Equus-Soma

11 - 12 August (Part 2): Decisions
     We took a lunch break and discussed/debated where to go from here, if anywhere.   Admittedly, after a wonderful first-dig experience with Petey, I was rather turned off at the prospect of being in contact with the ever increasing reddish "goo" and chunks of not-yet decomposed tissue on Mikey's bones. At first, I was amazed that there is any organic material left.  But now that I am experiencing the conditions of this soil (wet clay) and close location to the Saco River (water table), I understand why it is taking longer for Mikey to fully decompose.

      I was seriously thinking of bagging the whole project except for a very influential factor... the overwhelming curiosity and enthusiasm of my young assistant Tiffany!  So I decided to continue by opting to take the least gooey path that would lead us to the cervical (neck) vertebrae and ultimately Mikey's skull.
      I had already removed the humerus from the scapulohumeral joint, at the same time exposing parts of T1 (first thoracic vertebra) and C7 (last cervical vertebra). All of these neck bones were solidly connected to each other with the scapula weighing them down (not to mention, 2 ft of clay on top of the scapula) so we needed to get to the skull to release these bones from the atlanto-occipital joint.

        We had to work fast too, because there was rain on our doorstep. The clay was already wet and slippery. Rain would make digging impossible and moving around the pit even more hazardous.  Fueled by the decision to forge on (combined with the last caffeine molecules from a can of Starbuck's Espresso) Tiffany shoveled and shoveled to remove over a foot of soil/clay that would allow us to expose the cervical vertebrae.