Julie's Field Blog

Monday September 14, 2009

Today marked our first class and our first day on site at the John Brown House. We met in Wilson Hall to do preliminaries and walked over to the JBH. The house is beautiful even though we just saw it from the outside. The grounds are likewise lovely, although once we started digging I realized it was far rockier than at first it appeared. When we first arrived at the JBH we walked the grounds, discussing results from last years excavations. We were able to see the depressions left from the dig units the class worked on last year. This year we’ll be working on a few units near previous sections, with the hope that we’ll be able to gain more information about specific features. Today I was working in the Unit 7 team. Unit 7 was established after the class performed sample digging to find architectural features of (hopefully) one of the complex’s outbuildings.

Our digging today consisted of removing the fill from the sample unit, which was marked by a tarp. Though the sample unit was small, the area had been considerably infiltrated by roots from the nearby trees, which in conjunction with the many rocks, made digging difficult at first. We also had some trouble ascertaining the extent of the sample unit as only a small portion of the tarp was visible, even after some time digging. Finally we were able to access all four sides of the tarp and pull out the remaining soil. Beneath we were actually able to see a section of the stone wall/foundation! It was certainly gratifying to see something so early on in the class, and I’m excited to come back next week to see what else we can find!

Monday September 21, 2009

Last week I was working on Unit 7 digging out the backfill of a sample test pit from last year. Today, however, I switched from Unit 7 to Unit 8.

The day started off with another tour of the yard to find out the results of last week’s digs. The students working on Unit 6 last week had also finished removing backfill, as Unit 6 is an enlarged dig site from last year’s class. Units 8 and 9, which didn’t have backfill to remove, were delineated using the twine last week, and were therefore ready for digging when we arrived.

Unit 8 is located near the newest additions to the JBH, and was previously the site of some of the house’s outbuildings such as the stable. This unit is 2 x 2 and therefore required a few extra hands. The unit is located behind the trellis, and was shadier than the other units as a result. Though the edges were already demarcated with the twine, Laura, Sarah, Andrew, and I had to work on removing the top soil layer. This task was more difficult than one might imagine, as the area is covered by leafy vines, moss, and rocks. Once we cut the edges and started breaking into the soil with the pointed shovels, we realized gardening sheers were necessary to tackle the vine roots we were encountering.

We still ended up with a considerable amount of leaves and vines in our buckets, which then went in with the dirt into the sieves. Luckily, the sieving paid off. We were able to find pieces of glass bottles, presumably from beer and wine bottles. We were also able to find several large chunks of red brick, probably left over debris from previous renovations to the house. From the dirt, we were also able to find pieces of coal, which would have been used as heating fuel. Peculiar pieces of a thin orange plastic also appeared in the context. We’re not sure what its source might have been, but it was interesting nonetheless. The best finds, however, were a piece of a white clay tobacco pipe and several pieces of pottery. Krysta explained that we can date the pipe by boring into the center- I can’t wait to try that out! The pottery was also very interesting. Most of the pieces we found were white glazed with blue designs. One exhibited curvature, signifying that it was either part of a teacup or a small saucer.

Overall, I was really pleased with what we were able to find and accomplish today. We still need to even out the plot, but we were able to work our way down to a level with more clay-like dirt. It seems like our unit has a lot more to yield and I’m excited to see what we’ll find next week!

Monday September 28, 2009

Today marked our third day digging at the John Brown House. The first week I worked on Unit 7 in the western section of the yard. Last week, I switched to help out on Unit 8 located on the northeastern edge of the yard, boarding the house. This week, I switched yet again to work on Unit 9, which is located slightly to the southeast of Unit 8, also along the house’s side. Unit 9 is a smaller plot, 1 by 1 meter. Its location was picked for exploration this year because of its proximity to the house. However, we have no documentation stating that a structure or particular feature was located in that spot. Thus, the unit is of smaller dimensions.

Only two of us were working on the unit because of its small size. Michael has been working on Unit 9 from the beginning, so he was able to fill me in on all the background. Last week, Michael and Alex broke ground and actually hit a new context based on soil change approximately 2 cm below the datum point. Therefore, today Michael and I started off by finishing up the excavation form for the first context, JBH 44. We did so by taking exit measurements of the four corners in relation to the datum point. We also found the Munsell value and described the general quality of the soil in JBH 44. To begin our new context, JBH 47, will filled in the excavation form with our entrance measurements (the same as the previous exit measurements), and took an official photograph of the new context. Then we got into the trowelling.

