Jenneth Igbokwe's Field Blog

Week 1, September 13th

Today, we had our first class meeting. Krysta explained the setup of the class and oriented us with our digging site. She provided us with a brief history of the site and illustrated what sort of work the excavations would entail. We walked over to the John Brown House where she gave us a tour of the area and pointed out several different aspects of the land, as well as where previous classes had dug. Afterwards, we split up into two groups. The first group headed over to Unit 7 with Jessica to remove the backfill, and the second group went off with Krysta to pick out their own respective dig sites.

As a member of the first group, I went straight to work with my shovel. We made excellent progress as we dug and got to know each other better. We hit the tarp in several different places, more so where the foundation wall lay. However, we ran out of time and weren’t able to finish. We put our tools away and called it a day, and now I can’t wait to get back out there and finish digging!

Week 2, September 20th

Today, we were assigned our unit numbers. Unit 10 is closest to Benefit St. by the Robert Ives House, unit 11 is adjacent to unit 7, and unit 12 was placed over the possible location of a fountain. Within my own unit (11), I was in charge of the paperwork. We removed the rest of the backfill and unearthed the tarp to reveal the foundation wall. Since our unit is a continuation of the work done by unit 7, we decided to make an “L” shaped excavation site southwest of the original unit seven. Our current unit isn’t 2x2 meters because we decided to give ourselves some leeway and wait until we’ve broken some real ground in order to determine in which direction we want our site to continue.

Afterwards, we measured the elevation by first finding the datum and then placing stakes and string at each corner of our unit. I recorded the results and described the site as it appeared. We took our first photograph and were then finally able to begin shaving the soil. As part of the sifting team, on what happened to be a very windy day, I ended up covered in dirt, which proved to be worthwhile since we recovered a few artifacts: a rusty beer bottle cap, a cigarette filter, and a tiny piece of plastic.

Week 3, September 27th

We did not dig this week; rather, we went to two different places, the Rhode Island Historical Society Library and the John Brown House Museum. At the RIHS Library, we were oriented with the resources available to us. We learned how to use the course catalog as well as the electronic database. Additionally, at the end, we got a chance to see some cool artifacts and maps.

At the John Brown House, we were given a tour of all three floors. This was actually the second time that I’ve been on the tour. In fact, Mary had been my tour guide the first time around. It was also a lot more condensed this second time around, though still a lot of information. The best part of the day, however, was when Dan brought out a sizeable assortment of sherds that he had salvaged from the backyard. Many of them were very large, and I’m sure they could be assembled back into one dish.

Week 4, October 4th

Today was quite the laborious day. We dug a lot. We needed to create defined walls, so not only did we get to use the trowel but we also got to use the brush. We used the root clippers extensively, as well. In fact, I may have used the root clippers more than I used the shovel. Nick got to use a saw and cut through a massive root.

We found lots of ceramic sherds. If I recall correctly, one of them may have belonged to a bowl, since you could make out what was possibly the edge of a rim. There was also this mysterious black piece, which we could not identify as any material we’ve seen before. We also found an oxidized nail in the funkiest shape.

Most importantly, we created a new context! As we dug deeper we found gravel throughout the unit. It appears that we will be hitting architecture pretty soon. Lastly, I got to take a picture of the new context, and we measured the elevation again, though, because we didn’t do it from the exact same point on our datum, we’re going to have to do it again the next time we go out.

Week 5, October 18th

Today’s class began with updates from each respective unit. Afterwards, once we were back at our unit, we re-measured the levels because at the end of last week, we had the string too high on the datum point. Since we reached a new kind of sediment, we used the Munsell color chart to determine its color code. We started digging with our trowels once again and came across several patches of orange and yellow, which were used as filler. We hit more gravel and soon afterwards, Nick dug up a brick, and then some mortar, and then some more brick. And finally, we unearthed a wall! This wall runs parallel to the previous wall uncovered by unit 7, which may lead to the belief that it is simply a landscape feature, but because we also found several sherds, we believe these walls to be foundation walls.

