Dave Gadsby writes:"Archaeological activities are beginning to wind down at the Market Master's house. We spent a fairly mild summer day recording unit profiles and finishing excavations of the last few units. Mike, Janet and I also finished up some STPs in the lower parking lot area. By tomorrow, Rick and Jenn will likely have finished the remaining two units and shortly afterward, the piles of backdirt scattered throughout the yard will tumble back into the holes from which they were excavated.
While the recording phase of archaeological research is an extremely important part of the process, it doesn't often result in exciting finds. The most notable object I saw today was a fragment of shell- tempered prehistoric pottery. The acidic soils at the site had leached all of the calcium from the oyster, and only the baked clay fabric - pocked with holes where the shells had been - remained. We also recovered a large fragment of a large canning jar, still attached to the zinc top and white glass lid liner.
While this particular chapter of the project is drawing to a close, archaeologists will remain a presence in Bladensburg for some time to come. Starting Friday, we'll be doing some test excavations at Bostwick, and excavations at the George Washington house will take place in the more distant future.
"
"
No comments:
Post a Comment