Cindy Oh's Field Blog

Week 1, 13 September 2010

We first met in a small lecture room at Salomon to discuss details of the course, including the syllabus and the fieldwork we would be doing at the John Brown House. Krysta showed us maps of the dig site and pointed out where units from previous years had been laid out. We then headed to the storage shed to pick up the tools we would need to set up our units, and then walked across the street to the John Brown House. Krysta gave us a tour of the dig site, which was fairly sizable, and it wasn't difficult to see where the old units were located because the vegetation in those areas had not fully back grown yet. Krysta told us to think about possible units for this year, and not so subtly hinted that she would really like to set up a unit near Unit 7 or unbackfill Unit 7 to find out more about the features they had found there last year.

We had a brief discussion about where we would like to set up our units and the class was then split into two groups, one to start unbackfilling Unit 7 and another to measure out two new units. I chose to be in the latter group. From the maps of the site Krysta had shown us, we could see that there had been a fountain towards the south-west corner, so we decided to set up a 2 metres by 2 metres unit there to see if we could find any remnants of it. (I'm really glad that we're using the metric system!!) Setting up the unit was a much more difficult process than I had expected because it had to be a perfect square, but using measuring tapes, a compass and the combined efforts of everyone, we pulled through. The second unit we set up was near the north-west corner, where the Hale Ives house had been. I can't wait to start digging next week!

Week 2, 20 September 2010

We met at the storage shed, picked up our tools and then headed over to the JBH. We split into three groups of four and numbered the three units we set up last week; the unit in the area where the Hale Ives house once stood is Unit 10, Unit 7 is now Unit 11, and the unit in the area where we think the fountain might be is Unit 10. I chose to work on Unit 12 with Olivia, Brandon and Max.

First, we measured the elevation of our site and then wrapped bright orange tape around the stakes of our unit to mark the square. Secondly, we divided the roles of photographer, note taker and digger amongst ourselves; I was the photographer. We set up the chalk board with details about the unit and placed it facing North, with the meter stick in front and I took a few photos. I also used a video camera to record details about the surroundings but then it turned off and I think the video might be lost. Next, we laid out a tarp next to the unit for our backfilled material and got to work on the unit. We started by picking up all the branches off the surface and then skimming a 2cm layer off. It was much harder than we expected it to be because although the soil was quite soft, there were a lot of roots interfering. After we filled a few buckets full of backfilled material, Brandon and Max started the screening process. Olivia and I continued digging. We alternated a few times in between until we had shaved off a 4cm layer. We ended up finding a couple of items, most notably pieces of ceramics. Hopefully, we'll find more things next week!

Week 3, 27 September 2010

Instead of meeting at the JBH, we met at the Rhode Island Hall instead and then walked over to the Rhode Island Historical Society Library which I hadn't known was so close to campus. We got free memberships and a tour of the place, which should definitely be a big help when it's time to do research for our final projects. I'm slightly worried about using the card catalogue though! Afterwards, we headed over to the JBH and received an extensive tour of the house which I appreciated. It was really exciting to be able to step foot into the house and explore the insides with the help of our tour guide, Dan, who was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of the place and the family.

Week 4, 4 October 2010

We continued to dig this week. We thought we had a new context because the soil in the north west corner was softer and appeared to be of a different colour than the rest of the soil. Krysta suggested we even out the primary context and see if we could find this new type of soil throughout the entire unit or if it was isolated in the north west corner. Although we did find that the new type of soil could be found throughout the entire unit, we deemed that it wasn't a new context because it was more likely that the soil was appearing to be different because it was more condensed.

It was difficult shoveling more centimeters off the primary context because we uncovered more and extensive root systems this week. The root cutters were heavily used and in fact, I spent most of the session breaking up the root systems so that Max and Olivia could easily dig. By the end of the session, the roots were almost gone. I also clearly defined the walls with the help of Krysta so now our unit actually looks like a square. We found several more artifacts this week (I think we're winning!) including notably a big piece of brick, an iron nail, pieces of string, white stones and several pieces of slate. I'm hoping we find a new context soon!

Week 5, 18 October 2010

I was the scribe for this week. The top layer of our unit had dried since our last session so the colour was slightly different. Roots also seemed to have grown in the last two weeks so the root cutter was put to much use. After digging a few centimetres, we finally declared a new context because we began to see mottled, softer clay throughout almost the entire unit. Krysta suggested that the soil we're seeing was probably material that was used to backfill the pit left behind after removing the fountain. We cleaned up the visible roots and used a brush to get rid of footprints etc. so that the unit would look nice for the photos.

