We’ve already started excavations for the 2014 field season on the Quiet Green. After shooting in our new trenches last week, the fences are up and we started digging on Monday afternoon. Our 2014 students were enjoying the sunny September weather, and made a good start clearing the turf and topsoil. Early finds include lost pennies and lost dorm keys – perhaps if we return them now, we can get the $30 replacement fee back for some poor student?

CH2014 student Harpo finds a penny… from 1996.

This year, we’ll be opening two new trenches to follow-up on our findings from the 2013 season. Trench QG5 is located on a further stretch of the path, identified on historic mapping and GPR survey results, and excavated in part in 2013. We will be exposing more of this path, and excavating it entirely to learn more about its date of construction. Trench QG6 is located squarely on the foundations of the First President’s House, according to historic mapping of the area. We positioned our trenches last year (QG3, in particular) based on the GPR survey results, but found the rectangular anomalies identified were much deeper than any archaeological deposits. We’re excited to see whether 18th mapping, or 21st century geophysics, provides a better clue of the house’s original location.