Contentions on Site

We're halfway done with the dig now, with less than two weeks to go. Last week some of us spent time working on a hearth feature, we did an archaeological drawing, and excavated the inside. After which we were moved and now we're all back at zone 4, where we originally started the dig.

Now in zone 2 where the hearth is, the Spanish are busy rebuilding it. Now normally when you restore something you make it abundantly clear which pieces are not original. Such as a pot, you would use a different color of paint so that everyone could tell what was original and what was part of the restoration. It is important because we can never know for certain what something looked like, we make educated guesses, that are highly accurate, and preserve the integrity of the artifact or feature.

Sadly this is not the case with the hearth, it is being rebuilt with local stones, and does not at all resemble the state in which we found the hearth. Is is accurate? Doubtful. So why are they doing it? Well they hope that these sites will be part of a future museum, and it appears to us that their accuracy is not what's important. Having something to show the tourists seems to be what matters most. So the furious pace in which we've been digging, and the rebuilding of the hearth make total sense to use.

Our American head at zone 4 is slightly disappointed in this. He said, had he known some things about this dig before hand, they probably wouldn't have chosen to do the field school here. Still its not the worse field school ever, for the students who are here. There are far worse out there where the purpose is nothing but to get money and labor out of the students and there is no learning anywhere. At least here the American heads are trying their hardest to make sure we know the differences between the way we practice archaeology and the way the Spanish are practicing it here. There are many ways to dig, and different people approach it in different ways, and archaeology is practiced in different ways depending on the culture. But there are standards to be followed, especially when digging for science.

 This is one of the features in zone 2. Not the hearth, we're not sure what it is, and the ideas change daily. I do have no doubt it will suffer the same fate as zone 2, and it will be reconstructed to fit the popular idea. In other words, we may never know what it is.

 View from zone 2.

 More zone 2. The hearth is in the upper left, near the group of people. Notice that its fairly small (its not anymore).

Another view of the larger pit area.