A Day out in the Field

This summer, we are having our interns write blogs about their experiences doing archaeology. I am posting this one a bit belatedly - sorry Patrick!
- Lauren

Written by Patrick Collins, Lost Towns Project Intern

From left to right: Interns Patrick Collins and Jillie Drutz help
Steph fill out paperwork at Pig Point. 

Today, Thursday, June 16, 2011, was an interesting day out in the field at Londontown. I learned more about digging into a feature, which is where a post was most likely placed in the past when people such as American Indians or British settlers were constructing things such as wigwams or houses. I also learned once more about how exactness, in terms of things such as measurements, is crucial when it comes to excavating. I also learned how an area that has been dug into, such as a feature, cannot be dated solely by an artifact that has been found within it. An archaeologist that I was working with mentioned how a coin that could say 1700 on it could be found in a stratum or layer in the ground that is from a time much later than 1700.

   

Later on I then continued waterscreening, which is something that I am very familiar with now. Waterscreening involves basically a net and a hose, and it is used for separating dirt from artifacts by spraying dirt away from the artifacts until the dirt filters through the net and only pieces of gravel and artifacts remain above the net. Today was an interesting day for waterscreening because I found some interesting artifacts such as pieces of plates that were most likely used by the colonial settlers at Londontown. I also found a piece of pottery, which I believe may have come from American Indian origin, and I found a bunch of bones from another pile of dirt that I waterscreened as well.