Sandra Mastrangelo

Week 1 (9/12/11)

This week, we had our first seminar for The Archaeology of College Hill. Prior to our meeting, we were assigned several readings from the 2008 and 2009 John Brown House Archaeological Reports. The readings were engaging and informative so I was excited to embark upon my first archaeological adventure. The class assembled in Rhode Island Hall to meet Professor Jessica Nowlin and graduate TA Müge. We also introduced ourselves to the class. While there were several students concentrating in archaeology, there were also students (like myself) who had never taken a course in the department. Motivated by the course structure and hands-on learning experience, I enrolled in the seminar hoping to gain a better understanding of archaeological fieldwork and methodology, to learn about local historical sites, and to get dirty!

Our focus for the first portion of the seminar was the historical background of the John Brown House. We analyzed early maps from the 19^th and 20^th centuries and reviewed the (convoluted) story of the changing ownership of the land. The historical perspective was integral to our understanding of the cultural, economic, and social dimensions of the land on which we would be conducting archaeological fieldwork. We also evaluated the excavation strategies and techniques of previous years and briefly discussed some of the findings. The magnetometry that was conducted on the land also offered insight on the patterns of magnetism in the soil and gave us some ideas of where to begin units.

We walked to the storage shed as a class and carried the equipment to the John Brown House. Once on the property, we were given a brief tour of previously excavated units and the ostensible location of a fountain towards the south of the property. The class divided into a few groups and my group chose to dig over the apparent location of the fountain. Before we began to measure our unit, we had to use a totaling machine to impose a grid on the site (x, y and z coordinates) and create a topographic map of the area where we will dig. It was a fascinating machine that was placed directly above a datum, which is used as a reference for spatial measurements. Although the process took a while and we were unable to map out a specific area, using the totaling machine was an amazing experience. I’m looking forward to reconvening with my group again next week.

Posted at Sep 19/2011 09:13PM:
Sandra Mastrangelo:

Week 2: September 19, 2011

This week our class met at the John Brown House for a tour of the mansion courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society. We were guided by Dalila Goulart, the Education and Visitor Services Manager and had the opportunity to tour the multitude of rooms in the House. Although I was looking forward to mapping our unit and spending some time outside in the nice weather, the tour was incredible and informative!

We began our tour with a short documentary about the John Brown House and its changing ownership. We also learned about John Brown’s involvement in coastal and triangular trade. When the mansion was built in 1786, Providence was a mercantile center and John Brown was at the forefront of world trade, especially in oriental markets. An old carriage was housed in the room where we watched the film. The carriage was enormous and is the oldest American-made vehicle in existence. Amazingly, President George Washington is said to have driven in the carriage when he visited Providence in 1790.

We toured many rooms including the butler’s pantry, which housed an old General Electric refrigerator, the formal dining area, the dayroom with an exact replica of the squirrel wallpaper that John and Sarah Brown adored, as well as the master bedroom which led to the beautifully restored bathroom. The 1902 restoration included a sunken tub, needlepoint shower, heated sink and titled walls with Sapphic inspired French paintings. There was also a room on the third floor with the original wooden floor planks from the 1788 completion of the home.

Especially fascinating was the description of the overseas trade that John Brown pioneered. The chinaware in the home was beautifully embossed and displayed throughout the kitchen, dining and living areas. John Brown’s Providence was evidently a cosmopolitan community whose ports boasted the finest overseas imports.

The opportunity to tour the John Brown House contextualized the cultural and economic climate in which John Brown and his family lived. I am very excited to begin mapping Unit 14 and subsequently excavating the ground where the fountain may be located.

Posted at Sep 26/2011 06:12PM:
Sandra Mastrangelo: Week 3: September 26, 2011

We met at the carriage house this week to bring the equipment to the John Brown House. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon to be outside and finally start digging! I think everyone seemed really excited and enthusiastic to begin measuring the units and start excavating.

