Kathleen Woida, Kathryne Clark and Ben Woida- Clark, Holmes Semken and David Brenzel.
Prepared between Nov 21 and December 12, 2006, by Holmes A. Semken.
Expedition Report 14: May 26-27, 2006 The volunteers arrived Friday evening and some were awakened an overnight thunderstorm. Runoff caused a three foot rise in the creek by Saturday morning and the site was flooded via a breech in the dam. The volunteers repaired the breech and then spent the day in thigh deep water building a sand bag levee between the dam and the remaining portion of the old coffer dam. They also placed a coffer dam across the west (downstream) end of the new dig area to prevent the Tarkio from backing up into the excavation area. The creek continued to rise and more sand bags were emplaced to keep up with the higher water. Over Saturday night, runoff placed the excavation floor under eight feet of water by Sunday morning. No bones were collected on this trip but the improved coffer dam will provide much better protection for the excavation area in the future.
Participants were Meghan Mahoney, Charles Monson, Aaron Last, Pam Belknap, Alexis Ruda, Sarah Horgen, Will Mott, Don Wirth, Alex Bryk, Feather Lacy, Ron Vogel, Gary Dalecky, Kata McCarville, Holmes Semken, and David Brenzel, Alexis Ruda (rained out, Sunday)
Prepared between Nov 21 and December 12, 2006, by Holmes A. Semken. Expedition Report 15: June 9-10, 2006 Bob Athen started pumping the dig Friday evening and by morning most of the water was removed from the enclosure. Will Mott brought a rented crawler to the site, cleared the old road from the south bank high terrace to the eastern end of the dig and then cleared the excavation floor of muck. During this time, the crew reinforced and raised the coffer dam with sand and plastic trash bags. By Saturday afternoon, nine bones, numbered 3038 were exposed. The hiatus between the numbers in the 30 series and those recorded on the April dig was instituted to clearly separate specimens recovered on each dig. All were from the juvenile and consisted of one vertebra, a collar bone and seven ribs. A fragment from a turtle also was recovered. The sky started turning grey in the afternoon so the coordinates for all exposed bone were taken and the specimens re removed at the end of the day. Overnight thunderstorms caused the creek to rise, it well over-topped the levee and the site was flooded the next morning. Exposed bone probably would have been lost; it certainly would not have been recovered on this trip.
Participants were Aaron Last, Alex Bryk, Will Mott, Don Wirth, Alex Bryk, Pam Belknap, Alexis Ruda, Holmes Semken and David Brenzel.
Prepared between Nov 21 and December 12, 2006, by Holmes A. Semken.
Expedition Report 16: Nov. 2-5, 2006 Holmes and Will Mott arrived on Thursday to find the that overnight pumping had removed most of the water from the pit, the west control state partially pushed aside and the east stake flattened by flooding since the last dig. Will used the crawler to open a 20 by 40 foot area on the old stream bed to accommodate the large number of volunteers anticipated. This area extended from the ramp into the pit to the downstream coffer dam. Will anticipated difficulty getting down the muddy ramp into the excavation and brought split mulberry logs to corduroy the ramp. On Friday morning nine volunteers began work on the site, followed by an additional 18 on Saturday, November 4.The volunteers started on the east, south and west ends of the site to keep a safe distance between shovels and worked toward the area where remains of the juvenile sloth had been recovered. Bone began to appear as the volunteers approached the vicinity of the bone concentration identified previously. One of the first skeletal elements encountered was another scapula (shoulder blade) which proved to be from a juvenile sloth. The shoulder blade was smaller than the two collected earlier and established the presence of a second juvenile sloth. An ilium, a possible metapodial, and seven more ribs were recovered. Concretions, finger clams, and two larger clams also were collected. An unusual ‘pile’ of stones were excavated. As stones are rare in the blue-grey clay, only three or four encountered to date, the feature was excavated and collected in a plaster bandage. Measurements from datum indicated that the stones were concentrated in a five inch, nearly-cylindrical hole beneath the surface of the blue-grey clay. Gravel had been found entrenched in the blue-grey clay on the north bank but this feature was isolated. Specimens, concretions, mollusks and
gravel feature were numbered from 41 to 55. The next dig probably will focus on the blue-grey remaining under the old coffer dam and a small area in the November 06 excavation area that was covered with spoil from the dig proper. This pod is within the concentration of juvenile bone.
This dig, which attracted the largest numbers of volunteers to date (35), began on Friday, November 3, Volunteers for one or more days were Jerry Parks, John Kohrell, Rob McAfee, Kathy Desterhaft, Robert and son Michael, Bill Williamson and son, Will Mott, Sarah Horgan, Don Wirth, Joanna Ballard, Robert Kirchner, Casey Cork, Kresenz and Lonnie Monday with daughter Kassidy , Preston Schaaf, Olivia Schaaf and Clara Schaaf, Robert Dewache, Diana Dewache, Laura Swanson, Harold Swanson, Holmes Semken and David Brenzel . Gary and Glenda Richards, under their organization, Take A Kid Outdoors (TAKO), brought boy scouts who were working on their Archaeology Merit Badge to the dig. The scouts were Kevin Richards, Brian Christman, Josh Lowe, Cody Woodard and Seth Sheeley. Accompanying parents were Nita Woodard, Don Sheeley and Rose Sheeley. All scouts were able to uncover at least part of a bone and participate in preparing plaster jackets
Prepared between Nov 21 and December 12, 2006, by Holmes A. Semken.