Field Season Ends...

The field school ended July 9th and was a very successful field investigation - although extremely hot. In comparison to last year the artifact count was low, however unlike the previous season the shards of glass and ceramic were much more diagnostic forming a very tight date range between 1850 and 1890. The date range spans the Connor family tenancy and the time of the rowhouse built in 1854 and burnt, abandoned, and demolished by 1896. The artifacts were mostly domestic and included teacups, plates, soup tureens, chamber pots, buttons, and toys. The data provide a keen insight into the daily lives of the Connor family.

Unfortunately, the artifacts do not provide any clues as to the use of the structure. It has been assumed that the 12 ft. X 12 ft. structure was used as the family shop. The widow Conner (1870s) was listed as owning a shop on the property, however it is unclear if she did so in this outbuilding. The material culture is similar to many other non-commercial, domestic sites and does not provide any insights into the use of the structure. There are no indications (other than domestic items) that the building was a residence. It has been suggested that it could have been a worker's barracks, but the presence of women and children in the assemblage suggest otherwise. It is because of this I contend that the material most likely belongs to the Conner family and was dumped in the structure (most artifacts found along the bottom of the feature) after the fire and abandonment of the house - and subsequently the outbuilding. After 1896 the house was razed and the lot remained vacant until the present time. Thus for now the our structure remains somewhat of a mystery...

The next phase of the project is laboratory work. The artifacts were washed in the field, but now every piece needs to be labeled and cataloged before I begin the analysis. I look forward to this part as it allows the time to really sit and think about the materials and their implications for daily life amongst Irish immigrant and Irish-American laborers.

I hope people continue to follow the project as it moves through what can be one of the most exciting phases. I plan to post weekly blogs in terms of new findings, photographs, and of course the completed site report.

I want to thank the fantastic crew working this summer - none of this could have been possible without them. I hope they read this and stay connected to the project.

Post by:
Stephen A. Brighton

Week 6 continues...

During the last week of the dig our focus has been on wrapping up loose ends and lots of mapping! Yesterday and today paperwork for the remaining open excavation units (EU) was completed, officially closing the units, while the artifacts they yielded were washed and bagged. Closing the units has involved taking soil samples for identification with a Munsell chart, describing the unit, and plenty of mapping. Today Danny, Paul, and Beverly worked to map the western wall of EU 3, following in the footsteps of Kristen and Dan who mapped the unit’s southern wall yesterday. Similarly the walls of EU 8 were mapped today by Tahitia, Erin, Tim, and Charlotte, after they completed digging a window in the north half of the unit.

My lot in life has been no different for the past two days as I’ve created my magnum opus for the field season: a plan view of EUs 1 and 2 with Features A and B. In this post I’ve included an early version of the map (as you can see, nothing escapes getting dirty at the site) along with a digitally colored one that I hope gives readers a better understanding of how the units are arranged. That’s all the news for now, Emily.

Week 6

Both groups are in the field this week as we approach the end of our field school. Working in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, the students are focused on completing the remaining units before the site must be filled. Some of us took turns excavating the bottom of Unit 8 (first picture above), as well as hauling buckets of dirt, mapping the site, and washing artifacts. We worked as a solid team to accomplish all that must be done.

Unit 3 (second picture above) had a breakthrough yesterday (July 6th) as Paul was able to dig a box inside and locate the bottom of the foundation along the north wall. After uncovering the bottom of the wall and cleaning up the rest of the unit, Kristen and I were able to begin the arduous task of profiling the massive south wall of the unit today (July 7th). Students will again be working feverishly in the high heat and humidity because there is still much to do and very little time. In the next two days, we expect to finish mapping, take photographs of the site, and refill the gaping pits that have been dug around the site.

-Dan Powers, 2010 Field School Student

Charlotte's view of the lab...

The powerhouse College Park crew met in the lab today (Thursday, July 1st) to begin the final push of cataloging and labeling the artifacts from 2009 before the field school ends. Paul was the sole person labeling while the rest of us (Tahitia, Charlotte, Tim, and Danny) catalogued lots 55 through 63. We counted, described, and discarded a few fragments of black plastic, a plastic soda cap, and a gray paint chip. Most of the glass shards were from brown alcohol bottles manufactured by Duraglas and Temperglas. There were also glass pieces from a bottle containing Colden’s Beef. This brand of medicine and bottle type was manufactured between 1890 and 1915, an appropriate range for last year's site. Other interesting finds included such things as an ice skate blade that would have been tied onto a shoe.

