Eddie Cleofe

03 October 2012: Total Station

Monday October 1^st was our first day of field work. The class split into two teams: survey walkers and total system. I worked with Joey and Morgan under Alex’s instruction with the total system.

The point of the total mapping system is to accurately map the site of our trenches and, eventually, any artifacts we may find. By means of a laser and prism system, the precise location and angle of any point we want to map.

The first order of business was positioning the system over a reference grid: it was decided to use Providence’s own city planning grid rather than one of our own arbitrary design.

After much difficulty with leveling, we set up the total station immediately over Providence point 226. Using a system known as backsiting, we were able to determine the absolute and grid location of point 226 (on the northwest corner of the corner of College and Prospect Streets). Providence point 227 (on the corner of Fones Alley and Prospect) was used in this process. For our purposes, Providence point will be heretofore referred to as Point 1.

Using Point 1, we chose Point 2 (located on the northern side of the footpath between Manning and University Halls) as a reference point on the site itself.

We then chose a possible trench site along the western side of Hope College, immediately north of the middle stairwell. Using a tape measure and triangulation, we marked off a one square meter sized trench. Due to a window egress, the trench itself was not square and had six corners rather than four. Using the total station and Point 2 as our reference, we mapped the corners of the possible Hope College trench as Points 3-8.

Once again using Point 2 as reference, we began mapping the corners of possible trenches for the Old President’s House. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, we were unable to finish this task.

Brown Media Services were also present, taking photo and video throughout the day. They have voiced increased interest once digging commences. According to one photographer, with the University’s 250^th anniversary coming soon, ‘Brown History’ as a concept is in vogue.

As in most things in life, we were plagued by technical (and height!) difficulties throughout the day.

16 October 2012: Geophysical Survey

Monday October 15th was our second day of field work: we were lucky enough to work with a geophysicist out of Oxford.

Using the quick and dirty 3-4-5 method (read: triangulation and the Pythagorean theorem), we set up two parallel lines 18m apart in order to map a grid. The grid was placed on the overlap over the two prospective sites of the Old President's House. The North-South edges of the grid extend beyond the overlap.

The Noggin geophysical machine was then passed over the grid. Luckily, the electromagnet antenna used for our site was exactly half a meter wide. The machine was run across the grid every half-meter on a forward-reverse collection. The machine ran some 35 lanes, so the grid of the area is roughly 17 by 18m. Due to the presence of a tree and lamppost, however, we will have a 1m gap in our grid: fortunately, evidence of a foundation or building would be imppossible to miss even factoring in our gaps.

After finishing the geophysical scans, I assisted in totaling in the grid corners.

The initial height of Trench 1 (hereby QG1) was also totaled in. Post initial excavation, the corners of QG1 as well as its final height of the day were also totaled in.

QG1 was covered with blue tarp fastened by John Deere stakes.

We cleaned the site and stored excavation materials.

24 October 2012: Opening of QG2

Saturday the 20^th was National Archaeology Day as well as Family Weekend on campus, so we opened QG1 between 12:30 and 3:00. Under Alex and Linda's supervision, I worked with mainly Morgan and Chris Kim, and Christina came to work with us for a bit.

Because I had helped with the total station and geophysical survey in weeks past, Saturday was my first trench/digging experience. We dug in QG1, and by my arrival we had reach the bottom of context 2. A change in soil qualities, most noticeably a transition to a more yellowish, dry soil, marked the beginning of context 3. After reaching a layer of mostly consistent looking soil, we leveled the exposed surface, took levels with the total station, and photographed the closing of the present context/opening of the new context.

Throughout the trench experience, the majority of artifacts found fit into several broad categories, such as ceramics, glass, and metal, fairly easily. We did, however, have some outliers: before my arrival, a second bullet casing (with the same distinctive U maker’s mark found on the first) and a few faunal bones were found in the trench. I have very little experience with faunal bones, but their size and relative lightness suggest that they may be avian in origin.

We continued onto context 4 and found very similar elements of material culture. The AIA was hosting a simultaneous event on campus, and we eventually found ourselves with three contract workers, all under the age of 8. Though their enthusiasm was much appreciated, they had quite a chaotic effect on our trench. About ten minutes after the kids left, however, we had more or less cleared and cleaned the trench back to its earlier state.

We sifted remaining backdirt, bagged artifacts, and cleaned the site.

