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- Site Survey – We walk a potential site looking for evidence of artifacts and potential places to dig judgmental shovel test holes. The site may be near a river, lake, or pond and maybe referred to us by the owners that have found artifacts on the site.
- Dig Judgmental Shovel Test Holes – We chose several spots to dig 2ft X 2ft holes to dig to approximately one meter and sift the dirt to find artifacts such as arrowhead points, pottery, metal, rocks, and anything left behind by humans. All holes have the GPS Coordinates recorded and all artifacts found are bagged and tagged. All special soil features are recorded.
- Dig Grid Shovel Test Holes – We set up a 12.5 meter grid of the area and then dig additional 2ft X 2ft holes that evenly covers the entire site. All holes have the GPS Coordinates recorded, the Grid Coordinates recorded, and all artifacts found are bagged and tagged. All special soil features are recorded.
- Dig Units - We dig 2 meter X 2 meter holes and bag and record all artifacts found for every 10 cm that is dug. All Units have the GPS Coordinates recorded, the Grid Coordinates recorded, and all artifacts found are bagged and tagged by the level that is dug. Larger tripod mounted screens are used to sift through shovel fulls of dirt. All Special Features of soil types and colors are mapped at the bottom of each 10 cm that are dug to help determine what was on the site years ago. The total depth dug in each unit is recorded as the Height of Instrument for review with each unit dug in the area. Samples of charcoal are taken for carbon dating at a later time. Sometimes we use a water screening method to find very small items that remain in the dirt after the normal ¼ inch screening is performed.
- Artifact Lab work – All artifacts are brought to the lab for cleaning, identifying, weighing, counting and the assessioning into the museum for displaying at a later time.
- Records of the Artifact Data Recording – Records are generated for all sites by shovel test holes and Units Dug. The overall site features are mapped. The GPS location of each shovel Test Hole and each Unit Dug are plotted on Google Earth for viewing in a satellite view to evaluate the dig site and it relationship to other sites.
- Museum Displays, Papers, & Lectures are generated – The overall evaluation of dig sites is compiled and written down with lectures for all to learn about the history of the area. The best artifacts are labeled and displayed in the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology.
Soon to be added: City of Ocala Urban Archaeology.
We have followed the city contractor next to City Hall and for 6 blocks down Fort King Street as they dug trenches for a new Citizen's Circle and undergorund utilities along Fort King Street. We screened the dug dirt and found thousands of artifacts including whole bottles, glass, ceramics of many types, brass keys, marbles, horseshoes, nails burnt glass from the 1883 fire, several dolls, a 1888 "V" Nickel, chert, bricks, one whole arrowhead point and one tip. We plan on having a display of these items after they are cleanned, identified, and labeled both at the Museum and at City Hall. The issued learned from these finds will be written and saved for all to learn about Ocala's past. Pictures to be added here.
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