Alex's Field Blog

September 8, 2008

Our first day of class was more exciting than I imagined it could possibly be. Because the class met for the first time a good ways into "shopping period", I was nervous that I wouldn't be prepared for it at all and would have to scramble to find another class to take. I was therefore happy to learn that many of the other students in the class were new to archeology as well, so I was in good company. The first day started off with a short introduction to the class but quickly (and literally) moved on to the digging. Our work centers on the John Brown House, a mansion near the corner of Power and Benefit Streets. More specifically, we will be investigating some apparent formations buried in the northwest corner of the yard. While the large property was most famously owned by John Brown and his family, I was excited to learn that some of the land we may investigate once belonged to Mr. Wickenden, another well-known name on College Hill. My dream, of course, is that we unearth the (very) old Wickenden residence, along with some Brown family treasure on the side.

The work for the first day was, for me, all new. Our class was split into two groups to try out different parts of the process. My group started by doing some geophysical analysis of our area of interest. Some analysis had already been done the previous semester which indicated the potential for structures underground, but we were doing the analysis again perpendicularly to the original time (or so I understand) because sometimes that can change how the equipment responds to the underground structures, giving us more information. After we completed half of the analysis, my group switched with the other half of the class, and we picked up where they left off doing some shovel test pits. These pits are 50 sq. cm pits about 5 meters apart used mainly to see what's there (soil conditions, artifacts, etc.). After some digging and troweling in our very gravelly test pit, we actually came upon some ceramic or porcelain fragments. I have no idea if they're relevant yet, but for my first day ever of doing archeology, I was thrilled. I'm eager to see what else we find next week, as well as see how badly the recent rains affected the test pit areas.

September 15, 2008

Hot weather greeted us once again for the second day of digging at the John Brown House, but it certainly didn't seem to get any of us down when it came to getting to work. I started off working on the first shovel (N 0, W 30--the one without the porcelain fragments) which revealed a "new context", essentially just a new soil layer. This new context appeared to be a more clay-like soil which was light brown in color. We also found another nail and some glass fragments. Meanwhile the other shovel test pit was ridiculous. More porcelain fragments were found as well as bricks and a lot of mortar. It's amazing how different the two holes could be when they are only 5 meters apart! While we were working on the test pits, we got the chance to me some of the Joukowsky family and we started video recordings of some of the work we are doing.

Soon thereafter, a representative of the John Brown House and Museum took some of us on a tour of the house itself. (The other half of class did the tour while I was working on the test pits.) The house was amazing. I cannot believe it hasn't been more widely advertised to Brown students as something to do. There were all sorts of odd artifacts, including a clock owned by Nathanael Greene and some of George Washington's hair. There was also a sink with a really cool drain plug. The tour was really good, and I'd definitely recommend a visit there.

After ending the tour, three of us started working on the first excavation unit of the site. Unit 1, once we start digging next week, will look at an area of depressed earth that, according to the geophysical analysis, might have a structure or remnants of some structure under it. We could even see some large stones coming out of the ground which may indicate what lies beneath. For today, we just set up the perimeter of the dig and took measurements of the different heights of the corners in order to keep the digging level later on. To be certain, we're all excited to get started with the digging next week in the hopes of finding something amazing very soon!

September 22, 2008

As fall begins, the weather at our dig site was much cooler, and yet there were more mosquitoes bothering me today than any other. The Unit 1 team (of which I am a part) got to work right away on taking away the top layers of our unit. It was slow-going, as we had to try to make the unit level while also respecting changes in context. By the end of the day, however, we seemed to be getting the hang of it and had a fairly level mix of dark brown and light brown/orange soil to show for our efforts. We also were able to find a plastic bag, some glass fragments, some brick pieces, and even a piece of ceramic. While it might not seem like a whole lot has been found just yet, judging by the size of the worm we uncovered, it's clear something good just has to be waiting for us a little further down.

The other unit next door to us, Unit 2, had a bit more initial success, much as I hate to admit it. Beginner's luck, I say. They found a large brick-like structure as well as some sort of valve contraption. I'm not sure what all of that stuff means historically, but it was pretty exciting to see this large structure pop out just a few centimeters below the surface.

The shovel test pits got to be more exciting than I think anyone really expected. N'0, W'35 transformed into a huge pit full of bricks, mortar, and all sorts of artifacts, including some transfer-ware pottery. It's exciting to think that so far, we've dug in two distinct areas of the yard and found a wealth of good stuff. Who knows what else could be found throughout the site?!?

For now though, Unit 1 will be my home, and I'm quite confident it will reveal its secrets and end up providing some really great information about the history of the John Brown House.

