Whitney's Field Blog

Monday September 8th:

The first day of class started in a lecture room to go over the syllabus and some general administration topics. From then we will meet for class at the site, John Brown House. The class was split into two groups, one to begin the test dig pits and one to learn about geophysical surveys.

The group I was in started with constructing the layout for the test dig pits. Using a measuring tape, compass, and flag markers our group created a 50cm by 50cm box. Next, we set up a chalkboard, scale bar, and an arrow pointing north for a photo that was taken before we started digging. We then used shovels to skim and remove the uppermost layer of context one (grass, moss, and twigs). Directly below the surface we came across two nails in the soft, dark soil. Also within this context there were numerous roots and one rather large tree root. After we saw the two nails, the two groups switched and we went to Tommy who taught us about the geophysical survey we would be assisting him with. Each person took a turn carrying the equipment over a specified line that was laid out with a tape measure. The tape measure was moved East one meter after both survey devices had covered that area.

After my group finished with the geophysical survey we returned to the test dig pit and found out that a total of six nails were in context one. Using a trowel to clean the area and straighten up the side walls we prepared the pit for a photo. Following the photo, we put away the equipment.

Monday September 15th:

I was in the first group to take a tour of the house. I have walked by the museum several times and always wanted to take a tour, so I was really excited for this portion of the class. I was very impressed by some of the amenities that were added to the house by one of the later owners, specifically the marble air-ducts. In addition to learning about the history of the interior of the house, but we also watched a very informative movie about John Brown and his brothers. He was a very successful business man involved with importing and exporting within a trade triangle.

After the tour we switched and the group I was with started clearing context four, soft brown soil; it was no longer mottled (yellow and brown) like context three. In Context four there was the presence of large stones on the north side of the dig pit. Also we found pieces of blue glass and coal.

Monday September 22nd:

For this class Elise and I were assigned to STP 2 and were given the task of reaching a sterile level so that this test dig pit could be finished. However, while we were working we continued to find artifacts, such as tiles (one was located about 50cm below ground level) and a very small piece of blue and white earthenware originally from England. The large rocks and bricks we were uncovering made it impossible to reach a sterile level in our 50cm by 50cm grid. Two whole bricks were found right before we decided to conclude the dig pit. The two bricks were found next to one another with some kind of mortar in between them. Another interesting find was the cavity at the bottom of the northeast corner. Above this hallow space there were several rocks with mortar stacked on top of one another, possibly the remnants of a structure. Brad suggested that this STP might be revisited by next year's class, if so I would be very interested in hearing about their findings.

Monday September 29th:

I am now working in unit 4, which is close to the fence on Benefit Street. First we tied string to the four stakes around our unit to clearly define our box. Next we measured to find the highest stake to be our point of reference for future measurements within our unit. We began clearing the top layer of earth, which consisted of grass, moss, twigs, and roots. While removing this soil we came across two pennies one dating to 1971 and the other to 1969 or '67. About 5 cm down we came across a stratigraphic layer depicted by a much darker brown, almost black, soil mixed with small pebbles. As a result of my midterm project I spent part of the class time using the video recorder to document the progression of the units on the site. Because of this I was able to see some of the interesting artifacts found on Monday, i.e. pieces of dishware (one was possibly hand painted) and a handkerchief.

Monday October 6th:

In unit four we started to clear the stratigraphic natural layer that we had discovered on Sept. 29th. While clearing this there was a large amount of gravel. Around ten centimeters below ground level we came across the flat top of a rectangular rock feature. Along with this feature there was a change in the soil and the beginning of three separate contexts. The the east of the rock the soil is still mixed with gravel. West of the rock the soil had hardly any rocks. And in a small strip north of the rock, sandwiched between the two other soils, is our third new context of a darker brown almost black soil. Seems to be in line with the rock feature running north to south.

Monday October 20th:

Since we did not meet the week before, due to the holiday, the entire class visited each unit. One or two people from each group gave a brief synopsis of their activity in the excavation unit and what they had found. I found it very interesting that unit 1 had still not reached the archaeological level; they were still clearing out modern debris at what looked like at least 25cm below ground level. Also, it was exciting to see that unit 2 has several features. In unit 4 we worked to clear ten centimeters of JBH 19 which is the context west of the rock feature. While working we uncovered a few pieces of glass, charcoal, a piece of pearl ware, and a piece of either white or cream ware (I cannot remember what Krysta said). What was interesting and worth noting about the pearl ware is that it had a grayish tint, which Krysta says may be attributed to burning or due to the charcoal that was found within the same context. After clearing ten centimeters of JBH 19 we reached a new arbitrary level which had been labeled JBH 26. The soil is the same as what was found in JBH 19.

