Macro sample 703

This is a partially charred husk/shank section recovered from Unit 22, floor 18-3. It is one of five dated samples from the same maize plant, the other portions of which were an uncharred cob (Samples AA-88761, Beta-27804, Beta-27823, and Beta-282127). Because the one sample (AA-88761) is post-bomb (post-1950), and this husk/shank sample is the earliest dated maize at the site--and, in fact, the earliest dated maize macroremain sample in the Americas--it is likely that all five samples from this same maize plant are contaminated in some way. The excavators, however, accept this sample, OS-86020, as being valid (Grobman et al. 2011:SI text).