Nicholas Sinnott-Armstrong

Week 1 (9/12/2011):

This week, we spent the first half of class going over the basics of the class, then went over to the site and checked it out and decided where to dig. I chose to work on the site of the old Hope Ives house because it seemed like there was a lot going on around there and even if we don't find the outside wall, there is bound to be something interesting in the area. I'm in a group with Kaitlin and Valerie and we started to map out the 2mx2m patch of ground we'll be working within for the semester. It would have been helpful to be able to directly consult the magnetometry and tax maps of the property when deciding where to dig, but we eyeballed it and the result seems like a reasonable location. We then cleared off leaves and spent a very long time hammering in nails at exactly the right locations to get a 2x2m box; fortunately, we have one now, so that's over with!

Week 2 (9/19/2011):

This week, we visited the John Brown House and got a tour of the building. Most of the remaining decor was installed by Marden Perry, but one original floor and a good amount of early wall structure remained. It was a very interesting tour that I enjoyed quite a lot, especially how the RIHS managed to weave so many of the local stories with which I had little familiarity into the tour and presentation. It really gave me an image of what the Browns might have done in the house. I was surprised how little of the tour focused on Marsden Perry, but given that the earlier stuff is more interesting to me, it wasn't a problem. I have to admit, though, the shower and the leather wallpaper were both quite extraordinary. So how about them slave tunnels?

Week 3 (9/26/2011):

We actually started digging this week! The GPR work started that beginning of class, so we spent the first part helping with that and trying to get all the grids aligned, but by around 5:05 we actually got out some shovels and started to dig. The first layer is really hard because of all the grass and sod and roots, but I'm sure it'll get easier when we reach more dirt. Fortunately, I like sifting, so that that's nice. I can't wait to see what the GPR tells us; it should be really clear where the wall is, so hopefully we've hit it...

Week 4 (10/3/2011):

This week I arrived a bit early and just before class officially started we sifted out a 1944 penny in Unit 13! It was really exciting, especially since I like old coins so much. Then we looked over the GPR images and it seems like we're positioned right smack in the middle of a gravel path leading out from the back door, which is neat. Not quite as cool as the wall of a house, but hey, I'll take it. We get more trash this way :)

After that, we spent a while digging and I got to sift a ton, which was fun now that we're past the roots. It was a grand old time, and then we spent a long time trying to figure out the edges of the new contexts we were defining, then shooting them with the Total station. Using cell phone calls to note movement of the reflector works well, fortunately, so that saved a ton of time and made reflecting a one person job. I think next time we could try to overlap things better, but we got quite a bit done however you cut it.

Week 5 (10/10/2011):

(No class due to holiday.)

Week 6 (10/17/2011):

Out for pneumonia.

Week 7 (10/24/2011):

Did a little bit before my health services appointment with learning how to set up and operate/calibrate the Total station. It was pretty exciting being able to know exactly where something is to that precision, and it also wasn't too tiring! There weren't many finds (mostly just a nail), either, but I still learned how to use the tools a lot.

Week 8 (10/31/2011):

I was still recovering but got a good overview of the Total station and how to shoot in contexts and such. This week was a ton more shooting in with the station, and I learned that the batteries are super finicky, since one got low and I switched them out, but I forgot to reconnect Bluetooth -- lots of steps needed to make sure everything works smoothly, and in some ways this makes pen and paper preferrable, but the accuracy is killer! Learned the target syntax and how to actually operate the unit, and also shot in two contexts and a bunch of other stuff. Again, I had to leave early, but it was a quite successful day.

Week 9 (11/7/2011):

Lots of shooting this week -- and I set up the Total station all by myself (except getting the height and backsighting)! Definitely learning it well, and I had a TON more energy. Shot in a context for Unit 11 and also a bunch of finds for Unit 13. I finally got back to digging, too, which was awesome, and we found a whole ton of things -- a cross, an iron hinge-like thing, some stoneware porcelain imitation, etc. Pretty sweet day, but too bad things had to end early due to the sun setting... I'll try to bring some extra flashlights for next week if we end up going back out in the field.

Week 10 (11/14/2011):

In class today we mostly dug and sifted. It was refreshing to be able to actively participate in these activities again. We found a boatload of metal and brick, but it was our last day. Kind of scary how dark it got by the end -- definitely I would recommend getting some halogen lights for next year. Amazing brick finds! We also are having doubts that the wall was actually a wall and not just how we excavated the context. Wish we had more time, all the cool stuff is always right at the end!

Wednesday: We did the "backfilling" of our unit. I took photographs of the site, we drew the context barriers, and got all the points. The battery on the total station is a total fail! I feel like this was a pretty effective day, even if we didn't get everything we wanted to done, and definitely was a good boost to wrap the season up.

Week 11 (11/21/2011):

We actually did the backfill part of backfilling, and that's about it. It's a lot of work to heave that dirt around! And it also seems like a lot more than you think it would be. The patterns of worm tunnels under the tarps were really neat. That was pretty exhausting.

Tuesday: we started in the lab. This was mostly washing the artifacts and cleaning them and such. Also more work than you think it will be, and we definitely had way more tiny shards of brick and such than we should have -- probably because of the limited light for sifting at the end of the season.

Week 12 (11/28/2011):

We finished washing artifacts off -- the metal from context 82 had huge amounts of dirt still on it, and some pieces that didn't seem that interesting (e.g. the curved metal with pattern) were revealed to be very interesting indeed after being cleaned. Our experts that came in didn't really know about a lot of the things, but Caitlin helped us figure out that the strange white things were floor tiles, which was nice. The Bathroom Proposal is being floated, but I'm not convinced that there is enough evidence of that at this point. We also decided on our objects to do bios for -- I'm doing the copper-bronze hook and the bent, threaded pipe piece. Should be quite a bit I can say about those, and I might try to talk to Dave Murray about running XRF on the hook as well.