We decided that we have about five new contexts, since all over the unit, depending on which side of the wall you’re discussing, there are various components that it set it apart from the rest. To the west of the new wall, there isn’t too much going on. In between the two walls, however, are all sorts of items such as brick, mortar, and nails. On the eastside of the unit is you’ll mostly find the patches of orange and yellow.

Week 6, October 25th

Before we began digging today, we measured the closing elevations of context 68, and then created three new contexts. Context 70 represents the soil directly in front of our datum, to the west of our wall. Context 71 represents the wall itself, and context 72 is the soil in between the two walls, which is much lighter and full of tile. We also used the Munsell color chart again and took several pictures.

We really tore into context 70 today. We used shovels to get really deep, but still didn’t find much except for a couple of sherds, tons of roots, and one monstrous root that ran straight through our wall into context 72. We more clearly defined the width of the wall and found some more nails, which has become a common and exclusive occurrence in this context. In context 72, since we were all rather intimidated, we didn’t make as much progressive as we could or should have. However, we did discover that the tile is being held together by mortar. And once Krysta arrived to help, she soon discovered a large and deep hole emitting a foul smell causing mosquitoes to surround our unit as we worked.

Week 7, November 1st

This week’s goal was to dig up as much dirt before sunset. We didn’t touch context 70 too much, since we haven’t uncovered many artifacts from the area. We focused our attention on context 72, in between the two walls, in which all of the action is taking place. We troweled our way through and discovered even more mystery holes. We found another rectangular block of tile, in addition to removing the first two blocks we found. The second block consisted of smoother-looking tile that weren't as large as the previous blocks.

We also took an unofficial picture of our unit. We tidied up with the brushes and took several shots of each context, our features, and even our blocks of tile.

We found lots more brick and mortar, and even some charcoal for the first time.

Week 8, November 8th

This week’s dig was a race against time and the elements. We knew we had to dig quickly, because the sun was setting at 4:30. So, with our tools in hand, we immediately set to work. I worked exclusively in context 70 with a shovel, while Alicia and Nick worked in context 72. As has been since the start of the semester, context 70 has very little material culture to offer, but context 72, on the other hand, has become an even bigger mystery. Several large rocks were removed and so that a soil sample could be taken. There appears to be yet another hole in the southeast corner of the context, which unfortunately, runs beyond our unit limits.

There are several theories being thrown out in regards to the things we find. One includes the collapse of a building which would explain the position and layers of tile, brick, mortar, and slate that are being uncovered. Once it started to rain heavily, it was time to pack up and head to lab.

Once we were in the lab, Krysta oriented us with the materials we would be using and explained proper procedure. We started by brushing away the layers of dirt, and then using water to clean the objects off. We managed to clean the majority, but the finds from context 72 have left us with much more to do.

Week 9, November 15th

Today, Alicia and I worked together on sketching our unit. We used graph paper to make it as precise as possible, since we were focusing on our walls. We would choose a point in the unit to graph, then Alicia would measure the distances from the zero with tape measurers, and I would mark it on the graph paper. I would then eyeball the general shape of the object (stone, brick, or mortar) in question and connect the dots accordingly. We did this all afternoon, which was really only an hour and a half, leaving us with very little time. We didn’t finish, and thus had to return at a later date to complete it. Afterwards, we headed over to Unit 12 to backfill.

Week 10, November 22nd

Unit 11 was finally closed today, after what seemed to be the shortest semester ever. We put the tarp in place and then proceeded to backfill. Afterwards, we headed over to the lab to finish up cleaning our objects. While there we selected our three objects. Mine were a nail, a chalky tile, and a ceramic bottle stopper. I also got to look through the finds from STP 3.

Week 11, November 29th

We finished cleaning the remaining objects and then bagged and stored them. Krysta also explained certain types of ceramics, and Jessica took lots of pictures.