Archaeology Blog
Field School Week 6
By J. Brooks McCabe
This was the last week for our Field School students. The students wrapped up the remaining units behind the South Tenant House. The recovered artifacts date after Jefferson’s life, such as possible iron handles, tableware and other ceramics. Along with the units at the South Tenant House, the two remaining 5×5 units in the Stable Survey were also concluded. The 5×5 unit adjacent to the curtilage fence had persistent features, which students dug out and took soil samples for testing in the lab. Students were finally able to remove a bone (from a pig) from the base of the more interesting 5×5 unit from this survey. This unit was covered in filter cloth, then back-filled for future archaeological research.
With the help of GPS, each student learned how to map units of an archaeological site. All students shared the task of mapping the coordinates for the units in the Stable Survey.
This week, one of the primary focuses for our students was to research and to make a presentation for his or her artifact of interest. The presented artifacts were to serve as an interpretation for our site, the Stable Survey. From different types and prints of ceramics and different styles of pipes to unidentified metal objects and spatial analysis through GIS (geographic-information system), all students gave different, intriguing interpretations for the Stable Survey site.