Caity Mylchreest

October 1, 2012: Surveying the Quiet Green

Today I was part of the surveying team that observed the quiet green, mostly through an intensive survey of the area. We spaced our transects at 5 meters apart and had 6 walkers at a given time. I believe we completed roughly 8 groups of survey. I personally helped to guide the transects by standing on the outside with a compass and walking with a bearing due East/West across the green. This proved useful since I previously did not have any experience in using a compass. Although I did not get to lead the team and fill out a survey unit form, I have been exposed to the standard format of such an organizational form which would be invaluable on any archaeological project.

We mostly found trash, which seemed to fit into the general categories of study (pencils, paper, to-do lists), snacking (food wrappers, drink bottles/caps), and addictive recreational substances (liquor bottles, cigarette butts). All can easily be related to the general lives and activities of college students on campus. This information, though seemingly irrelvant to the past of Brown University, will actually help us to compare the functions and purposes of the Quiet Green and how the area has transformed over time. It is important to get an understanding of its current use before attempting to hypothesize about its past.

At the very end of the surveying period, we conducted a complete/gridded survey of the small area around our trench that will be dug near Hope College. This was the highlight of my surveying experience, as I found the most trash near the window egress and door than any other transect I had previously examened. I found one plastic bottle cap, one piece of metal, 3 pieces of glass, 2 pieces of paper (nonfood related), 1 piece of paper (food related), 3 pieces of tape, and one metal bottle cap. This is highly interesting and useful data because even though this entrance is no longer used, modern debris still collects here. I had previously hypothesized that the area would be mostly clean since students no longer come and go from this door. This will be an interesting discovery to relate to the pass uses of the building and the lives of its students.

October 15, 2012: Excavating QG#1, Hope College

In a team of four people, I helped to begin the excavation process of Quiet Green Trench #1 beside the old entrance of Hope College. I personally recorded the surface layer, Context #1, on the first recording form of the day. After clearing away debris and leaves, we began to scrape away the first few layers of the top soil using a trowling method. We began Context #2 after clearing the initial surface level of grass and landscape and continued in this context for the remainder of class. During the entire process, Linda took pictures to include with the record forms and we numbered each photo meticuolusly, describing the contents and the direction faced. After a few layers, we used a shoveling method to clear the layers a bit faster. After collecting the soil in buckets organized by context, we sifted the soil to find remaining artifacts. After the total station team found some more points to update the depth of our excavation area, we called it a day.

We found numerous shards of glasses, presumably from broken bottles over the past few years, in varying colors and sizes. There was also a small collection of ceramic shards that seemed to add up to a measuring cup of some kind (pieces were numbered and one was labeled AUG, presumably for "August"). Unique items that were bagged individually included a penny from 1976, a possible bullet casing (all though it could also be a pencil topper, quite a less exciting possibility), and pieces of solid metal that Linda hypothesized to be nails of some sort.

The beginning stages of this process, although meticulous and seemingly redundant, were quite exciting - it was fantastic to finally put shovel to soil after so many weeks of planning and research! It was intriguing to link the content of our readings with the actual first steps of the archaeological process. So many of the readings for this class have, for example, described the requirement to meticulously document all steps of the process, no matter how insignificant a detail might seem, for the purposes of other individuals and even future archaeological teams reaccessing our work and understanding exactly how we conducted the excavation. Such detailed recording finally seems necessary after witnessing the process firsthand and will most certainly benefit our analysis after we close the excavation in a few weeks.

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

Today we opened our second trench near Hope College, Quiet Green #2. While one team continued excavation on QG #1, which seems to be making quite a bit of progress, and another team continued work at the total station, I was a part of a team of 4 who opened and began excavating the first two contextual levels of QG #2. We began this process slightly differently. First, rather than positioning it near an entrance, we placed a 1m x 1m trench a few feet away from the door and centered it to catch a different path of exit in order to contrast a hypothetical lesser artifactual record with the heavy deposits in QG#1. Using a shovel method instead of immediate troweling like in QG#1, we scraped off the top layer of grass. This was much easier than troweling, which was more appropriate for the smaller, enclosed area near the door of Hope. After this, we used trowels once again to scrape off a few layers, categorizing them into two contexts: one for the loose, dark brown dirt found near the top and one for the more compact dirt with the beginning of an encounter with asphalt. Various members of the team also continued sifting similarily to last week in QG#1.

A BDH reporter also visted our site today, where she interviewed Alex and a few other team members. This will certainly help publicize our efforts to the larger Brown community.

For me, my work as contrasted with last week's QG#1 excavation was fascinating! It was hard to keep up last week with the large number of glass shards and ceramic bits that needed to be bagged from the very first context. However, this week was noticeably slower, which confirmed our thoughts of lesser traffic and resulting debris a little away from the original entrance of Hope College, as well as the modern windows which will leave resulting debris. We found a few glass shards here and there, as well as a few ceramic pieces and a couple pennies. The record seemed to shift away from beverage consumtion and residential artefacts, such as the measuring cup from QG#1 Context #2, and towards a mixture of objects that would fall accidently or during landscaping. For example, quite a few pieces of random metal were discovered, as well as the few pennies, which could possibly point to accidental droppage of trash, etc. This might point to an older path in the area of QG#2, especially since we began to find brick fragments in the bottem of context #2 before we ended the day.

Overall, the contrast between the two trenches seems highly effective to pursue and will make for interesting comparisons about traffic on the quiet green later in analysis.

November 5, 2012: Continued Excavation on QG#2

After a week off due to Hurricane Sandy, we resumed work on both trenches today. I continued work on QG#2 today with the same team members as a couple weeks ago. This time I was in charge of recording our progress on the continued context #2. We sifted and troweled the trench in a relatively similar pattern as before. Alex suggested we use a shovel method more often to speed things up a bit, especially after not digging last week. When we first opened the trench, it was muddy and damp due to the heavy rain experienced over the past week, but after a couple layers, the soil seemed to lose some of the watery texture. Sifting revealed a continued supply of broken glass and ceramics. Shell and slate were also scattered through our findings.

The big highlight of the day was the discovery of a sprinkler line, which the university doesn't mark on their utility maps. After pinpointing the valve near the clock tower, we continued to dig around the sprinker line and pedestaled the trench. Big rocks were also found on the same level as the sprinkler line, which we also dug around.

We closed context 2 when we hit a new layer of light brown, sandy soil. Next Monday on our last day of excavation, we will begin context three of QG#2.

In comparison to QG#1, our findings seem trivial and unimpressive. However, our trench will serve as a crucial point of comparison in order to show the heavy levels of deposit near the original entrance of Hope College. The team members of QG#2 all seemed to agree that our most interesting lesson of the day was the presence of "digging drama" on site. Also, never lug a total station halfway across the world unless absolutely necessary!

November 12, 2012: Final Excvation on QG#2

Today marked the last day of excavation during class time. I helped to finish the third context of QG#2 and sifted to find a small number of artefacts (a few ceramic and glass pieces). Our largest find today was the discovery of asphalt chunks, marking a definite man-made effect on the trench. The team revised our digging strategy somewhat to accomodate the sprinkler line running through the middle of the trench, but after we cleared the dirt from underneath it, we were able to continue digging out the entire area of the trench and leave the pipe suspended. After digging through a rocky, sandy layer, we closed context 3 when we hit a new layer of flat, solid gray rock. One area in the corner of the trench was separated due to a collection of a different color of gray rock. This corner will be marked as a feature should we decide to continue into context 4.

Some dicussion has occurred as to whether an optional Saturday of digging will be set aside to finish up QG#2 now that we've hit a noticeable change in context 4. This would certainly leave the trench feeling somewhat finished since this new rock layer would provide a helpful contrast with the upper layers of loose dirt. It would also help to answer the team members' questions concerning this rock layer as a part of the old path running along the Quiet Green.