Archaeology Dig Diary May 30, 2005

Archaeology Dig Diary - 2007

Tuesday, May 30

The 2007 University of South Florida field school has arrived. They began their training with introductory conversations with Phil Levy, their professor; Paul Nasca, their field director; and me. They start digging today.The students will be going on several great field trips for behind-the-scene looks at among other places including Mount Vernon, St. Mary’s City, the Fredericksburg battlefield, Colonial Williamsburg, and Kenmore.

Heidi began excavating half of the remaining fill in the eastern, stone-lined cellar. She should uncover more of the entranceway into the western cellar (including the rest of the threshold), and give us our first look at the southern wall of this cellar. We are particularly interested in finding evidence of shelving or a stairway that led to the structure’s ground floor.

Kate began excavating half of the fill in the western cellar. We had gotten a free look at the foundations of this cellar last summer when we excavated an intrusive 20th century sewage sump that cut the cellar’s north wall. This disturbance revealed that a different type of construction stone was used in this cellar – rough river cobbles.

Kate has already uncovered the NW corner of this feature, revealing quarried and professionally cut Aquia sandstone, very similar to stones found in the east cellar. It will be very interesting to see which type of stone predominates as Kate gets lower into the cellar.

Cool artifacts are being recovered from both cellars including ceramics, straight pins, and beads.