Artifacts from the Outbuilding

As we continue to excavate around the outbuilding feature, I thought I'd take this opportunity to share some of the artifacts that have come out of the excavations. The vast majority of the artifacts depicted here comes from the trash layer deposited directly above the building foundations and floor.

The spherical brown glass bottles discovered en masse have been returned to the lab and cleaned up a bit (see below). A total of 54 bottle necks were discovered. A close examination of the bottle fragments reveals slightly raised lines running around the outsides of each bottle -- these lines are the result of the molding process. The bottle-making process involved the transference of molten glass into a mold, which was squeezed together into a bottle shape. When the mold was removed, thin lines of glass remained where the pieces of the mold fit together. In the picture below on the right, these lines, or "mold scars," are visible on either side of the bottle necks (bottom row) and the rounded bottle bottoms (top row). The circular scars present on the bottle bottoms are indicative of the Owens machinated bottling technology, patented in 1903.

Below: An army of brown glass bottlenecks (left); three pairs of bottle necks and bottle bottoms (right)

Of course, the bottles were not the only objects to be deposited within the feature. A wealth of ceramic and glass vessel fragments have been discovered, some of which are shown below.

Above: Blue banded annular ware bowl (left); small porcelain saucer (right)

Below: Molded clear glass saucer (left); faceted transfer-printed whiteware cup (right)

These sorts of mass-produced artifacts are typical for archaeological sites dating to the recent past. However, people in the past did more than drink from cups and serve food on plates and saucers. Accordingly, we were thrilled to find more everyday sorts of objects within the ruins of the outbuilding. The artifact show below on the left is a slate pencil. The term "pencil" is something of a misnomer as the object does not actually contain lead. It is called pencil because it was a writing implement used to make marks on writing slates. This is the second slate pencil discovered this season. The object on the right, although heavily corroded, should be immediately familiar to most viewers: it is a small pair of scissors. Because of their diminutive size, the scissors were probably intended for use by a woman or a child.

Below: Slate pencil (left); scissors (right)

Last, but certainly not least, are the buttons. Black glass buttons and porcelain buttons, painted buttons and etched buttons, copper buttons and molded buttons. Before I get too Dr. Seuss-y, check just a small sample of the buttons we've found below.

Above: two faceted black glass buttons that were originally wrapped in iron wire to secure the glass to the metal shank [top], white porcelain button with pie-crust patterned edges [bottom left], and black glass button [bottom right] (left); etched black glass button with floral design [top left], corroded brass gilt button [top right], copper-alloy hook and eye set [bottom] (right)

Below: Painted porcelain button -- this artifact is particularly exciting because it is the first artifact that we've discovered which can be unequivocally linked to a resident of the Fairbanks House. The button was painted by Prudence Fairbanks (1781-1871); a set of identical buttons resides in the Fairbanks House museum.

End of Week 1: A Building (Re)Discovered

The first week of the 2010 excavation season has come and gone and we're hoping the good weather portends well for the rest of our time at the house. During this week, we focused our efforts on uncovering more of the outbuilding discovered last summer. Thus far, we've been quite successful. Two 2x2m units revealed a section of foundation stones and a large portion of a cobble floor. Curiously, the foundation appears to either peter out or change direction (see the picture below) at a certain point. As you can see in the image below, the wall runs northward, but does not seem to be present in the next unit to the north. This may mean the building was not a simple four-walled, rectangular structure or that portions of the foundation were disassembled and reused or discarded. Only time will tell.

Above: Two 2x2m units; the unit to the south (bottom) shows foundation wall running south to north on the western side of the unit with cobble flooring on the eastern side, while the unit to the north (top) shows only cobble flooring.

After we finished the excavation of the two units shown above, we decided to move to the south in an attempt to find the corner of the structure. In the bottom right-hand corner of the above image, you can see a patch of tan soil -- this is the backfill from one of last year's test pits. In this test pit, we found a large stone we believed to be part of the southern foundation wall of the structure. So logically, we thought, excavation of the area between this year's units and last year's units would result in the identification of the southwestern corner of the building. Lo and behold, we were right.

Above: Staff archaeologist Alex excavating in the corner of the outbuilding.

Now that we've located one corner, we need to find two more corners to determine the overall dimensions of the structure. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we will be placing test units in line with our current foundations in an attempt to find where the walls end.

The trend of extraordinary artifact totals continues: I estimate that in our three full days and two half days of work last week, we recovered close to 1,000 artifacts. The vast majority of these finds comes from a single layer above both the floor and foundation walls that is full of 19th-century material. Because it covers both the walls and floor, we believe this layer may represent trash that was deposited on top of the building once it was no longer in use. If this is the case, it means we can very tentatively place the date of the building's demise around the late 19th-century. I can't mention artifacts without noting another trend that has continued, and even escalated, during our work: the button count continues to rise! On Friday, the screening of two buckets of soil from the trash deposition layer yielded 17 identical copper-alloy buttons, two of which still had cloth wrapped around them. These same two buckets also contained approximately 12 copper-alloy hooks and eyes (clasps used to secure clothing). What these finds mean in the grand scheme of things is yet to be determined.

During this week of work, we were incredibly fortunate to receive assistance from a number of sources (see below). In addition to our regular group of wonderful undergraduate volunteers, graduate students from Boston University who happened to still be in the area very kindly donated their time to a fellow student and their efforts were greatly appreciated. Additionally, Ellen Berkland, City Archaeologist for the city of Boston brought a hardy crew out take part in the dig. Their combined labor provided a strong boost to the season's progress. And we also were aided by the extremely energetic and adorable hands of some enthusiastic visitors to the site. To all who helped out this week, we offer our humble and profound thanks.

Below: Our industrious crew of helpers hard at work (left); help comes in all sizes (right)

Stay tuned later this week: a look at artifacts from the outbuilding excavation to come!

Final Update for the Season (a bit late...)

After six productive weeks in the field, we have come to the end. Granted, that end was about three weeks ago, but no matter.

Our final week in the field yielded some interesting finds. We spent the time excavating in the bottom of the cellar feature while also choosing to extend the northernmost unit by another 50cm. It was a fortunate decision because in the northern wall of the extended unit, we discovered what is almost certainly a portion of the northern wall of the stone-lined cellar. In addition, we've exposed a greater portion of the western wall (visible in the picture below on the left). Towards to bottom of the cellar, against both the western and northern walls, we found two caches of large fragments of earthenware vessels (butter pots, milk pans, etc). One of these deposits can be seen in the video clip below.

Above: left - Volunteer archaeologists Andrew Griffin and Cory Hodson excavating in the bottom of the cellar feature; right - video clip of an earthenware cache next to the northern wall

At this point, the future of the cellar feature is uncertain. As it is constricted to the east by a live gas line and the existing driveway and to the south by a water drain, we may have done all we can do with this feature. That said, we've recovered such a wealth of information, in terms of landscape use, building construction, and artifact use, that this isn't necessarily a problem. Without the necessity of re-excavating approximately 6 cubic meters of backfilled dirt, we will have more time in future seasons to devote to the other areas on the property, namely the outbuilding to the north of the house and the shed-like feature to the south of the house that we had initially planned to investigate this season.

With the field season completed, the processing begins. Artifacts will be cleaned, sorted, and cataloged. All of our paperwork will be typed up and all of our drawings will be digitized in Adobe Illustrator and other digital editing software. Research will begin into the artifacts and their relation to the property, all in preparation for the writing of an interim site report. This report will be placed on file with the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) and the Fairbanks House library. Basically, although we're no longer digging, the real work has truly begun.

As a closing note, I would like to personally thank a number of people without whom this project would never have gotten off of the ground. Thanks very much to Dr. Mary Beaudry of Boston University for her close guidance throughout this project and into the present. Thanks to Richard Lowry for connecting me with the Fairbanks House. Thanks to Dr. Alex Service and the Fairbanks Board for their continued enthusiasm and support. Thanks to Ellen Berkland, city archaeologist of Boston, for her assistance both in the excavation and processing of artifacts. And lastly, a hearty thank you to my wonderful volunteers, especially Maggie Burr, Josh Howard, Alex Keim, and Adrien Smith, for their consistent service, interest, positive attitudes, and willingness to put up with me.

It was a fantastic summer and we look forward to future work at the Fairbanks House and beyond. Keep an eye on the blog for more updates about the archaeology of the country's oldest timber-framed house!

