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.