September 29, 2008

After clearing away the large pools of water (and worms) that greeted us as we approached our tarp, work continued on Unit 1 for the entirety of the class period. Other members of the class continued work on Unit 2 and started work on Units 3 and 4, but I just kept working on Unit 1. Our group made some good progress in getting our unit to be level, although we were often unsure of our progress and used our line-level with great gusto. We still haven't come across a large feature like that of Unit 2, but it is pretty clear to our team that it's only a matter of time before Unit 1 reveals itself as the treasure-trove of the John Brown site. We did find more artifacts this week than last week, including some glass fragments with writing, some substantial pieces of brick, a small bone fragment, a handkerchief, a piece of pottery, and a bottle cap. Hopefully we will continue to find interesting things in the weeks to come! That said, I also hope that in the coming weeks I won't be as sore as I was after digging this week...it's hard to squat with a trowel for upwards of two hours!

October 6, 2008

Digging in October started off crisp and cool, but overall pretty nice. The Unit 1 team continued to work on Unit 1, and this week we got the go-ahead to finish leveling off our context (JBH8) after 10 centimeters and then to dig with gusto to find stuff farther below. It was nice to get a chance to really dig into the soil, and we made some good progress. We still haven't hit a treasure-trove of historical items, but we did discover a hoard of more modern items, such as an old milk carton, a piece of coal, a Mr. Donut cup, and the first piece of porcelain found in any of the dig sites. While the time to change units looms in the not-too-distant future, we think that next week we will continue working on Unit 1, and I for one am glad to be able to get at least one more chance at really getting to some old stuff. I must say, Unit 1 has been fickle to work with, but I'm very much attached to it!

October 20, 2008

This week we recommenced digging after a week off due to Columbus Day. Although the tarp covering Units 1 and 2 had been pulled away before I arrived at the dig site, we learned that a beer bottle had been left on top of it. Clearly Unit 1 is the place to be. Actually, Unit 1 didn't feel like the greatest place to be for a lot of the work this afternoon. Our extensive roots had a wonderful chance to regrow in the time we'd been away, and it was almost impossible to get more than a tiny shovelful of dirt at a time. But despite all of that (and a number of jumbo worms) we kept on digging and reached another arbitrary context--that is, we arrived another 10cm down from our previous context. We continued to find modern trash, including a Dunkin Donuts cup fragment, some rope, and a piece of the fence that surrounds the yard. Thankfully, Krysta gave us the go-ahead to dig 20cm down until declaring another arbitrary context, which meant we were able to dig freely for a good amount of time during the latter half of the class period. We're still confident that there is something amazing to be found deep in our unit, but who knows if we'll ever reach it. Just as we finished digging for the day, we did strike a rock that appears to have been painted, so perhaps our luck is turning. I just don't know how confident we should be if we consider a painted rock a sign of good fortune. Time will tell...

In my week away from digging, I spent a lot of time at the John Carter Brown Library looking at the old financial papers of the Brown family businesses. It's been really cool to get to work with all the old documents, and I've learned quite a bit about how the Brown family businesses worked, as well as how to read illegible cursive on crackly parchment. The whole process is intimidating, though, because there are like 700+ boxes full of these records, and that's a lot of info. But I'm still glad I've had the chance to check them out, if only a little bit.

October 27, 2008

After some digging (and a lot of talking) at the community archaeology event for family weekend, it appeared that Unit 1 was finally about done with the layer of fill and modern trash! On Monday, this was confirmed as we attempted to level our unit and as a result found that a sandier, more densely packed soil was to be found across nearly the whole unit. We spent a good portion of our excavation time getting out the last of the fill later (which seemingly replenishes itself by magic) and getting to a level surface in order to document our new context (JBH 31). From what we can tell, there is much less modern trash in JBH 31, but we did notice a lot of charcoal as well as a long, rusty nail or stake. It's too early to say for sure, but one possibility to explain all the charcoal could be that the pit was used to burn trash and that we've reached the bottom of that burn. Next week we will hopefully dig a good amount into this new context in order to see what else can be found. It should be pretty exciting!

I (and the rest of the Unit 1 team) was really happy to arrive at our dig site on Monday to many fewer roots than normal. As it turns out, the root fairy (aka Brad and Krysta) visited our unit and, with the new loppers, helped clear out some of the mess. It was a great help!

November 3, 2008

This week Unit 1 did much to rejoin the apparently historical layers that have been present for other excavation units for some time. In the sidewalls of our unit, it was fairly evident that there is some sort of soil change between the depression in which we're working and the slightly higher plane of land along our unit's southern edge. The soil we dug got much denser, even a bit flakey. We came across a lot of mortar-like fragments as well as brick fragments. We also found a rusted nail and two intact bricks which we left in situ. From what we can tell, it appears that at least part of the brick formation is simply the continuation of the bricks in the southwestern edge of Unit 2. Who knows that may lie in the space between our two excavation units!

We also found a lot of coal, and a few blue-and-white pieces of pottery (transferprint and pearlware, we're told). With more time, I feel we could find a good number of interesting objects, as the context we've entered seems fairly rich in them. It's unfortunate that the cold weather and lack of sunlight will be forcing us to end our digging for this season just one week from now! Hopefully someday the dig will recommence and Unit 1 will bring to fruition the glory that the Unit 1 excavation pit so deserves.

