Journals 2007 - September 17 | Archaeology of College Hill 2007

Week 1 at the FBC

Today was our first day digging at the First Baptist Church. I have another class in the early afternoon, so I arrived at the FBC a little late. A few other students arrived around the same time as me and we were assigned to set up trench C3 in the northwest corner of the property just off Angell Street. It proved slightly more difficult than expected to lay out a 1 meter x 1 meter trench with one side facing north using stakes and string. However, we thought things through, applied ourselves, and were successful on our second attempt. After outlining the boundaries of the trench we removed the grass and began digging. All of the dirt that was removed from the trench was sifted through a large mesh seive. Almost immediately we began finding small pieces of broken glass and sections of twisted metal wire. The metal appears to have originally been part of a chainlink fence (in fact the rusted stubs of the posts that probably supported this fence are visible on the wall next to the trench). We also found a large piece of brick and a suprising number of chuncks of coal. By the end of the day we had dug about to a depth of about 12cm and had a small bag filled with the items we found (mostly small pieces of glass and coal). Now that I'm more familiar with the process of digging in the trenches, I think I'll make more significant progress next week.

Mark

Stephanie

Last Monday was our first day working in the field at the First Baptist Church. I arrived at 1 pm, eager to see how an excavation site is initially set up. Previous to Monday, my only field experience had been about a day and a half of digging at a Pueblo Indian site in Cortez, Colorado. Although I somewhat knew the basics of digging in a trench and screening dirt, I had never observed how trenches are initially set up. So, I was very intrigued to see how we go about setting up a trench and making sure it is a 1m by 1m square with 90 degree angles.

After working a bit at creating the trenches, I had to leave to go to my 2 pm Chinese class. Luckily, it was fine for me to leave and come back to continue the excavation process. Once I returned, the group had already separated out to work on 4 different trenches, beginning to remove grass and starting to dig. I went to trench C1 to help Dan and Natalie finish digging their first SU (Stratigraphic unit). I found myself really enjoying sitting outside in the grass, just digging. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, so it was quite comfortable and nice to be outside. Definitely better than sitting in a classroom for over 2 hours! During the course of our digging we found several small pieces of glass, some rusted pieces of metal (looked like they might be part of a fence) and some chunk of material that seems like it might be coal. There was also an abundance of a sort of bulbous root found during our digging. Although we cannot deduce much from these artifacts found so far, I am already starting to wonder what the pieces we found could mean. Perhaps we found evidence of an older fence from a previous construciton period. Who knows! I am excited to see what we find next.

After we reached 10 cm in depth, the end of our first SU, I went to help Nicole, who was already in the middle of her second SU, at her trench. During the course of the day, we also got fitted for dust masks, which I am sure will be very helpful when that pesky wind blows dirt all over the place during sifting! At the end of the day we cleaned up, covered the trenches with tarps, and took some notes. I can't wait to see what the rest of the semester brings in this course. Since I am anthropology major, I am eager to see if this class will influence me to get more involved in the archaeology aspect of anthropology. The idea that we can learn about the past not only from history texts and other historical documents but also from the actual evidence of life left in the ground is incredible to me. Though history often tends to record only the significant figures who stand out across time, archaeology gives us hints about the lives of real, ordinary people. I can't wait to see what else the FBC will reveal to us about the previous inhabitants of Providence. Just hope the weather will be nice again next time!

Scott

Today we began our excavations on the grounds of the First Baptist Church of America. I was assigned to trench D3 on the western side of the church and near Thomas Street. Things were already under way once i arrived, so i just jumped right in and got dirty, literally. Archaeology is dirty and dusty, in case you weren't aware. But that's part of the fun of it! In how many other disciplines do you get to play in the dirt? Granted, you have to be aware of what you're doing while you're digging. Accurate and careful excavation methodology is essential to effective archaeological practice - otherwise you really are just playing in the dirt. Without proper recording of the process, the recovered materials and data are good for not much more than decorating your mantle piece.