Week 5 Update

As I write this blog entry in the oddly freezing cold archaeology lab, I can look out the windows at the rain pounding the building's A/C unit. Another day, another rain shower.

Since finishing up the outbuilding feature near the house for the season, we've moved back to our subterranean feature by the driveway. This week has been spent working on two units placed adjacent to the three existing units in this area (see the updated dig map below). We've also added a unit west of the original driveway line as another check on the local stratigraphy. The new unit was placed just west of our second test pit in which we found an historic posthole.

Above: Updated dig map (green units are in progress, blue units are finished, and orange units are finished for this season)

The two units placed in the area of the underground feature have proved very exciting. Beginning approximately 40cm below surface, we revealed a line of large stones running SE to NW through both units (see below). As we continued to dig down, it appears that there is a second course of stones under the first, a find that supports the hypothesis that these stones represent a wall in the subterranean feature. Our goal now is to continue digging on the east side of this line of stones down to the current depth of the first three units in this area. We'll only dig on the east side in an effort to preserve the structural integrity of the stones just in case they do actually form a wall. Once we've excavated down through the final level of ashy furnace deposit throughout the feature, we'll keep digging in all five units and hopefully discover the floor surface of this exciting structure.
















Above: LEFT - overhead view of the top of the potential stone wall; RIGHT - view showing the five in-progress units dug into the subterranean feature


With only five digging days left (excluding our last day which will be spent backfilling our feature units), there's still a lot of work to be done to finish up the feature units and the extra test pit. Keep an eye on the blog next week as we come down to what may be the floor of our feature!

End of Week 4: Of Newspapers and Outbuildings

The good news from the middle of this week: a reporter from the Daily News Transcript came out to the site on Wednesday to check out our progress and write up a piece for the paper (you can see the article here). The bad news from the middle of this week: the reporter came one day too late.

Thursday signaled a move away from the western yard of the property towards the area just north of the Fairbanks House. After carefully observing the current conditions in this location, we began by opening two units (we later added a third). There are a number of stones of various sizes poking up out of the ground and by drawing lines between them, we come up with the outline of a potential feature (see below).

Above: This photo shows the stones on the surface (outlined in red) and the potential lines drawn between them (dotted yellow lines). It also shows the units put in straddling these lines.

In an effort to test our feature hypothesis, we put in two units over these theorized lines. It wasn't long before we came down on two scatters of stones that support our hypothesis (see below). In the layers above these stones, we found hundreds of artifacts, most of which date from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries.

Above: Two overhead shots of the outbuilding feature.

One of the units turned up one very large rock and several other small ones in a line which we believe represents a building foundation. The other unit revealed a scatter of smaller stones which may illustrate a collapsed wall. These two test pits show that we clearly have evidence of some sort of outbuilding located to the north of the original house.

Above: LEFT - six buttons (five brass, one porcelain) from the two outbuilding test units. The top row of buttons has been cleaned using a water/lemon juice mixture while the bottom two brass buttons have not been cleaned. The larger brass buttons bear the backmark "BENEDICT/TREBLE GILT," a signature of the Benedict and Burnham Manufacturing Company. The smaller button's backmark reads "B.B. Extra Rich" and was probably made by the same company. RIGHT - two pipes from the outbuilding test units. The bottom pipe bears a decorative box with the name "McDougall's" stamped in it. The McDougall Company operated out of Glasgow, Scotland and began producing pipes in 1846.

As exciting as these finds are, due to a lack of time (only two weeks left!), we've decided to close these units and move back to the subterranean feature near the driveway. This outbuilding will be the central part of next summer's work at the site.

Stay tuned as we try to get everything wrapped up over the next two weeks!

The Chronology of Confusion to Clarity, or, How to Dig an Archaeological Feature

Since there hasn't been much in the way of artifacts lately, I thought I'd post a brief series of photos that gives some insight into what archaeologists actually see when they dig a feature.




















While working on unit 107, the second-to-last driveway test pit on the southern end of the line, we began to encounter dark brown stains in orange-yellow soil of our layer (see above left). Note the circular-looking stain towards the top of the right-hand photo and the boxy stain towards the bottom-right (both outlined in turquoise). There was also some sort of strange boxy looking stain poking out of the top wall (outlined in red). We were confused, so we cleaned the unit up a bit, took these pictures, and then began to explore a bit further. After scraping off some more dirt...



















