Hello beautiful people! I thought it about time to share some of my recent adventures, so here goes:
Been semi-homeless since the beginning of July (that may be a little strong, I've been couch-surfing when I'm not in company provided lodging for work). Lots of good work lately!
Since April 1st I've been working 12 days on, 2 days off (though there was that stint of 25 days straight in North Dakota at the end of June/beginning of July). Most recently (for the last 7 weeks or so) I've been doing some survey work out of Walden, Colorado which is in North Park (a sort of upland prairie between two ranges of the Rocky Mountains).
Here's me using a quill as the stylus for my Trimble (surveying/mapping GPS), just 'cause... I'm silly that way.
We didn't do any real digging, but there's not much deep dirt up there so most everything is visible on the surface anyway. For the first few weeks I was finding at least one projectile point (or fragment) a day. Some of the best ones include:
This nice corner-notched chert point. Mid- to Late-Archaic, probably 3,000-5,000 years old.
This (earlier) Mid-Archaic side-notched quartzite point. 5,000-6,000 years old.
This Early-Archaic side-notched quartzite point. 7,000-8,000 years old.
And this Late-Archaic Mallory-style point (quartzite), with side and base notching. 2,500-3,000 years old, probably.
Plus, I found this metal Trade Point, which was likely traded to local Indians by some crazy mountain man in the early 19th century, pre-American Civil War. They're extremely rare, this is seriously the find of my career thus far!
The area we were working in is very good habitat for various wildlife, such as pronghorn antelope, mule deer, elk, and even moose. Another bonus of my job is shed-hunting! I collect antlers I find on survey and sell them to collectors, artisans, or Asian markets (traditional medicine).
Got quite a haul from this project, including a little cat skull (probably linx or bobcat),
some freaks of nature (natural mutations sometimes result in strange shapes),
and this battle-scarred moose antler! Nearly 30% of the paddle, and most of the upper tines were sheared off battling for ladies in last season's rut.
Survey loot!
It wasn't all good times, though. Early in the second session I sprained my ankle in a swamp, and did 5.5 days surveying through rolling hills and sand ridges on it, which did little to enhance the experience. There were also a number of mundane historic resources to record, things like roads, ditches, and power lines. Plus, there were a number of very smoky days, as the Beaver Creek Fire (burning since June) was about 15-20 miles north of our project area.
Plus, there are two others burning 30-50 miles north of that.
It is nice to be back 'home' for a little while, I always sleep better with this little bastard curled up with me!
How's everyone else's summer been treating them?
