"All the ice in your body is melting"

We have a really great team made up of people from Leiden University and people from Grenada. The title of this post comes from one of our local team members, Ray. I was sneezing and snuffling earlier (the change of climate definitely takes a bit of getting used to) and Ray delighted in telling me it's because "all the ice your body in melting". I think this is a brilliant description! Although my currently glowing-soon-to-be-lobster colour probably means the ice in my body has long since melted and is now boiling.

Today we started with some foreshore, rescue archaeology. Due to the recent heavy rains, the land at the top of the cliffs has slid down to the beach. This happens to be in an area close to the trenches from last season. So, first job was to clean up the cliff section on the beach to excavate, record, and collect any archaeological material that fell from the site above. By doing this, we save the artefacts, but we can also record the depth of land that slid down.

Foreshore archaeology can be very dangerous because of the tides. In this case we had to be extra careful because the sudden tropical showers meant that further land could slip. At this point, I want to say a huge thank you to the awesome chaps who dug us some steps into the hillside. Steps rather than just a muddy slope makes it a lot easier to clamber to higher ground with kit, especially if you're in a hurry.

This area 'La Poterie' is so called because during the Colonial Period there was a pottery production site in the area. The soil is a very heavy clay (although not all clay is suitable for making pots). However, digging in wet clay is hard work. By 10am we were all very hot and muddy and definitely in need of a break. And again, a huge thank you to our local hosts, who gave us fresh green mandarins to eat. I can honestly say, I've never tasted a mandarin so fresh, sweet and juicy.

So, what did we find today? Mostly, a lot of ceramic fragments, some shell and animal bone. It is important to mention at this point, that we were only collecting the shell (and other artefacts) from the clay and soil levels and not from the underlying beach sand. This is because we are interested in the material that has come from the site (which fell to the beach during the land slippage) and not from the beach proper. However, I am pleased to show you the find of the day, a perforated human tooth.

The hole means that the tooth was probably strung on something, meaning it may have been used as a necklace or in some sort of ornament. We won't be able to know for sure just yet, but hopefully someone will be able to take a proper, detailed look with a microscope, which should give us more information. We hope to finish on the foreshore in the next couple of days and then it will be back to the main site. So, stay tuned folks!