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Archaeology Field School Week Four Activities &
Observations
June 24th - June 30th
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Week Four of field
school had us continuing our work at Site B and also returning to the
site where we first began learning about archaeological excavation
during our first week here, the Wingos site.
At Site B teams
completed more 5X5. In the southern portion of the site groups carefully
excavated features associated with the
Jefferson
era gully. Samples from different units and features were collected for
laboratory analysis and flotation, in order to study the soil and its
contents in more detail. In addition, ceramic sherds and metal objects
continue to be found in this area. In the northern portion of Site B
work continues on uncovering the French drain, and new excavations hope
to find post holes associated with the Jeffersonian curtilage fence,
which once enclosed the house and the pleasure gardens. |
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We returned to Wingos, a
quarter site on property once owned by
Jefferson
, to work with
University
of
Tennessee
graduate student Susanne Johnson digging 2X2 test pits. At the site we hoped to
find evidence of the structures that once existed on the property, whose exact
location was not recorded in any documents. Artifacts found include a variety of
nails, small bits of ceramic, brick, faunal tooth enamel, and also some
prehistoric stone tool fragments. The information of where these artifacts were
– and also weren’t found – will hopefully lead archaeologists closer to
finding the structure.
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In the laboratory we were
introduced to the important but difficult talk of cross-mending
artifacts. In order to surmise the most accurate number of total vessels
found in an excavation, artifacts must be mended back together into the
bottles or ceramic vessels they once made up. We quickly learned that
the task was much more difficult than it appeared; it is like working on
a 3D puzzle, except without a picture of the final product or all of the
puzzle pieces. |
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