Joey Mallen

                This past Monday, I worked with Alex, Morgan, and Eddie with the total station. Our goal was to survey the area utilizing the equipment to precisely locate the location where we will be digging. We planned on mapping the area against the hope college foundation where we could dig a trench We were also hoping to use the total station to discover where the southeast corner of the former President's house should be, as well as a possible trench location within the walls of said foundation.  
                I was excited to be able to work with the total station because it has always been something I've seen but never really knew what its all about. I learned that it is a very precise and also delicate instrument that when used correctly can map an area exactly. It is therefore useful to archeologists because they can accurately produce a digital copy of their workspace, and can overlay that space onto a map with the actual measurements on the digital landscape. The measuring device itself was being temperamental at first when we were attempting to back-sight, but eventually we simply restarted the device and it worked smoothly until be moved locations. Back-sighting I learned, is used so that the device can locate itself upon the grid laid out in each city which are used as reference points for surveying for construction, road repair and other planning or civic works projects. Back-sighting is completed when we utilize two of these points (on the corner of Prospect and College Street and provided to us by Alex from information he received from the Brown Planning office) to measure between them. The device is highly specialized and utilizes a handheld computer which operates the machine via Bluetooth technology. This computer was loaded with the mapping points of the city of Providence therefore we simply put in that we were measuring between a certain two points and when the measurement was taken the machine knew exactly where it was so that we could work off of that point.  
              Now the back-sighting was not done by simply placing the total station on the tripod and shooting the laser it is equipped with at the reflector and getting the measurement. The machine had to be carefully set up, something of which I had no prior idea of. We had to level the tripod, mount the station on the tripod, make sure that it was properly leveled (at two different angles, vertically and horizontally, using spirit levels on the device) measure the height of the tripod, center the tripod exactly over the exact middle of the concrete marker on the ground which is provided by the city, make sure the measurements were being taken in meters, and connect the total station to the remote computer. We were finally able to get the measurement from this location to the other point (marked on the ground in a similar fashion to the one one we were set up on with a stone square set into the sidewalk) which allowed the machine to know where it was from the reflection of the laser beam put out by the total station aimed back at the machine by the prism reflector. When the machine was registered to the corner of Prospect and College we could then back-sight to this point from the Quiet Green, and then we could make all the necessary measurements.  
           At this point in our work I had already learned a lot and our next step was to take measurements on the Quiet Green to create a digital map of where we might be digging. I was in charge of the Reflector for this part and I had to keep it level to get proper measurements by utilizing the level on the post which was quite challenging. We measured to about about five points to outline our possible trench location right up against the foundation of Hope College and marked them with flagged stakes. after this was done we had to determine where the corner of the old President's House should be so that we could map this also. Determining the location was done by getting a a distance reading from the device to the point from which we were measuring and checking to see if it was correct. We located where the southeast corner should be and where a good point within the boundaries of the house would be to dig a trench.  
         I was very impressed with the accuracy of the equipment and I was excited to familiarize myself with it. I hope that I will be able to use it more and get a better understanding of what some of the numbers were were getting mean. Hopefully from these measurements we have found the edge of the foundation of the old President's house and I know that the numbers from the Hope College points collected are important for creating a map of the area for us to use during our exploration of the area.

Week 2:

For week two of our onsite exploration of the Quiet Green section of the Brown University the class split up into two separate groups. One group, which I was in, stayed with the ground penetrating radar equipment. The other went to begin to dig our trench at the Hope College site. My job was to work with my classmates and Tommy, the geophysicist. The equipment was for the most part was set up for us, but actually did not require as much set up as the total station did last week anyways. We first had to lay out a grid so that we could make precise, straight passes over the lawn to collect our data. We measured out a square area in order to keep the process organized. To collect data that would give us an accurate picture of the things beneath us, we had to make sure that we moved the device back and forth across the lawn in straight lines. Ground penetrating Radar allows us to “see” what is beneath the ground by emitting electromagnetic waves at a frequency close to that of radar. These electromagnetic waves are directed down into the ground. When the waves strike something beneath the surface they are reflected and produce an image on the monitor. With each pass of the device, (which was a meter long and exactly half a meter wide sled) needed to be flipped around and dragged back in the other direction. The controlled movement of the GPR sled was achieved by laying out three perfectly square measuring tape and using a fourth to make a floating guideline. The straight floating measuring tape was used so that the GPR could be kept in straight half-meter wide columns. Everyone had the privilege to be able to actually use the GPR themselves. The equipment was not very complicated to use, but the overall processes that the machine is able to perform are very complicated. The GPR itself consisted of three parts. The actual sled which houses the antenna and is dragged across the ground by a handle. The batter back, which is worn by the operator as a belt, and the monitor, which is also worn by the operator but in the form of a chest rig. The chest rig allows the operator to use both hands while still keeping an eye on the monitor. To use the system button on the monitor allowed one to RUN the antenna which is helped along by a a wheel on one end which is actually an odometer so that the machine stops collecting data when it is not moving. The button designated as STOP on the screen allowed the user to stop collecting data. We repeated this back and forth collecting method taking care to square the decive at one end and center the device at the other. Squaring allows the users to make sure the the device is running perpendicular to the grid, this is done by just making sure that the edge of the sled is lined up correctly against the measuring tape grid. Centering is meant to make sure that the total column of ground is covered by dragging the device over the actual perimeter of the grid so that the border of it is lined up with the center of the sled. Each time the length of a run is completed, the machine is flipped around and placed exactly next to where it previously was a half meter of ground over.
The ground penetrating radar was a fantastic piece of equipment to be able to use. Hopefully our data collected will allow us to get a better understanding of what it below the surface of the Quiet Green. Our quest to find the location of the old President’s house continues but the data collected here by the Ground penetrating radar will help us to know where to put a trench if the results of our survey are positive.

October 22, 2012: Excavating QG #2, Hope College

In class today we opened our second trench near Hope College which we called Quiet Green #2 or QG #2 for short. The class was divided into two dig teams, a survey team, and a photographer. One of the dig teams continued excavation on the first trench QG 1 while I was assigned to the other dig team that was responsible for opening the new trench. Selecting the location for this trench was our first priority. Our goal was to place this trench in relation to the center egress of Hope College so that we could maybe “catch” the items dropped on or beside a preexisting path. We chose to have the 1m square trench span what we believed to be the edge of the old path so that we could maybe uncover items dropped on the path itself and beside it. We measured out the meter long and meter wide trench and squared the corners. We then began to dig using shovels to tear off the top layer of sod. After all this was sifted we began to dig using trowels. The rest of my class period was spent trowelling, sifting out the dirt, and cutting a large number of roots. As we dug deeper we took care to keep our digging level in the corners so that one part of the trench was not any lower than the other therefore avoiding mixing the contexts if a new one should be discovered. When we came across a heavier concentration of glass and other things, we opened context number two. We found much more than the small amount of glass and the two pennies of the first context in this layer. In this heavier concentration of things we found more glass, what appeared to be a metal band of some sort possibly gold or copper, a blue and white piece of china, rusted nails, and an ornate piece of glass. The team made sure to document the opening of a new context by photograph and creation of new artifact bags to separate out our findings. At the end of the context we also measured the depth of the trench using the total station to give us an accurate reading. My work for the day at QG 2 made me very excited to continue our work on both trenches next week. I hope to have the possibility of being involved in the discovery of the remnants of the old path that existed in the old front of Hope College. A discovery of a layer in which the remnants of an old footpath existed would yield the best results for us because it was just below this layer that the oldest of the artifacts were deposited. Continuing deeper into the soil we might expect to find more remnants of the renovation of Hope College that took place in 1959. Surviving construction items could include things such as glass, nails, bolts, screws, and tools. Monday, October 22nd was the my first day of digging and I was very pleased to be working on achieving some great results for the class and for our research into the material history of the Brown University Campus.