Monday October 27th:

I continued to work in unit 4, where we were excavating around the feature believed to be apart of a possible wall structure. To the east of the feature we uncovered several rocks, Krysta believes they may have made up the interior of the wall, which was probably two or three feet thick. The rocks completely cover the area east of the feature and so far we have not uncovered similar rocks west of the feature. While working on the context east of the feature we came across several pockets of cream-colored sandy soil. These were probably remnants of some kind of mortar used during the construction of the wall structure. An interesting find Peter uncovered was an impressed design in a piece of mortar, suggesting possible wattle and daub construction.

Monday November 3rd:

We started class this week at 1:30pm due to the sun setting around 4:30pm; digging in the dark is not recommended. The first hour and a half of class was spent doing a scale planar view drawing of excavation unit 4, with emphasis on the feature we believe to be apart of a wall. Peter and I worked out a system where I worked the pencil on sketching the measurements he called out. We tried switching, but shortly after we realized out strengths were better utilized before, so we switched back. We finished the class excavating to the west of the stone feature in an effort to clear another twenty centimeters. The soil in this context (I forgot to note the JBH # after class) has a more orange-brown color when compared to the grayish-brown soil in the wall feature. In my opinion the soil west of the feature was looser than the soil in the wall feature's context. One exciting find from our unit was a button.

Monday November 10th:

For our final day of excavating we needed to try to remove ten centimeters in JBH 39 and pedestal around large rocks and large pieces of brick. This ended up being very difficult since the dirt was relatively lose and removing one rock had a ripple effect to all of the surrounding dirt. While I was working in JBH 39, Peter and Steffie were busy try to take JBH 42 down another twenty centimeters. However towards the end of the class I was able to work in JBH 42 to remove some of the dirt under feature 4 to see if rocks continued below it. We were happy to learn that there were several very large stone stacked beneath feature 4. While unearthing these stones I came across a fairly large piece from a porcelain plate with a blue and white design. Around three thirty we began drawing the stratigraphy of the south wall of our unit. It was starting to get dark; the lack of light caused it to take a little longer than we were initially hoping it would. Next, we laid a tarp in our unit and then backfilled in an effort to preserve our progress for next year’s class followed this up. It is going to be strange to not dig Monday, and now will start our lab work.

Monday November 17th:

The first full day in the lab started off with a brief lecture on the basic types of pottery we may come across. It was very informative and exciting to see what we had just learned put to use; I cleaned of earthenware and I was able to identify the salt glaze. Also during class I learned that the piece of porcelain I had uncovered the week before was a very nice sherd since who ever painted it did not even bother to stay within the lines. I am really enjoying the cleaning process. One piece I collected from unit 4 looked like a rock, the only difference was the sharp edges formed by the broken glaze. After cleaning the piece it turned out to the a sherd of red earthenware with a lead glaze. Unfortunately we are a little behind schedule on cleaning the artifacts, but that should be finished by the end of our next class.

Monday November 24th:

We finally finished cleaning all of the artifacts. We began labeling and identifying each artifact. However, I am becoming skeptical as to whether or not we will have our lab work by the end of our next class. This class I worked on labeling the finds with the JBH context they were uncovered in. I hope that in the next class I will get to work on identifying the artifacts, especially since we have artifact description write-ups due next week.

Monday December 1st:

Today in the lab I learned how to categorize artifacts. Which was not as much fun as I thought it would be. Definitely a worth while experience, however since we have SO many finds to catalogue it seemed to be a never ending task. Alex and I worked together as a really good/productive team. By the end of the class we were able to identify some objects without having to look them up. This process also proved to be useful in the early stages of research for my artifact descriptions.

Monday December 8th:

Final day of class. Each member of the class gave a presentation about their final projects. Kellie and I played portions of our unfinished project. Even though the multi media project was not completed we were able to describe our plans for the layout. It was very interesting to hear about Steffi Yellin's research on the the house that once occupied the portion of the lawn where we were excavating. I really enjoyed this course and I cannot believe the semester is already over.