This afternoon I worked with Jessica Nowlin for the first part of class holding the prism pole so that she could record location with the total station. We were trying to map out what would have been a new unit this year, unit 14. However, upon further geographic inspection we realized that the position of the potential unit was not conducive to digging-- the location of the fountain would have extended into a large tree! Besides, the roots were far too big to dig through. In an attempt to follow the linear anomaly east, Jessica Nowlin and I worked on re-positioning the prism pole to find another potential unit in the same area. After a few minutes of moving 10 cm east and 50 north, unfortunately, we ran into the same problem. It turns out that we will be opening a new unit elsewhere. In the meanwhile, my group helped out where we were needed.

During the second part of the class, my group joined unit 11 to help remove backfill from the unit where the double wall resides. We removed a ton of dirt and were able to remove both of the tarps from the unit, which was super exciting since we uncovered the two walls on the west end of the property. Since we accidentally excavated a little bit beyond the initial 2mx2m and 1mx1m dimensions of the unit, we decided to open one big unit measuring 2mx3m. We were able to help map out the new dimensions by measuring right triangles using Pythagorean’s Theorem. We roped off the new dimensions, covered the unit with a tarp and placed rocks along the edges to keep it in place.

We all worked very hard this week and I was so happy to be part of such a fun and productive group. Next week we will have to excavate the additional 1mx1m area, which will likely be hard work, since we will have to incorporate that stratigraphic information into the original unit's stratigraphy. I'm looking forward to next week's class and to begin recording information especially after this week's reading and section discussion.

Posted at Oct 05/2011 12:23AM:
Sandra Mastrangelo: Week 4: October 3, 2011

I can't believe that this was our fourth time meeting as a class! I feel like we've learned so much and yet there's still so much to do..

Today was definitely a day of hard work and getting dirty-which was awesome! It was mostly cloudy and starting to get a bit cooler as the class ended a bit after 5pm. All in all, I'd say it was a perfect day to dig.

To start the class, Jessica Nowlin presented the GPR results from last week's class. The detailed report revealed an anomaly in the northwest portion of the John Brown House property, parallel to Charlesfield Street which was most prevalent at about 1m deep. Accordingly, we decided to open a new unit at this location, unit 14, hoping to discover a room of the Hale Ives House.

To start, we used the total station to get a better idea of exactly where the anomaly was located in space. Once we figured this out, our group roped off a 1mx3m area with the help of Müge and began to clear away leaves and other debris to take a picture of our new context. Once the picture was taken with a brief description on the white board, Brian spoke about our new unit and why we decided to open it, in a short video. We introduced ourselves in the video and had our moment of fame!

Next, my group began to remove top soil from the roped off area to a depth of approximately 5cm. It was a very careful task, as we had to make sure the ground was level in all parts of the unit. We cleared through grass and many tree roots and recorded all of this information in our context sheet. I was responsible for recording and got to draw a scaled sketch of our new unit! We used various shovels and clippers to rid the unit of tree roots in the first context.

I also had the opportunity to sift which was certainly tiring and exciting. I even found a few small, white pottery sherds! At the beginning of the class, I actually discovered a penny dated 1944 from another group that was sifting-- that was cool.

We continued to slowly excavate our new unit and reached a new context determined by the quality, consistency and color of the dirt. We didn't have enough time to continue digging so we will start with this new soil context next week.

Posted at Oct 17/2011 11:55PM:
Sandra Mastrangelo: October 17, 2011

I had the opportunity to get out to the John Brown House during Parent’s Weekend on Saturday, which was great. I got to work on Unit 14 some more, using the trowel and clearing away some of the roots before opening two new contexts this afternoon. I also had the chance to interact with some very interested parents and talk to them about what we’re doing this semester. Our current work and previous excavations at the John Brown House fascinated them and they were eager to learn more about the family history.