So, you can imagine the way my trench-team and i felt when we realized we had gotten a little too zealous and gone a little too far. We had removed all of the sod from the top of our 1m square trench and started excavating the dirt in 10cm levels, sifting it through 1/4" mesh when our buckets were full. Unfortunately we were digging with the idea that we were supposed to dig down 10cm from the top of the ground. If the trench were on a perfectly level trench that would've been right, but the FBC is on the side of College Hill. This meant that 10cm down from the surface was10cm down at the NE corner of the trench, but about 30cm down from level when measured at the SW corner.

Luckily, the first centimeters of the site don't have much information in them and are mostly homogeneous. At the end of the first stratigraphic unit (SU1, the first 10cm down) our first "feature" began to appear! in the NE quadrant of the trench we discovered a nearly perfectly square clump of lighter colored soil about 1-1/2" on each side with odd white gravel mixed in with it, like the white pieces that come in potting soil, but hard. The surprising thing was how perfectly square the feature was and how clean the corners were. It's still unclear what it is, but our first thought was that it is a post hole. Then, while still reveling in the minor excitement of finding something other than pebbles we found two more similar "features" in SU2. And these ones are larger even, at least 2" on a side. Things are looking up in trench D3 as we look forward to week 2!

Veronica

Today was the first day of excavating on the field of the First Baptist Church for our class and it was exciting working with my team. We excavated in an area where last year's class found an animal skeleton. I'm hoping that we find something similar, just as exciting or more. Today, we found huge chunks of broken glass and we are so determined to connect it to something amazing. We also found what COULD be a piece of bone (or just a piece of shell) but regardless of what it is, I just want to find more. It was interesting to find a monsterous root in our way of digging, but hey....it got there before we did fair and square as did the multiple grubs that we encountered, but we just flicked them away. Tune into next time when we dig 10 centimeters deeper......

Tyler

Field Day #1: Peeling Back the Grass, Finding Some Glass, and Wearing Mask with Class

It is interesting - just as gazing into the sky at the stars and contemplating the immensity of the expanses of the universe reminds me of the trival place of the Earth in the expanses of space, picking out tiny shards of glass from the rich soil around the First Baptist Church this afternoon succeeded in putting me in my humbling place in the continuing story of humanity. These are the haphazardly perserved vestiges of a people whom I never knew that ironically are a part of my present self. Is that odd that I should feel connected in this way, or is archaeology and all learning a struggle to piece together ourselves, glass shard by peach pit by piece red plastic?

As Veronica, Mike, and I meticulously delineated our trench - perfectly aligning it with the north-south and east-west axes, ensuring the levelness of the lines connecting our carefully placed corner stakes - I could not help but wonder if the people of the past had any idea that their daily activities would be the subject of such precise scrutiny. Do I or any of us live with the notion that our seemingly mundane present is the elusive past to those curious unborn of the future? Moreover, does this precision and meticulous, mathematical approach detract from our understanding of the humanity of the site and the people whose lives it records? Can we truly understand the artifacts that we, wearing protective masks and glasses, move from an organic, human environment into a regimented, ordered, ideal research sphere?

As I delicately toyed with the glass, the peach pit, and the shell fragment we had found, I wondered if the people of the past had any idea that these probably peripheral items in their world would be the objects by which we judge and understand them today. Do we in the present have any control over what aspects of our lives eventually end up in the hands of our posterity? After we are gone, it seems that we have no control over what of our lives is taken up by others as important to understanding us. I must say, the thought that I do not have any say as to were my underwear end up after I am gone and that they may be the only relic of my existence by which I will be understood is frigthening, but I suppose the future deserves that candidness to understand themselves. I suppose time also protects people with anonomity also. Anonymousness is a mysterious aspect of archaeology, but I wonder how unknown the people of the past really are. A book I recently read in which the author publishes and comments on the grocery lists people leave behind in the store ties into these questions and musings I had while we dug, I think. Reading these people's personal lists and "notes to self" makes these people's schedule, welfare, and worldview all remarkably tangible, making them completely known to the reader, anonymous only in name.

And as I scraped soil from the trench into my bucket with my trowel and lugged it up the hill to sift it, I wondered if my questions about these people and myself were practical. I like to think I am a scientist, but do my admittedly confusing, more philosophical questions obscure the understanding of the world or enhance it?

