Week 3 Update.

This week, the Poplar Forest field school students spent time in the laboratory learning about cataloguing and classification. Washing, sorting, and labeling artifacts they had excavated the previous week, students got a hands-on lesson in archaeological record keeping. Once the dirt was removed from pieces of brick, ceramic, glass, and bone, the students were able to get a better idea of what these objects may have looked like at the time they were used and discarded.

After being introduced to the lab’s collection of artifacts, students were able to identify ceramics with patterns similar or identical to those from other sites around the property. By looking more closely at pieces in the collection, some ceramic fragments from the current work at Site A have been identified as belonging to individual vessels which have had pieces in past excavations. Two large pieces of a Jefferson-era creamware platter excavated this week were crossmended with other pieces of the same platter found several years ago, also at Site A. By reuniting fragments, archaeologists can more specifically determine what type of ceramic vessel they have found, giving them more accurate information about the site from which the pieces come.

Back in the field, work continued on removing the red-clay fill. A brick and several large stones were revealed in one unit, and a possible post-hole was identified. Students in all three units got plenty of practice mapping the precise location, size, and shape of rocks, brick, and other features such as mortar concentrations. This is incredibly important to do before continuing to dig, as once these are removed, the information they can tell us about the site will be lost unless meticulously recorded on paper.

On Wednesday, News Channel 13 WSET came out to the site. Here is a link to their report http://www.wset.com/video?clipId=5982237&topVideoCatNo=189689&autoStart=true

 
Lori Lee shows field school students the diverse assemblage of artifacts in the Poplar Forest collection.

Once artifacts have been cleaned, they are labeled to preserve their context for research.

 

Window glass, some that has been burned, stoneware, and quartz flakes were all found in the transition layer between the plowzone and red-clay fill.

 

Two gullet-stones found in the plowzone are evidence that people were probably raising chickens in the Site A area.

 

A student screens soil excavated from the red-clay fill. This layer has yielded few artifacts, but it is still important to sift.

 

Students use a plumb-bob and rulers to measure and map features at the base of of the red-clay fill. The floor of this unit is now at the level it may have been during Jefferson’s time.