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Archaeology of College Hill 2006
Archaeology of College Hill 2007
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]
Today we began excavations at the First Baptist Church in America, in Providence Rhode Island. This is the second season of excavation at the FBC, which is the first site in a larger project dealing with the Archaeology of College Hill. (To learn more about last year’s work please see the final publication located at: Churchyard Archaeology) This year the work is conducted as the field portion of Brown University’s field school ARCH 1900: The Archaeology of College Hill, run as a collaboration between the department of Anthropology and the Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
The day was a balmy 65 degrees and sunny for the most part. We began laying out 1m by 1m test pits at 1 pm and set out a total of 6. The two trenches on the Eastern half of the property are known as C1 and C2, whereas the four in the Western end of the yard are known as D1, D2, D3, and D4. After setting out the trenches (with minimal upset) we began digging, which we continued until 5 pm when we cleaned up.
The team took a short break around three to be briefed on soil safety on an urban site, which basically entailed everyone feeling a little ridiculous while getting fitted for masks, but happy overall. Thanks to Steve Morin and his team for this!
Artifacts were fast in coming on this first day of the season. Trench D1, located near the South entrance recovered a lot of glass and metal, whereas trench C2 retrieved what appears to be a pearl bead (probably faux) while shells and brick were common across the board. All artifacts are stored off site and will be the subject of further study and final publication in spring 2008.
A new aspect of the dig this year will be weekly updates online by the field team members detailing their experiences on site. Check back often for new posts! At the end of the year we hope to compile a DVD with each team member summing up their experiences and conclusions related to the site and archaeology in Providence. Suggestions about this are welcome and we invite those members of the community who are curious or interested to come visit us on site every Monday!
Overall it was a successful first day!