Aug. 14-15, 2009 

The University of Iowa contingent left Iowa City at 6:30 (yes, Holmes got out of bed in time) in order to arrive at the Tarkio Valley site by noon. This early start was primarily to save motel expenses and we did not anticipate much muck on the floor of the excavation because the Tarkio had not overtopped our levee. We met Will and the crawler shortly after noon and Will began clearing the muck from the pit floor. There was more muck than anticipated, 6 -15 inches, and it took about four hours for removal. Heavy rains since our last dig was responsible for a lot of slope wash from the south bank. After the muck was removed, Will then attached his ‘shaver’ to the bucket, and cut approximately four inches into the sloth-bearing matrix on either side of the area where bone was removed previously. This was to be sure that the bone scatter did not extend beyond the concentration geographically or stratigraphically. No remains were found. A slice near the concentration encountered bone scrap deeper than expected and this portion of the old dig was left for hand excavation by volunteers on Saturday. Work ended at 9:00 PM and we decided to not have future noon starts. The situation is too unpredictable.

 Eighteen volunteers, many from the Central Iowa Mineral Society, met in the parking lot of the Shenandoah Days Inn at 7:30 Saturday morning. Unfortunately, there had been rain overnight and the pit floor was flooded for up to four inches. Dave Brenzel organized a bucket brigade to bail and the floor was workable in about 30 minutes. Periodic rain and sloppy footing did not deter the volunteers who lined up along the north wall of the previously excavated trench and began taking vertical slices of sloth-bearing sediments toward the north. Sometime shortly after noon, the base of a marker stake from southern-most portion of the north excavation was encountered (flooding had broken the top off) and we knew that we had united the north and south excavations. Sixteen bones were recovered in the area around baby scapula that was recovered earlier this year. The remains included 14 juvenile (baby or toddler) ribs and two bones that could not be identified in the field. Only one area remains to be explored for bone. This area was bypassed earlier because it is under the levee that protected the north excavation before we redirected the Tarkio into the north excavation. At that time, the levee that protected the north excavation became the north wall of the south excavation. It is now in the middle of the Tarkio. The next step will be to construct a levee that will tie this area to the southern trenches. We plan to do this in late August or September. That probably will be our final dig. But then, Holmes has seen the end twice before. 

Participants in this dig were (in order that they signed the register) were: Lee McNair; Dennis Miller; Donald Raker; Charles Krauth; Bill Weichman; Pam Belknap; Harold and Kandyce Decuir; Randy, Cheryl and Ryan Shanks; Marie Tiemann, Jan Aiels; Monica and Mica Post; Ed Peterson; Chuck Safris; Meghann Mahoney; Will Mott; David Brenzel and Holmes Semken. 
 
Holmes Semken and David Brenzel, August 18, 2009