It was nice to work on Unit 9 this week because it was a much easier plot to manage and maintain. Michael and I had to contend with a lot of rocks, however, the plot itself is small and on a fairly level plan, making it easy to progress down evenly. When we started, we came across several colorful slugs and a few earth worms. Though we didn’t recover large finds, we were able to find several pieces of broken glass and porcelain, as well as building materials such as copper flashing, a nail, and pieces of brick. One particular piece of porcelain that Michael recovered even had a beautiful hand painted design of a pink rose on it. Elise, who was overseeing Units 8 and 9 this week, was thrilled with that find! The amount of household debris that we’ve recovered so far makes sense with the unit’s proximity to the house, as it would have been easy and natural for household debris to be deposited to that side of the house. Hopefully, we’ll be able to recover even better examples of household goods.

The unit was very rocky, and at times difficult to trowel because the context, JBH 47, was a mottled soil with heavy patches of the light gray/brown clay that we had found last week over in Unit 8. As we were working our way down, Michael and I thought we had stumbled upon some type of architectural feature as a small area toward the northwest of the center seemed to have larger stones overlapping. We weren’t able to finish exploring this feature before the end of class today, however, it seems most likely that this feature is really just a couple of larger surface stones that were packed into a larger formation of the clay-like soil. We also think we may have reached another context approximately 9.5 cm down from the datum point, as throughout the unit we came across a darker, richer brown soil, with small patches of an amber-brown soil. It’s possible that this is merely the remains of decayed organic matter, such as an old root system, as we did find small areas of deep red in JBH 47. Once we complete examinations of the “feature” that we found, we’ll have a better idea of whether or not this new soil is indeed a new context.

Monday October 5, 2009

Today I was working on Unit 9 with Michael again. We started the day with our usual tour of the grounds to find out what the units accomplished last week. Though today was beautiful and sunny, the units were damp from the weekend rains. Michael and I found it particularly wet in the north-west corner of the unit, where the soil was predominately the gray-brown clay. Like last week, we had several creepy-crawlies keeping us company at the unit.

Last week, we had thought it possible that we had reached a third context, based on a change in the soil color and composition. The soil we were encountering throughout the unit, with the exception of the north-west corner, was a fine dark-brown and almost red soil, similar to the appearance of silt. Toward the north-west of the center, we had also left a collection of stones that we thought could be some type of architectural feature. However, as we continued trowelling in that corner to look for a uniform change to the dark-brown and red soil, we realized that the larger stones were merely held in place by the clay-like soil, and were not in fact a man-made feature.

As we trowelled throughout the rest of the unit, Michael came across a black hose, definitely of modern technology, and most likely linked to the house’s sprinkler system. The hosing curved along the south-east corner. Though this discovery means that we will not be able to dig further in that corner, it does provide insight into the appearance of the silt dirt in the areas excluding the north-west corner. It seems most likely that the dark-brown and red soil was the backfill put in place after the channel was dug for the piping. In light of this discovery, we have returned to digging 10 cm down for the beginning of the second context to mark our third context.

Our excavations were interrupted when Units 9 and 8 were called in to tour the interior of the John Brown House. David Santos, who is the Education and Visitor Services Manager for the house museum, started our tour by discussing the exterior appearance of the house, both as it would have been in John Brown’s time, and as it stands now. Inside the house, we were able to see portraits of John Brown and his wife, as well as those of other inhabitants of the JBH. On the first floor we were able to look at the two parlors, dining room, butler’s pantry, and glass-floored servants’ staircase. I enjoyed the way in which the two parlors were displayed for visitors. Not only were the rooms gorgeous with reproductions of original wallpapers (admittedly the colors and patterns were a bit bizarre for modern tastes), but the arrangement of other artifacts came the impression of what life could have been like for the Brown family while occupying the home. I particularly liked the way in which the larger parlor was staged as though a gathering had just taken place, with dishes and napkins strewn about the room, and even a broken plate on the floor. The mannequins were also very interesting as they were posed doing “everyday” activities, but were dressed in actual period clothing.

Toward the back of the structure, we were able to see John Brown’s carriage, which David described as the cross-between “a Hummer and a Bentley.” It certainly was massive and ornate. Perhaps most interesting was the fact that it would have been considered a single-person carriage, and John Brown most often used it alone. However, when George Washington came to visit, the two apparently rode together in the carriage. David also took us briefly up to the second floor, where we were able to peak into the master bedroom and the “sick room.” He also told us about the wedding that John Brown’s daughter held in the house before it was actually completed. As the first floor was unfinished, they held the reception on the second floor, and held the dancing in between the chambers and along the hallway. Overall I was extremely impressed by the house, both the features dating to John Brown and those added by Marsden Perry.

