The 2017 field season is starting - last week I was joined in Iceland by 4 more American members of the SCASS team, and everyone else will be joining us later this week!
Ceecee and I started off the season with a larger excavation unit at Kotið, to retrieve a larger sample of faunal materials. We also found a small bone bead -- perhaps it was part of the same fashionable outfit as the bone pin we found here last summer?
We've also started sampling for Loss-on-Ignition analysis, which will tell me about the history of mire formation at each site - how wet were the sites when people lived there, and is did the wetlands change in response to the habitation and use of the site? I plan to sample wetlands from several sites over the summer and will process them in the fall (by burning them in an oven - watch this blog in late August for more).
Finally, check out our new Instagram @scass_iceland!