As you can see, I am an effusively inquisitive and passionate person. Investigating the world around me in a scientific manner arouses questions about myself; I cannot see the dynamic world around me in any other eyes but these. I do not claim to be a philospher, only a curious American trying to understand my present self as it continuously becomes wedded to the past and pulls on the future. Having used many more traditional fields like history, literature, and science as a basis for this self-examination, I am eager to explore this relationship through the new lens of archaeology for the next three months.

As I considered the glass, the peach pit, the red plastic, and the shell fragment we found in trench D2 today as I trudged back up the hill with a trailing dust cloud, I could not get that treacherously adventureous theme from Indiana Jones out of my head. Just as William's music is a beautifully confused symphony of emotion, after the dig today I am left feeling materially satiated but detached, isolated from the past. In this respect, I am looking forward to making sense of everything later in the semester in lab.

If nothing else, it seems that the pursuit of knowledge in all fields, whatever else it accomplishes, universally succeeds in comfortably humiliating us with our own triviality.

Off to hide my underwear from those relentless archaeologists of the future,

Tyler

Nicole

Today was my first day at the FBC site, which consisted of several trenches throughout the grassy area surrounding the church. I was at trench C2, in the NE corner of the site. This trench proved quite interesting, from the numerous bulbous white roots scattered throughout the trench to a pearl to some interesting pottery chards. I have never worked with the land this way before, and I find it quite exhilarating and exciting. I am used to using the land, the soil, and nurturing it so that it can produce food and products for my own use. Never have I looked to the ground to provide information about the human past through the inspection of the soil I (we all, really) depend on. Still, it has its similarities. Both gardening/farming and excavation work give you a heightened sense of place- you notice slight changes in soil texture and color, land gradient, even if someone has thrown trash near your site since the last time you worked there. Establishing this closeness with place is something that is very important to me, and I am excited that this class is allowing me to expand the ways that I can connect with the land.

On a less serious note, digging is like fulfilling that fantasy you had as a child when you actually thought you could dig deep enough in your little sandbox to find buried treasure. I mean, I found a pearl today! That is getting close, isn't it?

9/24 Today was my second day excavating at the FBC site, and I remained at site C2 in the NE corner of the site for the duration of the day. I arrived a bit late due to a long harvesting morning, but was early enough to enjoy the mixture of sun and shade provided by site C2. I worked with Maia, who just joined the class, and we had a great time exploring the depths of the SU2 and SU3 layers of the trench. We came upon some interesting sand deposits, one that seemed to be in the shape of a lock and another that followed the entire depth of SU2. I was convinced that they would lead to something more interesting, but alas my sandbox fantasy only carries so far in the real world.

However, we did find some interesting pottery chards and a button, which were my favorite finds of the day. One chard in particular was interesting because I could see a floral design painted on it, similar to pottery I recall seeing in my grandmother's cluttered china chest (oh nostalgia for the old days.... ). Also, the button was simple but humanized the whole experience of finding just small pieces of what is a complete past; someone actually used that button for something. Somehow that is more real to me when I find a whole object.

Overall it was an outstanding day, the weather cooperated and we found some interesting things. I look forward to the digs to come!

Maddy

Imagine my embarassment when, reading for the first time about archeological methods in Hester's "Field Methods in Archaeology," I learned that my amateur digging this summer at a site nearby my home could actually be pernicious, rather than just a benign diversion. I had never realized that the method of excavation was responsible for most of the information that an archaeologist has about an artifact, and that careless removal essentially nullifies any significance that the "find" could have. Although I am comforted by the probable lack of historical importance that my summer site had, I am chagrinned by my unlearned, "pothunting" approach and the impediment it may have been to future exploration of the site. Even in my first day in the field at the First Baptist Church, I saw the importance of recording the level, position and other facts about the context of an artifact, rather than just pulling an interesting item out of the ground. Although Holtorf in his "Notes on the Life History of a Pot Sherd" is rather scathing about even the most professional approaches to archeology, our methods at the First Baptist Church seem quite thorough. Of course it is up to the quick judgment of each student to deem an item interesting or uninteresting, as Holtorf says, but the major difference between that and "pothunting" seems to be the definition of what is interesting. While this summer I was essentially looking for complete, unique and easily identifiable objects, at the FBC I consider interesting anything that can tell me about the history of this area, be it shiny or otherwise. In short, fieldwork so far has been very informative as to the methods of archeology that are helpful and didactic, even better than a benign pastime.