After the tour, we returned to digging, and primarily worked on leveling out the unit. Our finds for the day were not as exciting as last week, especially since our “architectural feature” turned out to be nothing of import. However, we were able to recover a few pieces of white plastic, what appear to be blue paint chips, several small pieces of glass, a rusted screw, and some interesting pieces of wood. One wood piece was most definitely altered by man as it exhibited a perfectly smooth right-angled corner. Next week we will start a new context, and hopefully will be able to work our way through the backfill, to an undisturbed context!

Monday October 19, 2009

It’s been two weeks since we have dug at the JBH. The wet weather over this past weekend, left the ground wet as has been normal for the past few class meetings. Though the whether today was beautiful and sunny, the ground was particularly wet. Due to the fact that we hadn’t been back on the site for two weeks, the tarp covering Unit 9 drooped considerably, allowing the water to collect underneath, inside of the trench. More water was on top of the tarp, and upon removal joined the rest in unit. So to begin our day, Michael and I had to bail out our little unit, with considerable help from Breda.

After removing the four or so inches of water, Michael and I scraped off the thin layer of silt that had accumulated throughout the unit. Luckily, the sides hadn’t been compromised and we were able to start troweling without too much trouble. When we started, we still have a few larger rocks protruding into the unit from the north and east walls, as well as what we thought could be a stone feature toward the north-east of the center. We continued to work around these features, as well as the irrigation piping uncovered two weeks ago, focusing on working down to our next context based on the arbitrary ten centimeter measurement. As we approached our third context, we attempted to take a Munsell, but found it difficult because of the soil’s saturation. The wetness of the soil also made it slightly more difficult to work the sifters.

We were successful in reaching a new context based on measurement about half way through today’s class. In this new context we recovered quite a few pieces of rusted metal, one of which is a rather large iron nail, possibly large enough to qualify as a spike or stake. Other pieces we recovered included another piece of white plastic, a piece of broken glass, and what appears to be two small sherds of a shiny, white porcelain. Our most exciting find of the day was a nursery tag for a wintercreeper plant. The tag was located just west of the southern end of the irrigation pipe, with the picture facing up. We believe the tag was deposited here during the backfill process after the piping was laid. It seems likely that general landscaping would have happened around this same time, thus lending opportunity to the deposition. Overall, the work today was harder going because of the soil conditions, however, Michael and I were able to make steady progress.

Monday October 26, 2009

This past weekend saw further torrential rains. Luckily, this week the water remained on top of the tarp as opposed to underneath it. After bailing out and removing the tarp, we did our tours of the other units before starting to dig again. Michael and I were trying to work our way down quickly today as we only have about two class sessions after today during which we’ll be able to dig. We were working on the same context as last week, featuring mottled soil and lots of small rocks.

We were successful in working quickly, uncovering a few pieces of broken class, several pieces of brick, a small piece of blue pottery (perhaps porcelain), and what appear to be more white paint chips. However, when we hit about 22.5 cm down on the western section of the unit we came across a grey electric wire approximately 2 cm wide. Since we had also uncovered the irrigation pipe, we did not want to continue digging until we knew exactly why the wire was there. Krysta looked at the wire, and then spoke with members of the JBH staff and RI archaeologists to assess the issue. It turned out that the wire was the main electrical for the building, which necessarily but a stop to our investigation of Unit 9. Previously, it had been thought that the wire was located 3 feet to the north of our unit. So although we had to stop working, we were helpful in pinpointing the wire’s location for future records.

Before we could leave the unit, Michael and I took an official closing photo as well as pictures of the unit/wire in relation to the house and Unit 8. We finished our excavation summary of the unit, and Krysta informed us that we would be starting on a new project near the walkway from the parking lot to the house. During the conversation with the RI archaeologists, Krysta learned that the geo-thermal digging which was slated to occur on the eastern side of the JBH is in fact going to take place in the western yard, near the pathway. Since the geo-thermal digging could destroy possible archaeological finds, Michael and I will dig a test pit in order to determine if there is anything worth investigating further.

Due to time constraints, Krysta started us on the STP while she began backfilling Unit 9. Since we did not have a compass, Krysta showed us how to mark out the STP (75 cm by 75 cm) using four tape measurers. We then used a shovel to delineate the sides before removing the sod. We also did not have the proper STP form, which relies more on a stratigraphic drawing of one side of the STP (in our case, the northern wall). Krysta therefore had to fashion one from our normal excavation papers. As Krysta backfilled Unit 9, throwing in a 2009 penny, Michael and I began removing the sod and topsoil. Unfortunately we did not get very far before the end of class. Nevertheless, since STPs progress downward faster than regular units, we should be able to accomplish a lot next week.

