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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]
We kicked off this week at the FBC with our annual “Community Dig Day,” the day on which members of the First Baptist Church and interested members of the greater community are invited to come and help us dig. It took place from 10-12 on Saturday the 20th, and luckily the weather was warm and dry, despite having poured all night. From the church Susan Lepore and Stan Lemons came out to help, and from our side eight members of the class volunteered their time and expertise. Thanks to Chelsea, Whit, Mark, Scott, Doug, Stephanie, Dan and Maia!
On Monday the whole class returned to the FBC to dig. With temperatures in the low 80s, and everything sunny and sparkly we couldn’t have asked for a better day to dig. It felt like the first day of excavation again!
Work continued in all trenches. In D2 Cindy, Stephanie and Dan continued to uncover the clusters of white pottery which began to appear on Saturday with Scott and Stephanie. Additionally, a bunch of large bricks were found in the NE corner of this trench, a feature which we decided to plot. Also, an interesting pipe bowl was recovered from this level.
In D1 the volume of artifacts continues its slow decline, while the amount of pebbles in the soil has shot up radically. Tyler and Chelsea manned this trench this week.
The mysterious piece of metal, plotted earlier by Scott from C2 was extracted on Saturday by Doug, Maia and Dan. Opinions remain divided as to what it is. The most popular interpretations are a piece of gardening equipment (sickle) or a horse or ox-shoe. What do you think? Let us know!
C1 worked by Mark and Veronica continued to yeild glass and brick, but nothing as exciting as the octagonal bottle found earlier there.
Nicole and Scott were in D3 this week and continue to puzzle over the funny sqaure features in the area. A penny from 1899 was recovered here this week though – the oldest coin yet recovered from site!
In D4 Maia and Stephanie tackled the unburt area of fill and clay. Building materials continue to surface from this deposit, but there is no discernable stratigraphy – everything is just jumbled together.
Overall it was a successful antepenultimate week in the field. Can’t wait to get back next week!