We then took elevation levels and noticed that the west side of the unit was much deeper than the east side so we spent the rest of the time evening out and deepening the new context. The new context was more difficult to dig at because there were a lot of rocks embedded in the soil. At the end of the session, we did a colour reading of the soil from our primary context. We continued to find more artifacts today including more marble fragments, pieces of glass, iron nails, coal and porcelain fragments. The most exciting find was probably the several, large pieces of porcelain from the south east corner that appear to have belonged to the same plate!

Week 5, 23 October 2010

Today we opened up the site to visitors here at Brown for Family Weekend. I was the only one from our group present so I answered most of the questions the visitors asked about our unit. Generally, they were interested in why we chose to put our unit where it is and the kind of artifacts we've found so far. I think we had a nice number of visitors and it was exciting to see that they were genuinely interested in what we were doing!

Krysta and two other staff members from the Institute helped out with the digging and the screening process and by the end of the session, we had a nicely defined, even square pit. I'm hoping it'll stay even until Monday because the west side of the unit tends to collapse during the week due to the tarp covering it. Artifacts seem to pop up every minute or so; today we found two corroded nails, a big shard of glass, more porcelain pieces, fragments of marble (maybe from the fountain?), pieces of mortar, charcoal and iron. I can't wait to clean up the artifacts and start analyzing them because I think we have fairly sizeable porcelain fragments that used to make up a single plate, and we might have marble pieces that used to be part of the fountain. I have to say today was pretty successful and I hope the unit stays even until Monday so Max, Brandon and Olivia can see how much we got done!

Week 6, 25 October 2010

This week we started off by touring all of the units; I took videos using the flip camera for use in my final project. We then split into our groups and began work on our respective units. We continued to dig a few more centimetres into the unit, maintaining its evenness. We worked at a slightly slower pace than normal because Max was off working on his final project but we still got a lot done because instead of having section, we excavated for an extra hour. We found a lot of things including a green piece of pottery from the 1800s, charcoal, mortar, marble, nails, shards of glass and more ceramics. Our biggest find of the day was probably the sewage pipe in the south side of the unit, although we weren't too happy about it. I guess I'm just glad it's not in the middle of the unit. We shovel shaved the area around it down to the level of the pipe and then taped off the area.

Next week, I plan on taking photos of and interviewing everyone for my final project; I think the video is going to be sort of like a documentary. I'm excited!

Week 7, 1 November 2010

This week was our second to last week of digging. :( We started off again by taking a tour of all the units and then went crazy digging. We are now pretty much knee deep and the area we had to tape off last week because of the pipe we found came in useful in that it now serves as a step for us to get in and out of the unit. We found more bricks, nails, glass, plastic and different types of ceramics including ones which had red, green, black and green and blue patterns. Although we're still working on the same context and we haven't found any structural features, we've probably made the most progress in terms of depth and found the most artifacts. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that Unit 12 is awesome. In between digging I took several videos and interviewed a person from each unit for my final project. Brandon, Olivia and I also had fun re-enacting situations.

Week 8, 8 November 2010

This week was our last week of digging, which made all of us sad. I arrived to see Max and Olivia bailing water out of our unit; I quickly jumped in to help. We got most of the water out but as a result the unit was really muddy. It was difficult to not only dig but also to sift through the dirt. It took us about an hour to get through one bucket. The situation got worse when it started to rain. Towards the end, Krysta suggested we might as well just trowel through the unit which is what we ended up doing. We continued to find more artifacts and ended up reaching a new context, the glacial deposit layer. As the sun started disappearing, we packed up and headed over to the carriage house. There we started the process of washing our artifacts and laying them out on the screens to dry. It quickly became clear that we could categorize our finds into 4 groups: pottery, glass, stoneware and metals.

Week 9, 15 November 2010

This week we wrapped up our fieldwork at the JBH by doing stratigraphy analysis, taking Munsell samples and photo documenting the four walls of the unit. Then we proceeded to backfill units 10 and 12, which we didn't finish doing until after sunset. As a result, we didn't have time for section/lab. I'm looking forward to analyzing all the artifacts we've found so far and to see what the other units have found as well!

Week 10, 22 November 2010

I was absent this week.