Message #103089

[Oracle of Delphi]

Gopher volunteers
One of their searches this week was centered on a spot of green lawn about 30 feet southeast of the Presidio's main flagpole.

The spot was covered by green grass and a couple of gopher holes. "Volunteer archaeologists," Blind calls the gophers.

Wednesday, the archaeologists dug a hole 3 feet long by about 1 1/2 feet wide, like a surgical strike. Bingo! Under the lawn were some sandstone rocks, the foundations of some outbuildings of the long-ago Presidio.

"It was as if we had a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces and we didn't know how it went together," Morgan said. "This," he said, "is now a piece of the puzzle."

"We are literally only scratching the surface," Blind said. The technology they are using is not new, but the application to digging the past is, Morgan said.

"Now we are using technology solutions to address preservation problems," he said.