This afternoon was a perfect day for digging; it was a bit cool but very sunny. We began today’s excavation by dividing our unit and opening two new contexts in Unit 14, 80 and 81. The larger context, 80, located on the western portion of the unit, is characterized by dark, moist homogenous soil while 81 to the east is a bit patchier with drier patches of dirt. We recorded this information on the context sheets, determined the soil types and used the flip camera to talk briefly about our new contexts. We also took pictures of each of the contexts and included this information on our sheets. We continued to dig another 5cm through many roots and found pieces of glass, white pottery sherds and small bits of coal. We also used the saw to uproot a large root covering the majority of the unit. I am looking forward to reconvening next week and perhaps opening another context. We have a lot of digging to do since the anomaly is located approximately 1m deep!

Posted at Oct 26/2011 11:26PM:
October 24, 2011

We had another productive day of digging. The weather has gotten a bit cooler but overall we've been super lucky with the rain. It was a little cloudy, but overall a great day to be outside and continue our work. Although it's starting to get dark out earlier, and earlier, so far we haven't encountered any problems digging until class ends.

We continued to work on contexts 80 and 81 in Unit 14. I predominately dug out context 80 which is the larger unit. There were many roots, some large and some small, that we had to get through to make significant progress. Brian and I continued to find coal and pieces of glass in this context. We also found some interesting rocks and more pottery sherds.

We were able to use the root cutters and the hand-saws to get a few more centimeters deeper to what appeared to be a new context characterized by lighter colored soil. This soil, although there are still plenty of roots, has much more gravel. It was eventually determined that the color, quality and components of this soil matched what Ian had been digging through in context 81, so we decided to open a new context: 83, combining 80 and 81.

As per protocol, we recorded this information of the context sheets, determined soil type and used the flip camera to talk about our reasons for opening a new context at unit 14. We took several pictures of the new context and also recorded the picture numbers.

While we got a lot of work done this week, we are really going to have to work hard to get the unit deeper as the anomaly is located 1m deep. I am looking forward to digging next week and making more progress on our unit.

Posted at Nov 02/2011 10:17PM:
October 31, 2011

The weather this week was noticeably cooler and it was damp and windy. This past weekend we had a mild, early season snowstorm and I was concerned that our unit would be a lot worse off than it was. It actually wasn’t too bad. The soil was cold and a little bit harder to dig through but we were able to spend the whole class period digging in context 83.

Considering that there were only two more weeks left to dig, and our anomaly is located approximately 1m deep, we got right to work! We did not open any new contexts this week, as we did not observe any significant changes in soil type, color or content. We dug pretty deep (about 10cm-15cm) and found several small artifacts including glass, glazed white pottery sherds and nails. I sifted through a lot of soil this week and noticed that context 83 has a lot more gravel in it. There were several large roots in the western portion of the unit that we had to saw through and at one point Ian broke his shovel trying to cut through one of the larger roots.

I’m looking forward to getting to work next week and digging as far as we can as we will have to backfill the unit soon and begin our lab analysis of the excavated materials.

Posted at Nov 09/2011 03:02PM:
November 7, 2011

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to dig this past Monday afternoon, and we sure did dig! Since it was the last day that our class was able to excavate prior to backfilling our units, we were absolutely determined to get deep and dirty to find our anomaly. After spending about an hour digging the entire 1mx3m unit and encountering several large roots, we decided to divide our unit into two so that we could focus our attention on the Western portion of the unit where the anomaly was located. We measured out 1.5m and began to dig in the 1mx1.5m portion of the unit, which was much more effective and productive. The soil type and composition was consistent throughout the afternoon and there was no need to change the context so we continued to dig in context 83. I sifted a lot of dirt since we were digging so deep and found pieces of ceramic, coal, bricks, and many rusty nails. We continuously measured our progress and recorded the depth of our unit hoping to reach that 1m mark.

Towards the end of class, when it started getting very dark we hit something! It was super exciting to dig this deep into our unit and feel something other than a large tree root beneath our shovels. It seems as though we encountered some sort of rock or brick structure running from south to north in the western portion of the unit. It turned out to be a great decision to dig in this area based on the results of the GPR. Hopefully our group will find some time to get back out to the unit before having to backfill to continue to investigate this solid structure. We also have to take geographic measurements with the total station next week. I’m hoping that Jessica gives us another day of excavation so we can enjoy the fruits of our labor. If not, next year’s class definitely has something to look forward to in unit 14!

