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Created from: Working With NPS
June 2002 Mound Dig
On June 23, 2002, Kevin traveled to Shiloh to volunteer for a week excavating the portion of the largest Shiloh Indian Mound that is expected to fall into the Tennessee River due to erosion. While it is a little different than what we normally do, it was a good adventure for one of our Club members.
Kevin works to excavate a unit on the north side of the mound. For him, it was a slow process, as he is used to locating a metal target and popping it out of the ground. In this unit, he located a pottery shard that extended down through the layer (ten centimeters or about four inches) he was excavating and into the next level below. It was still there as he ended the week, though the relic hunter in him was dying to dig it out!
This is the top of the shard he had to leave behind for someone else to eventually recover.
((l) John Cornelison, Jr., (c) David Anderson (r) Chuck Lawson. John and David are CO-Directors on this project, while Chuck is one of the Crew Chiefs. They all work with the National Park Service. For more information, click here to view their web page on this dig Shiloh Indian Mound Excavation.
Steve Kidd was my Crew Chief in the North Trench. Great guy and smart enough to make it onto the June 27, 2002, episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. I really enjoyed working with him, as well as all of the folks from SEAC and the other volunteers. We worked hard but I still was able to learn a lot.
below: Steve Kidd
Below are several photos of the work in progress:
In the photo to the left, you can clearly see the remains of a post, as well as two different soil types. There are two definite post holes, with possibly a third in this photo. One is bisected by the wall and the third is slightly below the middle one that is more obvious. They run slightly diagonal in the darker band of soil.