Page 14 - ImmenseJourney

deep. When suspected lodge fill was encountered, it produced a surprising result. It was actually two
was probed at closer intervals to estimate the lodge’s lodges, a very large lodge to the southwest, and a
shape and dimensions. The soils in the core were smaller one to the northeast. Plowing had eaten away
analyzed to determine what types of soil filled the the northeast edge of the smaller lodge.
lodge and how deep the fill extended into the house
basin. A hand auger was sometimes used to recover Exploring Lodges through Excavation
artifacts from a larger, 8-inch-wide auger hole.
After confirming lodges through soil coring, the
Sometimes soil cor- archaeologists conducted excavations—sometimes
ing, if done at a close beneath tents sheltered from winter field conditions.
interval, could reveal The twin lodges at the Woodfield Earth Lodges site
the detailed shape and a nearby lodge, site 13ML98, were each ex-
of the lodge. Coring plored with a 1-meter square test unit.
a 1-meter grid over
the Woodfield Earth Archaeologists hand-dug test units in 5- or 10-cen-
Lodges site (13ML102) timeter-thick increments or levels, with all soil care-
fully screened through wire mesh to recover small
N artifacts and bones. Larger artifacts and features such At 13ML98, north of the twin lodges on the same
as hearths, pits, and artifact scatters were mapped ridge, excavation revealed an interesting soil filling
Depth of fill cm below surface in place. Soil samples were collected from features the prehistoric house basin. The soil in the west half
and processed through a water flotation machine to of the test unit was dry and compact, while that in
02 4 6 8 10 m retrieve tiny seeds and bones—evidence of prehis- the east half was moist and soft. Comparison with
Soil core location toric diet. aerial photos from the 1930s showed that an old field
road once crossed the center of the lodge. The lodge
Lodges The fill above the northeast lodge floor at the depression was apparently filled in during the early
Woodfield Earth Lodges site contained large, charred 20th century to accommodate the road. This road
timber chunks, evidence that the house had burned. explained the difference in the soil fill. The dry soil
The pottery found in this lodge represented a style in the west half of the test unit lay beneath the field
archaeologists think is older than the ceramics found road and was compacted from the weight of heavy
in the southwest lodge. This indicates that people wagons.
lived in the northwest lodge first. The larger south-
west lodge contained no evidence of burning, but
also produced fewer artifacts, demonstrating that the
residents lived here for a shorter time.

12 University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist