Working in the Lab

This year's field school has seven students taking the course for credit, Miguel Valdivia, Peter Flagle, Erika Kruse, Alex Gordon, Katie Cooper, Paul Flynn, and Rachael Pacella. The students have divided their time between working in the field and in the lab.

Last week working in the lab, the students finished labeling artifacts from the 2009 Field School in Texas, Maryland. With at least 50,000 artifacts, it really did take that long!

Currently, the students are working on labeling and cataloging artifacts from the 2010 Field School. Artifacts, such as the pipe stem, ceramics, cut nail, and writing slate and pencil depicted in Image 1, come in from the field dirty and grouped only by soil layer and unit. After a gentle washing and drying, artifacts are painted with a fine strip of acrylic, then the site number and lot number (a catalog number) is written on each artifact so that they can always be identified by their context (Image 2), even during vesselization (where pieces from the same artifact are put back together). Though tedious, putting artifacts back together allows us to understand exactly what and how much of something we have. Also, we can attempt to figure out how and when an artifact made its way into the ground by studying its parts and where they were located in the ground. Finally, a second layer of acrylic is applied to keep the site number and lot number from wiping away (Image 3).


Image 1: Artifacts (a pipe stem, ceramics, a cut nail, and a writing slate and pencil) recovered in the field


Image 2: Katie writing on an artifact in the lab


Image 3: Smoking pipe stem labeled with site and catalog number

After labeling, we are faced with the task of cataloging or inventorying (Image 4). When cataloging artifacts, students write down the type of material, its function, its form, any decorative qualities, if its whole or fragmented, if it contains any marks, and the finally the quantity. For example with a beer bottle, you would describe the type of glass (brown), then continue to list its qualities: its decoration (embossed), its category (kitchen), its function (alcohol), and its form (a bottle). If the artifact is whole you can catalog it as whole, but it is more common to log fragmented artifacts, which in the case of glass, can be divided into body, base, or lip pieces. Also, students can find maker's marks on the base of the bottles. These symbols or letters can help identify the company that made the bottle, narrowing down the time frame from which the bottle could come from as well as the location of manufacture.


Image 4: Erika cataloging a ceramic sherd with a Flow Blue decoration

We have been cataloging lots of brown bottle glass recently, as well as some clear bottle glass and window glass. We have also been cataloging lots of whiteware, specifically tableware, some of which is transfer printed with floral designs. We have also found some stoneware, yellowware and redware. In many cases, the artifacts are so small that vessel form cannot be discerned— perhaps vesselization can help us later in this regard.

Working in the lab can be tedious at times, yet, unlike working in the field, we can examine the artifacts more carefully and fully. With various references, we can look up details about them, like if a glass bottle has a brandy or a crown cap finish— giving us clues to their contents and uses. These details are interesting because the lab is not only where each artifact can be examined closely, but where all the artifacts can be studied together as an assemblage. When all the artifacts are entered into a spreadsheet, we then can begin to figure out the nature of the site, who the people were, how they lived, and numerous other exciting questions. For now, we still have a lot of work to do.


Rachael Pacella
June 28,2011

Our First Week In Texas

After a week in the lab, we have just ended our first week in Texas, Maryland. In Texas, we opened up three units utilizing the survey grid from the 2009 field season. Currently, we are testing the rear yard area of a residence built around the 1840s that burned down in the 1890s. Last year's field school excavated part of the yard area but concentrated their efforts in the rear portion of the lot. They excavated a "store" which now seems to be an icehouse, based on its depth (almost 3 meters below the surface!) and artifacts. With seven students excavating this year and two weeks under our belts, we made quite a bit of progress looking for additional features in the yard (such as privies), and we even opened two additional units towards the end of the week.

As we are only a week into excavation, let me summarize the progress in each unit so far: (All the units and designations have continued off from were the 2010 Field School ended.) In Excavation Unit (EU) 9, Miguel and Katie found various artifacts ranging from the nineteenth century through the present which tell us that the site has been disturbed. We know this because the nineteenth-century clay tobacco pipe bowls and stems should not be in the same context layer as plastic bags. By midweek, two features were discovered that appear to be a post and posthole in what was originally thought to be a pit (Image 1). Limestone, plaster, and coal littered this hole as well as several small artifact fragments such as whiteware and glass.


Image 1: Possible Post and Posthole Partially Excavated in EU9

With Paul and Erika, I dug EU 10 a few meters to the south of EU 9. This unit is the rockiest of the units due to the layers of rocks that include limestone, plaster, and quartz (Image 2). This unit has five soil layers in it and all but the last soil layer has had coal. As we dug into the unit, the rocks did tend to lessen with depth, but excavation proved to be slow and tedious. No distinct features were identified, and the soil contexts were clearly defined on the unit's wall. We found several clay tobacco pipes stems and bowl fragments as well as several large pieces of whiteware with different designs on them (spatter, sponge painted, and transfer printed), and a slate pencil and writing slate. With these artifacts in the first soil layers, we found more modern artifacts like twentieth-century beer bottle fragments, wire nails, and plastic. The last soil context excavated was a reddish brown clay and contained no artifacts so we considered it sterile and backfilled the unit.


Image 2: South Wall Profile of EU 10

Only two meters to the west sits EU 11 dug by Alex and Rachel. This unit is like a mirror image of EU 10 based off of the soil layers and artifacts (Image 3). Matching the profiles of soil in the walls of both units shows gently sloping soil contexts with little disturbance. This leads us to ask what activities were happening in this area of the backyard.


Image 3: A Sampling of Artifacts from EU 11 (a thimble, ceramics, glass, writing slates, a clothing hook, a pendant?...)

In an entirely different lot closer to Church Lane, Paul and I have just started to excavate EU 1 (Image 4) in an area thought to contain a privy. This grassy lot abuts a lot containing a turn-of-the-century home now, but the boundaries of these lots likely have been altered at some point. Therefore, the lot we are excavating in might have held one of the original homes bordering the south end of Church Lane where the current house now stands.

This unit so far has had mixture of modern artifacts, like aluminum nails and wrappers, and older ones, like amethyst glass. We also found an old flask-like bottle that could have had medicine in it, but next to it was a plastic-handled screwdriver and screws. This tells us that at least the top part of the unit has seen recent use because of the mixture of artifacts in it. Yet, as we dug down on Friday, the artifacts seem to be fewer but older. We have hopes of finding the privy at the end of this lot and will continue to dig. Keep your fingers crossed!


Image 4: Excavation of EU 1

Peter Flagle
June 27, 2011

Excavations at the Irish Shrine

We have wrapped up two weeks of excavations at the Irish Shrine on Lemmon Street in West Baltimore. With temperatures topping 100°F and the occasional visit by some friendly rats, students enrolled in the 2011 Field School dug two excavation units. During this search for privies located in the rear lots of these row homes, several interesting features were uncovered as well as a wide range of artifacts.

In one unit, we found a fairly recent concrete foundation that rested above a deep pit (going down 1.5 meters from the surface). In this pit, the dark and loose soil indicated a fill layer which is further supported by the discovery of a mix of nineteenth-century domestic artifacts, such as doll parts and buttons, as well as twentieth-century domestic artifacts and architectural debris, like plastic toys and bricks.

So what can a Sprite bottle and an 1830's painted plate tell us? Having these and other items in the same layer of soil suggests that an earlier feature, perhaps a privy, was disturbed by later excavation or renovation of the row homes and their yards— resulting in a mix both of artifacts and soil.

The other and adjacent unit proved even more interesting. Relatively quickly, a soil stain was identified which resembled a post hole. Further investigation uncovered a collared metal pipe situated vertically in the soil. Even more perplexing, below and connected to this pipe sat another pipe running perpendicularly from north to south [Image 1]. We still are researching their possible function, but one theory is that these pipes may have been used as a venting mechanism for a later water closet.


Image 1: Pipes and circular stain/wood of barrel

Equally fascinating, underneath these pipes was a dark circular stain the approximate dimensions of a barrel bottom. Careful excavation unearthed a well-preserved wooden board that fit exactly within the circular stain. This board likely is the last remnant of a barrel from a barrel-vaulted privy (a privy placed over a buried barrel and regularly emptied but some very unfortunate person). Perhaps, the barrel was cleaned around the turn of the century and the pipes were then added for a water closet? Any ideas? White ball clay pipes, bone buttons, and various ceramics are among some of the nineteenth and twentieth-century artifacts that came from this unit and its features [Image 2].


Image 2: Recovered artifacts, washed and drying in the sun

After several days of mapping and recording soil data and other information, the students backfilled the units. The students of the Field School have endured some extremely difficult climate conditions [Image 3], but their diligence and hard work paid off with many exciting discoveries!



Image 3: Field School student, Alex, working through the heat

This short excavation demonstrates the rich heritage and history of Baltimore that is available archaeologically when excavated and documented systematically and scientifically. We would like to thank the Irish Shrine and the residents of Lemmon Street for the opportunity to excavate and their patience during the last two weeks.

The remainder of the field school will be in Texas, Maryland, and will be our third year of studying this nineteenth and twentieth-century quarrying community. More soon to follow!

Paul Flynn and Adam Fracchia
June 23, 2011