Whit

I've had almost a week to reflect on the first day of field work at the First Baptist Church that took place on September 17th. Even though I'm an archaeology major, Monday was my first opportunity to work in the field. It was great! At first I had a little trouble setting up the trench (D1) with my group, but I think I have the hang of it now. D1 is located just to the left of the staircase that leads into the south end of FBC. Chelsea and I had a lot of fun (probably a little too much fun) digging. But we did find many "artifacts" -- lots of glass, nails and other metal, shells, and beans :) I can't wait to get started on SU2 -- I'm sure we'll find much more. Monday was a great learning experience, and this Monday should be even more enlightening!

Chelsea

Monday was our first day at the FBC. Because I registered for the course late I really had no clue where that was or what we were doing. I have myself some extra time to find the church and ended up waiting around for 20 minutes for everyone else to get there. It was nice though. I sat in the grass and listened to music and did the Brown Daily Heral Crossword Puzzle. For some reason I only knew the answers to the 'across' half.

When the rest of the class got to the site we started to set up our trenches. Whit and I ended up with D1 which happened to be on a hill. It made it a little more difficult to get our measurements right and the digging was slower, but it also made it more interesting. Instead of having one flat and boring arbitrary SU (stratographic unit) we ended up digging into only the southern (uphill) half of the trench for our first SU. For SU 2 we'll be going down vertically but also out and to the North. Setting up the trench was a bit of an ordeal. Two of our corners were very warped wooden stakes and it was hard to get our angles and lengths right. And our little balancing bubble level thing kept falling off of our string. But thanks to our amazing measuring, compassing and multi-tasking skills we finally got it all set up.

We found a lot of artifacts in D1, mainly pieces of glass and metal with a couple of shells and some plastic mixed in. The coolest thing we found was a little rusty metal clasp to something. And I found some seeds/beans which looked like lentils.

I enjoyed chatting with Whit during the dig and it was nice to be out in the sun and playing in the dirt.-

Cindy

On the 1st day (Sept. 17) we met up at the Institute and walked down to the FBC to start setting up trenches. The first one, which is on the slope on the right of the FBC, was difficult, since the levels were so uneven that we had to use wooden stakes, which were bent and a little too flexible when it came to measuring out the string. More people kept showing up around 2, and then again at 3, so we kept setting up more trenches. My second was on the left side of the front lawn, and the third and last was on the left side on this grassy strip by Thomas Street. Both of these went up easier than the first, partially because of the level nature of the ground and partially because I had more practice.

Jeff and I started taking up the grass and were joined shortly by Maddy. It's a bit crowded working with 2 other people on a 1 x 1 trench. We were a little overzealous and didn't realize we had gone down 17cm instead of 10. Just after we finished the first SU, some guys from EHS came to tell us about soil safety and fit us for dust masks.

We finished SU 2 before the day was over, and then covered the trenches, packed up and went home. We found a whole bunch of glass shards and a whole bunch of nails and screws, and a piece of a brick and some ceramic pieces.

Doug

As though an affirmation that its loftiest tenant condoned our digging up his front yard, our initial day at the First Baptist Church was graced with a perfect September afternoon. After only a few quadrangular misadventures, we laid out D3 squarely. Making short work of the first layer of sod and soil in SU1, we accidentally demonstrated our enthusiasm for the archaeological task at hand by over-digging the most downhill corner of the trench by 5cm. Our efforts, however, were not in vain; we unearthed a lighter-colored, inch-by-inch square feature in the dirt which looked like it might have been made by a fence post being hammered into the ground. All things considered, it was a successful day.

Class Journals 2007
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