"Real Archaeology"

I'm in a much better mood these days. We've been doing fieldwork for most of the last weeks, and have more to come. Hopefully enough to keep us in the field the rest of the spring, or at least enough to keep us busy inside once we collect more notes, photos, artifacts, etc.
Lately we've been doing mortuary survey. There's numerous previously recorded historic and prehistoric burial sites in the surrounding area which have been neglected for some time. So we're simply going out and relocating them, and updating the status of the sites. My favorites so far have been the Elmwood Cemetery--in what used to be the township of Texas, South Dakota, which in it's day was a stop for riverboats on the Missouri to load up with wood--and two of the sites where T.H. Lewis--at least I think it was T.H.--recorded prehistoric mounds. Those have been frustrating and fun at the same time, because they've been cultivated for so long that it's difficult to even see the mounds, after years of plowing. Some of them used to be up to three feet high; now the highest one we've recorded so far might have been a foot. So it's difficult; but once you figure out where one or two of them are, we can figure out fairly well where the others are, because Lewis took detailed notes on the distances and compass degrees each was from the other. So I've been getting used to reading a compass today. It's been very interesting. And Elmwood...well, it may sound morbid, but it was very soothing. It's just such a quiet, restful place, with a beautiful view of the Missouri River bluffs, away from any towns or heavily traveled roads, with a few elms, and tall cedars shading the worn and leaning gravestones. I think I needed that survey.