... we found that the stains were not part of separate features, but rather part of one large feature that almost encompassed the entire unit (see it outlined in blue in the above right image). Another reason that we could be sure it was a feature distinct from the orange-yellow layer is because of what it contained, namely, charcoal. The charcoal inclusions show up black in the above left photo and are highlighted in red in the above right photo.

Ok, so we've got a feature. Now what?




















First, we bisect the feature and dig one half of it so that we can see a profile (above left). Think of it as studying an unknown species: after looking at it from the outside, you have to dissect it to see what's inside! Once half of the feature has been removed, we draw and photograph the feature's profile (above right -- feature profile outlined in turquoise). Once the profile has been documented, we dig out the rest of the feature and end up with...

... a clean and finished unit!

Unfortunately, even when all due attention is paid to a unit and the features therein, things get missed. In this case, while we worked hard to uncover this large brown feature, we completely missed another feature positioned in the unit. You can see it in the picture below, outlined in red.

So despite our best efforts, we still missed some information. This just goes to show that archaeology is not an exact science, or really a science at all. Archaeology is about problem solving, critical thinking, careful evaluation and observation, and occasionally, just darned good luck.

Mid-Week (sort of...) Update

After losing a day due to rain (Tuesday), this week has felt a bit disjointed. Fortunately, we're very excited about what we've found at the bottom of the first test pit. It's too early to say exactly what we have, but this unit shows signs of a subterranean feature that was filled in during the 19th century.

In this picture, I'm working on an extension of our first unit. We decided
to expand the area of excavation to reveal a larger portion of the potential
feature (see the updated dig map below). The ladder and hardhat are
necessary to comply with OSHA regulations. And to look totally cool.

The "fill" constitutes a series of layers indicative of furnace cleaning. During the historical period, furnaces needed to be cleaned out regularly and these episodes leave relatively thin layers of ashy gray soil, often full of charcoal and/or broken artifacts. We've uncovered three separate episodes of furnace cleaning so far, the third and deepest of which has revealed a number of large fragments of 19th century ceramics (hence our ability to date the filling of the subterranean feature -- if the lowest level of fill dates to 19th century, then the layers above it almost certainly date to a similar or later time period). Unfortunately, these artifacts have already been taken to the lab and have not yet been photographed (sorry!).

Updated dig map showing extension of our first unit in an
attempt to reveal a larger amount of the potential
feature (red units are planned, green units are in progress,
blue units are finished)

Assuming the weather holds off tomorrow (and that's a big assumption these days), we hope to get to the lowest layers of the "feature" area. At that point, we hope to be able to then determine the nature of the feature. Keep an eye on the blog as there will be an update over the weekend (weather permitting!) including artifact photos and more news from the site...

End of Week One

Five not-entirely-rain-free days in and things are progressing well with excavations at the Fairbanks House. One of the two test pits that were started this week has been completed and a new unit has been opened (see the updated dig map -- red units are planned, green units are in progress, and blue units are completed).


The completed unit did not turn up many artifacts, but when we finally reached subsoil (the base layer of glacial soil representing pre-historical time periods, roughly 1m below surface in this unit), we discovered our first feature: a small circular posthole (shown below outlined in blue, next to a photo of me cleaning the unit in preparation for taking photos). Because of its size, shape, and location on the property, it is hypothesized that the posthole represents a post in a fenceline. The unfortunate part of the discovery is that the unit only contained a single posthole so there is no way to know in which direction the fence runs. Due to this lack of clarity and for reasons of time, we decided against opening up other units in the area in an attempt to chase the fenceline.


















The first unit that we opened up has turned up a number of 19th century artifacts including fragments of glass pharmaceutical bottles and whiteware plates. Another find of interest is what appears to be a double-sided kitchen pot hook. This hook (shown fresh from the ground) could be hung by the circular eye and would allow multiple pots to be hung. In the picture below, from top left: pot hook, fragment of blue shell-edged creamware plate, small aqua glass bottle (neck broken off), fragment of plain creamware plate, bottom of rectangular glass pharmaceutical bottle.


Despite a fearsome forecast full of thunderstorms, we're hoping to finish up the two units that are in progress next week. Stay tuned for more updates and as always, feel free to come out and visit the site Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm!