Archeologists from Prewitt and Associates Inc., pose in front of Frost Town Historical Marker

Given the nature of the Frost Town archeological resources, the overall data recovery research effort will involve concurrent mechanical stripping of overburden sediments with trackhoes, and hand excavation of archeological features. Mechanical scraping is the most effective method of quickly identifying buried features and artifact concentrations associated with the Frost Town occupation zone. Hand excavation will then be used to sample the Frost Town material culture, and to find and investigate Frost Town features. The goal of initial hand excavations will be to identify each feature’s type and age as precisely as possible. Cultural features that are related to Frost Town occupations will be given the most attention, especially ones that are deemed to be relatively intact and have good archeological contexts. When appropriate, features and groups of features will be fully investigated with intensive hand excavations. Machine excavation will augment hand excavation when necessary to facilitate the work, as when deep, intrusive features are encountered, such as cisterns and privies. The overarching goal of the feature excavation strategy at the Frost Town site is to maximize the recovery of archeological evidence in well-defined, dateable contexts.