Monday the 22^nd was the entire class’s third field day. In order to explore the difference in material culture between entrances and pathways and have enough labor to go around, the class decided to open a second trench (hereby QG2). The trench was opened a few meters away from and almost directly in front of the stairwell itself. It is a one square meter trench.

Morgan and I were assigned to work with the total station. After initial setup and backsiting to point 226, we shot in the corners of the new trench. During times when we were not needed to shoot in more points, Morgan and I helped to excavate QG2. Context one was mostly topsoil, and it contained the same types of artifacts, such as glass and ceramic, as found in QG1. No change in soil quality marked the transition to context two rather a noticeable increase in artifact density did.

Through dealing with technical and arboreal difficulties, Morgan and I shot in points at the opening of context two in QG2 and at the opening of two new contexts in QG1. Morgan’s technical skill with the total station was a godsend, and I happily stood with the stadia rod for several minutes rather than battling with the machine. Focusing mostly on the south side of QG1, the team there had excavated to a point that exposed the base of the stairwell and into Hope College itself.

The project is drawing a considerable amount of attention: Saturday had the vast majority of site visitors as completely unrelated to the project, department, and institute: folks were simply curious. We also have the constant presence of media services/Coursera development and have been visited by the BDH on two separate occasions.

06 November 2012: Pipe Dreams

After a brief, Hurricane Sandy-inspired interlude, the team reconvened on the afternoon of 05 November 2012. An initial scan of the trenches revealed a layer of wet leaves atop both tarps. The tarps were moved, revealing more leaves and slightly saturated contexts.

I was assigned to work on QG2. Excavation began with leaf and root removal. After initial cleaning, we began excavating the trench in earnest. Troweling began in Context 2.

The top layer of Context 2 was moist and slightly packed. Chris and Joey jumped on shovel duty and shaved away a few centimeters off the top. Working on the sifter, we found the same types of material culture as the previous context as well as in QG1, namely ceramic pieces, glass shards, and heavily rusted nails.

We eventually uncovered a large, flat rock roughly fifteen square centimeters in size and an irrigation/sprinkler pipe oriented due west. Morgan and Christina totaled in the sprinkler that the pipe likely led to.

Both the rock and pipe allowed us to practice a technique known as, “pedestaling,” wherein the areas directly above and around large artifacts are excavated but the soil beneath it is left relatively untouched. My only familiarity with the technique came from readings about work in forensic anthropology, so it was a rewarding to get some hands-on experience.

Unfortunately, some enthusiastic digging dislodged the rock. On the other hand, the dislodging revealed that the rock was much smaller than initially thought. The pipe remained in place and was properly pedestaled.

After a few more minutes of digging, soil changed color, become sandier, and seemed to have more clay present. We cleaned the trench, evened out the bottom to similar soil consistency. Six trench points were totaled in. We photographed Context 2 closing/Context 3 opening.

As night set in, we cleaned the trenches and cleared the site.

On a slighly more bizarre note, a member of the community approached the site and asked what we were doing. Apparently, his first-year roommate buried a deceased pet snake right around QG2. We will keep our eyes peeled for any reptile bones.

14 November 2012: Continuing QG#2

November 12^th was our final dig day scheduled during our regular meeting time. I was assigned to work on QG2 again and volunteered to act as notekeeper.

Due to strong winds from the previous week, the tarp had been blown away and there was a layer of leaves present. As has become routine, excavation began with leaf removal.

The previous session ended with the closing of context 2, so we began by opening context 3. Artifact density was relatively low, compared to context 2. As I was working mostly as notekeeper, I handled much of the mesh work. Each bucket only yielded two to three glass or pottery shards after being run through the mesh.

The excavators hit a layer in the context full of large bits of shale and gravel which made excavation more difficult. Within this layer, a chunk of what appeared to be charcoal was found. By testing its hardness and eventually just smelling it, the charcoal was determined to be asphalt. Several more chunks of asphalt were found and bagged.

The asphalt and gravel imply the presence of backfill from a construction project or the presence of a previous path.

Further excavation led to revealing the top of a new context, characterized by a hard, yellowish layer of soil. Unfortunately, the sun began to set, putting a halt to excavation. The bottom of the trench was flattened and cleaned. Levels were taken, and photos were shot.

The trench was cleaned and covered with excavation to continue and end on Saturday the 17^th.