Site 1 (Fall 2023)

The best way to show you the excavation is to show you the entire project in a timelapse and then I’ll explain a bit about what we discovered. 

The process involved digging down 20 cm at a time around the tusk to reveal any bones around it.  We first started with trowels until we were past the level of most of the bone and ivory and continued with shovels to a depth that enabled the entire trench to be levelled out.  Meanwhile, all the soil was then sieved to catch any small bones or other objects that were missed in the excavation.   

Any bones that we found were first logged by the Total Station which basically shoots a laser at them and calculates their exact GPS coordinates and elevation within a couple of millimeters.  The Ranger enabled the total station to be remotely activated and to instantly see the points taken on a map.  This enabled us to create a visual GIS database of all the finds and their locations. 

All finds were then photographed with a scale pointing to the north, bagged and labelled.  Because the dig was on such a tight schedule, in the midst of other classes, with no time to copy down data sheets into a database, I also created an iPad app to record the data about the finds, soil and different levels directly into the database.  This enabled the students to log any data directly and enter photos of the trench and finds for every 20 centimeters that we excavated.   

After we found a bone, and logged it, we excavated around each piece with wooden skewers to establish its size and either removed it (if it was small) or created a platform to remove it in the lab.  For large bones, the soil matrix around the bone would be cut out (if it was solid enough) or plastered and removed to keep the matrix from breaking up.  Melissa Pardi came down again from the Illinois State Museum to help the students plaster cast the bones in-situ in order to move them to the lab and preserve them.   

In the laboratory Gloria helped students to carefully remove the soil from the bone with dental tools and after they were dry, to preserve them with a mixture of ethanol and butvar resin.  This clear liquid plastic penetrates the bone, solidifies and preserves it.   

We found numerous bones large and small, indicating that the skeleton had been scavenged by animals.  Most of the skull had been torn apart with parts strewn to the south of the tusk over the ancient surface.   

The detail of the broken bones shows that they had a honeycomb structure inside that made them stronger without adding too much weight to the already massive skeleton. If the elements of the skull were solid bone, the animal’s head would weigh a ton! Light, strong bones are necessary for these large animals to stand up against gravity and move about the landscape. 

During the excavation we also uncovered the tusk.  The length of the tusk is 8ft long (actually two feet longer than Benny’s tusk).  It was fairly crumbly unfortunately, having been scraped and run over by the bulldozer.  However, we were able to soak it in Butvar solution which preserved it pretty well.  We decided to keep it in place for now, but next season perhaps try to move it.   

As we progressed with the excavation, we uploaded the 3D lidar scans of the site onto the website to show the public our progress at the site.