November 10, 2008

This week was the final week of digging at the John Brown House. From here until the end of the semester we will be spending our time analyzing the artifacts and features we have found, and we will compile our final site report. Unit 1 ended digging just as it appeared that some new features were appearing. Along with the bricks found last week, we also discovered some rectangular, flat stones in the southwest corner of the Unit, and we came across a large mortar deposit. After clearing out the excess dirt as best we could to reveal these final features, we took photos and made a stratigraphic drawing of our western wall. Due to the appearance of these final features, Unit 1 was saved from abandonment, and it will probably be worked on when the next Archaeology of College Hill class comes to the site. In order to preserve the progress we have already made, we placed a plastic tarp in the hole, threw some pennies on top to date when we were there, and filled it in with all of the dirt we had dug out over the course of the semester. It was a bit sad to see our work disappear, but at least it wasn't lost forever.

It's probably fortunate that this was the last week of digging, as it got dark by about 4pm. It also was really cold while we were digging this week, and it only got colder as the day progressed. I'm excited to finally analyze our artifacts. We've found some interesting stuff so far...from modern trash to some old pottery fragments, and this week we even found a bullet casing. Perhaps once the class is able to look at everything on a wider scale, we'll be able to put together a better picture of what once stood upon this part of John Brown's property!

November 17, 2008

This week (actually section of last week) marked the start of the lab analysis portion of the class. For both our Monday class period and our Thursday section, we will be meeting in the lab to wash, sort, and otherwise analyze the objects we've found. So far all we've been doing is washing objects one context at a time. I've been working on cleaning up objects from JBH31 (Unit 1) so far because those are definitely of high interest to me (they're from the unit I worked on once we got to the most historical layer). Most things we found are able to get wet: bricks, pieces of pottery, glass, and even coal. But we do have some items that must be cleaned with a dry brush, including mortar, charcoal, bone, and rusted objects. It's been fun to see all of our findings at once, without having to work to get to them, but it's particularly cold in the lab room, which makes my hands especially cold once they get wet. At Monday's meeting we learned a lot about what kinds of objects might be found at sites of this period, with specific examples from the Greene farm site. Some of the objects from there are really impressive! We also learned some good info about characterizing pottery, and I'm excited to learn more about the small pieces we have in our collections. Hopefully some will turn out to be quite old!

November 24, 2008

In this shortened week (Thanksgiving!), we finished the washing of artifacts and started sorting and labeling for future reference. I was fortunate enough to get to try my hand at all three tasks by spending the start of class sorting some artifacts into labeled bags, the next portion finishing up the washing, and the end of class labeling pottery and glass fragments in tiny print. It was mostly busy-work, but it is vitally important to our future analyses, and it can also be a lot of fun! I also got a chance to learn a bit more about our final projects which will hopefully bring together all of the work we've accomplished this semester. The coming weeks may turn into a mad rush to get everything completed, but for now I'm planning to spend most of my time enjoying a much-needed long weekend at home. Happy Thanksgiving!

December 1, 2008

After the Thanksgiving holiday it was back to the lab on Monday where we were greeted by the heat on full blast and windows that cannot be opened. It was hot, but we still got a good amount of work done. I worked with Whitney on cataloguing the Unit 1 artifacts. It's somewhat of a tedious process, but it was good to learn how to do it, and I learned a lot about some of the artifacts we'd found back when we were excavating. I was particularly excited to learn that one of our ceramic fragments may date back as far as the seventeenth century! The cataloguing process is not yet complete, but with many groups devoting the entire class period to working on it, we made good progress.

We also learned more about our final projects, final project presentations, and object biographies. I'm worried about the amount of work to be done in these final weeks, especially considering I have other exams and papers to work on simultaneously, but I'm hoping that the actual work of putting together all the information we've gathered won't take as long as I anticipate. That said, it looks to be another busy exam season...I'll just hope for the best!

December 8, 2008

Well, the semester is nearing its end, but there has certainly been no shortage of work relating to the Archaeology of College Hill! Monday's class was the last of the semester, and we spent the time giving presentations of our final projects to the rest of the class as well as representatives of the Rhode Island Historical Society. It was interesting to see what everyone is working on, and I learned some new things about my unit from hearing about others' research. It is unfortunate that we're going to be finishing our projects relatively individually, because I think with more time we could collaborate a lot more and really put together a strong picture of the history of the John Brown House site. Hopefully this class will continue to work at the John Brown House, and a lot more information will be uncovered.

This week I'm juggling the final Unit 1 summary as well as three object biographies, not to mention my other finals. It's a lot of work, but it's nice to see all of the Unit 1 information grouped together, as I can really gain an appreciation of the work we did. I'm also excited to see the final projects of other students; it will be fun to see the fruits of our labors.

I've really enjoyed working at the John Brown House as part of this class, and I hope to check on this project's progress as it continues in the future!