Posted at Nov 18/2011 03:11PM:
11/14/2011

Today was probably the most exciting and rewarding afternoon of digging. It was beautiful outside—unseasonably warm—and the sunset was gorgeous! We’ve been so lucky with the weather this season. Last week, our unit sifted through a ton of dirt since we were digging down so deep to try to hit the one-meter mark. After digging fastidiously in the western 1mx1m portion of the unit in context 83, our unit decided to open a new context as a result of the change in soil composition. Last week we encountered a linear anomaly composed of some sort of stone and since it was too dark to do it then, we felt it appropriate to begin a new context at the beginning of class today.

After we opened up context 88, we continued to dig and felt something beneath our shovels! Again, it wasn’t a root! Instead, we found a skinny rusted metal pipe running diagonally from the north to the south of unit 14. If our unit were larger, we are sure that it would continue. We started to carefully dig around the pipe with trowels. While doing so, we also encountered what we perceive to be some type of building foundation (the Hale Ives House?) The material is either cement or plaster but it encompasses a good part of context 88. We hypothesize that the pipe is in some way affiliated with the foundation, as the pipe appears to travel below or above the foundation. The pictures Muge posted on the wiki portray our most recent find very well. We continued to dig in the dark using flashlights. Other than the pipe and the foundation, our unit found a significantly sized piece of glazed pottery, nails, glass and brick.

On a grey, drizzly Wednesday morning, I was able to spend a couple of hours in the field mapping out our unit and completing profile drawings of the wall. Muge was super patient with me and taught me how to create a scaled drawing detailing context levels every 10cm. I outlined what I perceived to be the context lines on the southern wall of the unit based on soil composition and color. It was great to learn how to complete wall profile drawings and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to do this before we backfill our unit on Tuesday.

Posted at Nov 29/2011 11:22PM:
11/21/2011

This week was a bit cooler than the rest and overcast. It was our last day in the field so we spent the class period backfilling all three units. I have to admit; it was an abrupt closure to all of the time and hard work we put into digging this past semester. I’m so amazed by the progress made in each of the units and very excited to work in the lab analyzing our finds.

To begin, we covered each unit with a tarp and threw a 2011 coin into the unit to indicate the year of excavation for future archaeologists. I have no idea how anyone could possibly find the coin among all of the dirt, but we did it for good measure! Then we got to work, forming a makeshift assembly line to fill each trench with the excavated dirt. Some classmates shoveled dirt into buckets, while others emptied the buckets into the trenches. Everyone in the class helped out which made backfilling pretty simple. We got through all three units relatively quickly and it was great to work together once again.

Posted at Nov 29/2011 11:39PM:
11/28/2011

Today was the second time we assembled in the carriage house to analyze our artifacts. We met in the lab the first time during section last week and started to clean all of our finds and then organize them by context. We cleaned some artifacts like glass and ceramic with water and used dry brushes to clean metals and iron.

We continued to clean our artifacts this afternoon and also took pictures of a sampling of materials from each context. We found a lot of nails in our unit, some longer than others, as well as pieces of plaster, glazed pottery sherds, glass and stoneware. We also found what appears to be a buckle of some sort, which is pretty cool.

Our group finished cleaning all of our finds and organized everything according to context. Each of us then chose two artifacts to complete our object biographies. I chose to examine a small piece of glazed pottery with a Chinese motif as well as what appears to be the top of a glass medicine bottle. I can’t wait to explore these objects further. We took close up pictures of the items we will write about in our biographies and started to look through our more interesting finds. We measured the diameters of a couple of pieces of stoneware and looked more closely at the shape of some of the nails. It was also nice to scan the finds of the other units.

During section this week we began to label the artifacts with thin sharpie markers. We applied a thin layer of clear nail polish on each find and then wrote the context it was found in directly on the artifact. This was difficult since we had to be careful not to write too large and obscure any important features. We weren’t able to get through everything but we’re hoping to find some time to come in during the week to finish.