November 5, 2012: Excavation of QG #2, Hope College

    Work resumed on our fieldwork on the Quiet Green section of Brown University after taking the last week off because of the cancellation of classes due to Hurricane Sandy. The tarps covering the trench was removed and after the leaves were removed from the workspace we quickly resumed the digging and sifting process.
   I began to excavate using a shovel to dig rather than a trowel. Digging by shovel rather than using a trowel is not preferable, but it speeds the process up greatly. When I used the shovel, I took care to merely scrape rather than digging. I thought that it would be better to remove only a small layer at a time to be more gentle on any objects that we should come across. Using the shovels to scrape off a few centimeters of soil at a time saved us a lot of time, yet tree roots continued to slow the digging process because they need to be cut and removed as we get deeper into the soil.
   Our sifting did not really yield anything large over the entire class period and we found smaller bits of glass and ceramic than we had before. My main discovery for the day was a loop of metal about 5 inches long which was too rusted to determine the purpose of. Eventually, on the West end of the trench we came across a water pipe for the sprinkler system on the quiet green. This pipe in particular came out of the Hope College foundation and supplied the sprinklers with water. We noted the pipes location on the filed journal and found the nearest sprinkler outlet which was mapped using the total station. The pipe in the trench will simply be dug around from here on out. On the same level as this pipe we uncovered a flat stone in the center of the trench which was less than a foot long and about seven inches wide. Using a technique called pedestalling which is accomplished by removing all the dirt around the rock until the last possible moment, we left the stone in place until it had to be removed in order to continue. At the same level as the pipe and the stone, we began to notice a soil change. The soil became a lighter color brown which could be due to less water saturated soil, but it also became more coarse. The new sandy layer became our stopping point for the day as we began to run out of daylight. We worked to level the trench out in the middle exposing the new layer of soil we would call Context 3. After we swept out the remaining dirt from the trench the total station was used to measure the depth of this new layer and a photo was taken with the photo board noting the context change.
   We ended the day by clearing the trench of all the working materials and we covered the trench up until next week where we hope to get deeper into our newly revealed context

November 12, 2012: Excavation of QG #2, Hope College

Last week during the excavation of QG #2 just before we ran out of daylight we cam across a new context. We continued our excatavtion on the 12th by working to get deeper into this newly discovered layer. The soil in this context was characterized by its heavy concentration of rocks, pebbles, brick pieces, and slate. We continued finding pieces of ceramics and glass, however the amount of glass was much less than in previous contexts. While slate has been found in previous contexts, the slate fragments found in this context were more concentrated. Digging became difficult because of all this compacted rubble. Trowelling was a slower process because I really needed to apply some serious force to remove the layers. We dug underneath and around the sprinkler pipe we discovered on our last day in the field. We continued to find many small pieces of what we thought was charcoal. These chunks of black stone could be asphalt based off of their appearance the smell of oil that they emit. It may be possible that this context is a layer of fill dirt or left over debris from the renovation of Hope College in 1959. Fill dirt could have been used on the Quiet Green to cover an old path. This layer of fill would have then be covered with debris filled dirt and sod laid over it. Fill dirt is often brought in from another location therefore materials not native to the trench location can be distributed throughout the layer. Because of the presence of brick fragments it my also be possible that this layer was the result of the renovation of the building in 1959. The building was heavily altered and it is possible that we have simply hit the layer or construction debris. I found a few nails but the artifact concentration in this layer was really thin. The result of the day was the discovery of a possible old pathway. We hit a very fine, grey, and powdery soil along with what appeared to be flagstones were uncovered. Our goal during last bit of digging for the day was to even the trench out to this layer.
We ran out of daylight for the day and I was kind of disappointed that this day was our last digging day because of the discovery of the paving stones. It was the most significant discovery for QG #2 and I would like to at least dig a bit further into this context.