October 2015 – Archaeology of College Hill Excavations

On a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning, our class and fellow archaeologist students from the graduate school gathered for Community Archeology Day! With the extra hands, we were excited to make a good deal of progress in both of our trenches. Both trenches were working on context two, and we were able to identify a similar sienna-colored, sandy soil change in each trench, that would begin context three. It was very interesting to talk to the graduate students about our project and their projects and interests. We also learned a lot about their digging techniques and strategies while working in the trenches with them.

This weekend was family weekend for both Brown and the Moses Brown school, so we had quite a few families stop by to check out what we were doing and see some of our finds. We all took turns describing our project and our goals to the visitors, and showing them some of our finds. Some of the visitors even got down in the trenches with us to help dig!

Our friend Leo learning to dig! He really rocked the Shark hat!

We uncovered a few exciting artifacts during our dig. Trench 1 noticed a fair bit of coal and charcoal inclusions while digging. In trench 2, we found about 6 nails primarily in the middle to east side of the trench. We also found quite a bit of slate in this part of the trench. Additionally, we found a piece of a pipe stem, and judging by size of the hole through the stem, we deduced that it was from the 19^th century – right around the time period our house was first inhabited! We also found a clay marble, which is pictured below next to a modern day marble that one of our visitors happened to have in his pocket!

Clay marble found in trench (left) next to modern day marble (right)

It was awesome to have so many people from the archeology department to come work with us on Community Archeology Day. Talking to our visitors and fellow archeologists about our project got everyone really excited and more invested. It was also great to make a lot of progress in our trenches and to have some neat artifacts to show for it! I am looking forward to see what we find next, especially as we approach context 3 and 4! I am having a lot of fun working together with my class mates, and we are all learning so much.

Karl and Matt, two JIAAW grad studets who came by to help us out

Julia Schoenewald’17

A large piece of pottery from Trench 2 that may have been part of a vessel or a component of the architecture. Pencil for scale.

This past Monday marked the third week of excavation at the Moses Brown site, and we are all feeling much more confident in our ability to utilize our tools. This week, the soil was very moist because of the large amounts of rain that we received over the weekend, which made digging much easier in both trenches. At the end of the second week, both trenches were able to close context 1, so this week was very exciting as we moved on to context 2. In trench 2, there was a very dramatic soil change in the northwest corner, which does not seem to match the soil at thislevel in the rest of the trench. Here, the dark-brown, silty clay began to change into a beige, sandy soil. We are not exactly sure what this soil change might be, but we hypothesize that it might be a part of where the foundation of the house was demolished and then filled. However, we will not know more about this until we can dig further.

Sherds from a transfer printed vessel in Trench 2. Pencil for scale.

This week was very interesting in terms of artifacts! This week we were able to recover large pieces of glass from both trenches, as well as a large amount of coal from trench 1. In trench 2, we found a large piece of ceramic, which looks like it may have been a piece of a brick from the facade of the house or a piece of pottery (see left). In trench 2, we also recovered some pieces of what looks like ceramic dining-wear, some of which has a blue pattern printed on it (see right) and some of which is all-white (see below left). These new finds are very encouraging, and they indicate that we are digging in the right location.

All-white sherd of possible dining ware from Trench 2

So far, I am thrilled to be participating in this course. It is such a cool hands-on experience that I really have never had the opportunity to partake in. Finding artifacts is one of the most amazing sensation, not only finding the artifact but connecting that to a real family that actually lived in this site almost 200 years ago. It is a uniquely thrilling experience, and I literally cannot wait to get back into the trenches, though my arms are still sore!

Maggie Gray ’17

Archaeology of College Hill Excavations

Brown University's Ongoing Fieldwork in Providence, Rhode Island

Month: October 2015

Community Archaeology Day

Week 3: Ceramics Begin to Appear

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