By
Charlotte Aldebron

Paul on being in the field...

Tuesday (June 30th) was an eventful day for the Texas field school excavation. Beverly, Danny and I continued working in unit 8, which had a large tree in the center of it. The combination of tree roots, large limestone rocks, and hard soil made the process slow and tedious. We were forced to the tree. We then opened up a new context (15) to account for the pedestal that contained the tree’s roots and base. This context spanned through three different contexts including 2, 8 & 13. We dislodged the earth from the root system using pick axes and screening the dirt was a little difficult. We encountered a large concentration of rocks within the unit and seemed purposefully laid out, however, it seems to have just been the method in which we removed other rocks in the unit as we excavated that resulted in our own visible pattern. We uncovered a strange and interesting iron artifact. Its level of oxidation made it hard to identify but appears to be a chain with iron bolts or eye pins. The artifact was cleaned up in situ and photographed. This marked the ending of our day and the whole crew cleaned up the loose ends and called it a day. All in all a successful day, providing us with more questions to ponder about the time, space, place, and reason for this strange feature.

By
Paul Flynn

A very excited and energetic Paul Flynn digging through wall fall...

A child's presence was also seen perhaps more intimately through the recovery of the porcelain doll's head.

This week's work revealed the presence of children at the site with the presence of clay marbles.

A sample of the artifacts recovered from the inside of Feature A during the 5th week of the field school.

Tim Vettel holds up his find of the day - large fragments of a an undecorated whiteware chamber pot.

Typical stratigraphy within the larger structure known as Feature A.

WEEK 4

The College Park crew joined the dig on Wednesday, we will continue to work until next Wednesday when the Baltimore crew joins us again. This week has been really hot, but we are working within feature A which is partially shaded by a tree. Charlotte continues to scrape in unit 3 along the North and East side of the foundation wall. Tim and Paul have started a new unit inside the West portion of the wall. I continue to work in unit 4 and 4 extended, which includes the South side of the wall, and a new feature. The new feature is another wall about 3 feet from the south wall, which had rocks that were filled in between. The portion that gets dug and sifted for artifacts is a very small area. It's about 6 inches wide and 2 meters long. We have to dig out a large area for us to work in, in order to reach that small area. That area was previously dug by archaeologists and contains fill, so it won't be sifted. When we dig down until our arm no longer reaches, we have to dig out an area for us to sit. There is a lot of digging required just to reach the small area that we want to be in, but it is all worth it in the end. We have found lots of pottery shards, part of a pipe, glass, metal, and animal bones.

-Tahitia Morin, 2010 Field School student

WEEK 4

Picture 1, from left to right: Emily, Beverley, Kristen, and Dan

Picture 2, Emily cataloging a fragment of green glass

Picture 3, we still have lots of artifacts to catalog

Today was the Baltimore teams first day back in the lab, for which we were very grateful as it was extremely hot and sunny outside. Emily and I managed to get two whole lots cataloged, Lots 48 and 49 from Excavation Unit 17, Contexts 1 and 7 from last year’s Texas field school. Lot 48, among other things, had a large amount of glass of various colors as well as some interesting ceramic pieces. One of the more interesting artifacts was a porcelain lid to part of a child’s tea set. On the other side of the lab, Kristen and Dan were quickly catching up to us with the labeling and managed to label the artifacts through to Lot 45. If they catch up to us tomorrow they’ll be joining us cataloging.

-Beverley Ginley, 2010 Field School student

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WEEK 4

Picture 3: Erin with artifacts from her unit

Picture 2: General Service Button (1902-)

Picture 1: Foundation (Pictured to the rear and right) and Wall in Foundation (Pictured to the left)

Week four has been hot and sunny... and the Baltimore team is in the field. Emily and Bev are plugging away on the southern side of our mystery structure [Picture 1] and Dan is making progress along the northern edge. On the other end of the site, Erin and I are working in two 1 x 1 meter squares near what used to be a retaining wall on the lot. We have been out in the sun for the last few days but Dr. Brighton [our hero] picked up a tent to shade our fair skin and keep productivity high! So far we are finding a lot of broken ceramics, fragments of glass bottles and nails [Picture 3]. I found a military button that dates back as early as 1902 [Picture 2]. Erin and I are just about into the subsoil [a deep orange clay] in our 1 x 1's which means the bottom of our excavation units. Who knows where we go from there...