Monday November 02, 2009

As this past weekend was Daylight Savings Time, and we “fell back,” sunset today was schedule for approximately 4:45 pm. Since it is difficult to perform good archaeological investigations in the dark, some of us began digging earlier than the official start of class. The weather final broke on us, and when I arrived it was lightly raining. I started work on STP 3, trying to get down through the topsoil context. At first the digging was impeded by smaller roots within the first several centimeters. As I made by way down however, I started encountering much larger pieces of wood- possibly branches or very large, dead roots. One large piece of wood in particular, running from the north wall through the east wall, was immovable until an hour or so in to digging.

I was successful in getting through a couple of bucket loads before Michael arrived. We continued digging and came across several interesting finds. While we found several pieces of broken brick and a few pieces of glass, we started encountering high numbers of pottery sherds- some with blue and some with green designs- and also a large amount of coal pieces. We made quick progress, and hit a new context, JBH 60, which consisted of a lighter brown soil. The digging in JBH 60 was much rockier than in the previous context. The amount of rocks and the constricted nature of the 75 X 75 cm test pit, made digging a little more difficult. Nevertheless, by the end of class today we were able to see a potential new context peaking through, exhibiting a much more yellow, sandy soil.

In JBH 60 we record several more pottery pieces, as well as more coal, and larger pieces of glass. It is intriguing that we found so much pottery considering our distance from the house and the previous outdoor kitchen that was present on the grounds. It seemed as though several of the pieces of pottery were from the same original piece, though we will have to wait until we go into the lab to know for sure. My favorite find from the day was actually a very small piece. It appeared to be either brown pottery or plastic, and had a projecting line near its top, most likely from decoration. Though I have no idea what it came from, it was a very intriguing piece. I’m hopeful that next week we can continue digging the STP to that next soil layer, to find out if it is a new context, or if it is the sterile, glacial soil.

Monday November 9, 2009

Today was our last dig day. The weather was gorgeous- 65 and sunny. What made it even better was that it did not rain torrentially this past weekend like it has pretty much every weekend since the start of the semester. That meant, I did not have to bail out the STP or the tarp!

This week, I came early again to get a jump start on digging since sunset was scheduled for about 4:30. Last week Michael and I had succeeded in making a lot of progress, and we thought we might be reaching a new context. Today, I started by digging to see if the soil change was consistent throughout the STP. As I was digging, I came across some fantastic finds including larger pieces of porcelain- some which have blue or green designs, and some which have no design. The most exciting pottery find for me today was a larger piece (about 2 inches across) from the bottom section of a shallow bowl or curved plate. The piece had some floral design with red/pink and brown. But I most enjoyed seeing the bottom rim on the underside of the shard.

When Michael joined at 3 pm I still had not uncovered all of the new soil- a yellow sand that is most likely the sterile glacial sand. The eastern side of the STP should fairly consistently the sand, however, I could not seem to uncover any at all along the northern wall, or on the western side. We continued to find smaller pieces of pottery and many pieces of broken glass- mostly clear but Michael did uncover a piece of brown glass, most likely from a bottle neck. The digging was also getting progressively harder due to large and small rocks riddling our small STP. This made it rather frustrating to dig along the western wall, as we were roughly 60 cm down from the surface. Luckily, I have long arms so I was able to manage without laying down on the ground, but it was still a bit of a stretch.

As time was winding down, we finally uncovered the glacial sand along the western wall. The difference between the sand level on the eastern and western walls was about 20 cm. To end the STP, we took a few photos and set about finishing the paperwork. We had to create a level line along the northern wall. From that line, we measured the depths of our three contexts (JBH 55, JBH 60, and the glacial sand). We then graphed this profile onto the excavation form. We then set about helping the Unit 8ers backfill, proceeded to backfill the STP, and then helped with backfilling Units 6 and 7. By the end of the backfilling process, it was definitely dark out (that is to say it was 5 pm), and we were all tired and covered in dirt.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience of working on the STP. It was nice to be able to dig quickly, based solely on soil change, and we were able to recover quite a bit of material. It was certainly interesting to find the amount of pottery that we did, as well as the large amount of coal that we found, that far down the hill from the house. From what I gathered from our information about the house, both through past research and through the tour at the JBH museum, I would not have expected to find such materials since the outdoor kitchens were presumably closer to the newest addition. It will be interesting to look more closely at the finds when we go into the lab next week.