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Plan View Mapping
In week six of the field school, my group and I made a plan view map of the area on the hill to the east of the heiau. A plan view map is a drawing of a site or area that has the perspective looking from directly above – a bird’s eye view. The area that we mapped consisted of sites 23 (a walled off iwi cave), 24 (an ahu stone alter), 25 (a smaller cave), and 26 (a historic road). We began by stretching a base line measuring tape through the center of the area. It measured approximately 24 meters long. Then we began measuring and plotting the furthest points away from the baseline on either side (makai to the west and mauka to the east) every meter starting at the zero meter point (Datum A). We also recorded every significant feature on the plan view map. These features included trees, piles of rocks, walls, caves, the ahu, grass areas, and the slope of the road. Finally, we hand drew the additional details and contours in between the plotted points. In the end we had created a very detailed map of the area. I really enjoyed this activity because I love to draw and enjoy doing very detailed things. Plotting and drawing maps and features has been my favorite activity of the field school so far. –Ashley Albritton
Excavation
Learning the techniques of excavation began in week twelve of the field school. This process draws significantly on many other techniques learned throughout the field school. My team began by setting up a test unit at an ash deposit that was located in a rock shelter to the northeast of the heiau on the hill – site# 29. Our test unit was 50cm x 50cm square, and we used the Pythagorean theorem (a2 + b2 = c2) to test that the sides were even. We calculated that the diagonal angle of the two right triangles of our square test unit was 70.7 (rounded to 71cm). We tied a string around the four corners of the test unit, set up a Datum point at the highest point of the pit, and then took a GPS coordinate of the feature.Once our square grid was established, we drew a plan view map of all the significant features located on the surface of our test unit. This was not difficult because we used skills and techniques learned throughout the previous weeks of the field school. The hard part, however, was that my team’s test unit was wedged back in a nook of the rock shelter. It was very hard work because of the angle and position of the feature.After completing the plan view map of our test unit’s surface, all of the significant surface materials (such as shells) were removed and put into bags and labelled. Then we used a spade to remove the surface level of dirt, rock, and ash up to 10cm deep in an even layer. All of the removed dirt, rock, ash, and other materials were sifted for any significant items that we may have missed while removing it from the pit. Another plan view map of the significant features and rocks in the pit was drawn before this process was repeated for another level up to 20cm deep. For each level, photos and description were recorded.At around 20cm deep, we hit rock bed because our feature was located in a rock shelter. Once we were satisfied that we could dig no further, we began creating another profile map of the stratigraphic layers visible on the pit walls. This was done by first measuring each layer and their depth, and then drawing this on our map. Then we determined the age of each stratigraphic layer by comparing the soil samples to a color chart before finishing with descriptions of the soil texture and qualities. Finally, all of the dirt and insignificant material was placed back into the pit. This exercise was very fun, although very dirty!–Ashley Albritton
