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Archaeology of College Hill 2010 - Home

Syllabus

Schedule of classes and readings

Field Blogs

Critical Responses

Excavation & Unit Summaries

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Final Projects


Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

 

 

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]

Unit 10 Shelf

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                                                                             Unit 10 Shelf | Images from the Panel | The Artifacts

Summary of JBH Unit 10:

Here is the panel from the top shelf of the Rhode Island Hall basement exhibit. This shelf represents the work done at unit 10. The location for the site of unit 10 was chosen to try to learn more about a house that previously stood in the vicinity, known as the Robert Hale Ives House. The aim was to find an area associated with the front door. However, The Robert Hale Ives House was built sometime between 1834-1857 by Robert Hale Ives. Ives acquired the land from a descendent of John Brown. John Brown originally owned the whole plot of land, and built his own home, which still stands today as the JBH museum, around 1786. The Robert Hale Ives House was demolished in 1923-1926. The large image on the bottom of this shelf's background panel is a drawing of what the house may have once looked like.

The students in the class determined the area by referencing the anomalies on a GIS (Geographic Information System) map from 2008. However, this year we determined by using a new set of maps created by Max Mankin ’11, that the area of unit 10 was slightly off from where the house would have been, but the amount of items found indicates that it may have been some sort of trash pit or repository, and the loose soil indicates that it was an area of use, but not constant activity. To learn more about the history of the site, its use, and items not displayed here, please read the Unit 10 excavation summary and interpretation by Laura Leddy in the 2010 JBH site report.


Uploaded Image Here is a photo taken of the Hale Ives House before it's demolition from the September 23, 1923 Providence Sunday Journal. To read the newspaper article this image came from click here:Document Icontemporary article on Robert Hale Ives Home .pdf

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Images from the Panel

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(Left to Right):

Here is a photo of the unit 10 team. The members of the site included: Allison Iarocci ’13  Ben Jones’13, Evie Schwartz’11 and Laura Leddy’13.This image captures how much physical labor goes into digging an individual site, even if it is just a 2x2 meter plot. Allison and Ben are digging a small layer up, 'shovel shaving' while Evie and Laura are sifting through the dirt. The street that the houses are on is Benefit Street.

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The Image on the left is the first offcial photograph of the site, facing North. This image is from September 20, 2010, before any digging had begun. The image on the right is the final North facing shot before the site was closed on November 15, 2010. This shows how far down unit 10 was able to go. Also, this photograph shows the profile of the wall and the different layers, known as 'contexts' that were found. In unit 10 there appears to not have been a very obvious color or textural difference in the site.

Here are a few more images of Unit 10 hard at work!

Quotes come from the students' Field Blogs

Uploaded Image"We had our music playing, and the sun was shining. We found lots of iron slabs, pieces, and nails. Also we found a stake made of iron. The most important moment came when we unearthed a small bottle. I quickly brushed away the dirt and debris by it and we realized it was a complete bottle, including a cork with a silver screw in it."-Allison Iarocci Nov.1 2010

Uploaded Image"Today was spent closing up our units. Before we could backfill, however, we had to make sure everything was recorded. First we confirmed that all of our paperwork was complete and organized -- this included checking Munsell samples, depth measurements.."-Laura Leddy Nov.15 2010 

Uploaded Image"And hard work it was.  I soon discovered that sifting is hard manual labor.  After an hour of sifting, my arms definitely ached and I was forced to switch over to digging.  Though I'm rather clumsy with the large shovel, I discovered that the troweling is my forte."-Evie Schwartz Oct.4 2010

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The Artifacts


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Left to right the items are: Window hardware with window glass, a pipe fragment, perfume bottle, brick fragement and iron piece. All of these items are covered in the 2010 site report object biography section, but below is a little bit about each item, based on the findings of the archaeology student who researched it. These items were collectively chosen for display because they were unique and exciting finds at the site, and are favorites of the members of the team at unit 10. 

Click Here to learn more:  Unit 10 Artifact