Day 9: Some Things Never Change - Sage

Today, the archeology group began our day with more work on Spanish Hill. Yesterday our group found a post hole. Naturally we were eager to get to work and find something else. However, when we arrived we found out that we would be working on shovel test pits instead. Shovel test pits are when you sift through a concentrated area for artifacts to see if you should dig there. We began working, with the sun beating down on our necks. We found that the test pit was filled with pottery, shellfish, and bones. So much in fact that we had to continuously get new artifact bags. As I worked I began thinking of what these artifacts could mean. Why would the Taíno leave these artifacts for us to find? What use did they serve? Because of the number of artifacts, the area was most likely an area to discard items. That would explain why we had not found intact pottery. If they were discarding it, it would already be broken. It also explains the shellfish and bones, as they would most likely dump the food waste in the same area. This reminded me of something Dr. Conolley had said on my fist day. He said “the Taíno were not so different from us”. What he meant was that some behavior always stays the same. Humans will always find shelter, they will always find ways to eat, and they will always look for convenience. We see this with the Taíno. The Taíno built houses. we found evidence of this with the post hole. They also found ways to eat so that it would be almost impossible for them to starve. They ate Coney, fish, and shellfish, all of which are plentiful in the area. They also looked for convenience. On the site we are excavating you can see the ocean in the distance. This shows that they strategically placed themselves so that they could use the ocean’s resources. The same can be said about modern humans. We too need shelter, and have an infinite variety of food. We also look for convenience, even with our advances in technology. This shows that even in the span of half a millennium, basic human behavior remains.