Tomorrow the College Park team rejoins us in the field to dig away!!

-Kristen Gray, 2010 Field School student

Week 3

Week 3 has moved us past preliminary shovel scraping, creating the grid, and opening maps - we have finally begun to work in historical layers! The students have worked very hard in the sun, heat, and other times wind and rain... and now they are working in the stone structure, as well as in the west yard area. The work inside the structure (Feature A) has revealed a possible internal feature (Feature B) - it seems to be a stone wall. The stones are mortared and appear to be at least 3 levels deep at this time. It is uncertain what this feature is or what purpose the internal wall would have served... we hope to find clues to this mystery in the upcoming days.

In the west yard area, Paul, Kristen, Erin, Beverly, Dan J., and Tim opened new 1m squares to determine how yard space was used between the house and the large structure (Feature A) at the rear of the lot. They are just beginning the units (located right out in the middle of the field and if course the sun!) and we hope that we will discover how everyday lives of the Irish immigrant and Irish-American laboring families... stay tuned!

Charlotte and Dan working on mapping the wall collapse inside Feature A

The types of artifacts - late 19th to early 20th century - recovered from Feature B

Erin happily washing artifacts...

Unit 3 (northeast corner of Feature A) - the stone jumble is "wall fall" or collapse of the original structure...

Feature B at the end of the day - June 17th - the wall fall continues within the box feature within the larger structure. The line of stones continues

The emergence of Feature B within the northeast corner of Feature A (larger structurer). Feature B is thought to be the line of stones running east/we

Emily and Tahitia working on a plan view for Feature B

Week 3

The end of Week 2

To date the students and Adam have done much work removing overburden and fill to get to the mid-19th century foundation. It is believed to either be a shop or an outbuilding for the shop (possible storage?). The shop dates between ca.1860 and 1880. The census and tax lists from that time list widow Margaret Connor as owning/running a shop on the property and her son as "clerk in store." We are hoping the next few weeks provide us the material evidence to determine how the structure was used and the types of goods sold in Texas.

Stay tuned for daily reports as we begin to excavate 1x2 meter squares inside the 4 x 4 meter building (approximately 12 feet by 12 feet)... We will also begin posting artifacts online for people to identify and provide ideas - always thinking positive that of course we will find much evidence!!

Cheers!
Stephen

Adam showing Tahitia and Danny Jones how to master the string and line level for closing measurements of the 5x5 meter square...

Tahitia experiencing the absolute "joys" of archaeology and cleaning around stone foundations!

Charlotte and Tim excavating along the north and west walls of the foundation... next week proper units inside the building!

Week 1 and 2

Tahitia, Charlotte, and Tim uncover and clean the north and west walls of the stone foundation...

Week 1 and 2

Week 1 and 2

Week 1 and 2

Week 1 and 2

Week 1 and 2

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"Store" Foundation

Week Two of the Field School.

We (Dan, Danny, Tim, and Erin pictured) are looking to uncover the 12 by 12 ft. foundation of the 19th-c. "store" that an earlier contract archaeology firm partially excavated in the 1990s. We cut the sod and scraped the soil with shovels and found several large limestone blocks - the first indications of the foundation!

Currently, we are removing the dirt they used to cover the remainder of the foundation. Once fully exposed, we will excavate the rest of the foundation to see how the structure may have been used.

Any ideas?

Week one!

Week one of the fieldschool has located the previous excavation units of MAAR's (1990s) work. We believe we have found the foundation of what they were calling a store based on a 1870s tax record. We will excavate the remainder of the store and portions of the rear yard. This is a great opportunity to understand a piece of 19th c. Texas life.

Blog for the Archaeology of Texas, MD!

We are just starting the blog for the field school and research about the archaeology of Texas, MD. The blog, just like the website,is in the process of being formed. Please feel free to comment and be a part of this exciting research...