A great day in the field today, though unrelentingly hot! We have four test units open right now, each offering us a different dimension of the site. Artifacts from all eras of the Market Master’s long life have been showing up in our screens, however at this shallow stage in our excavations the nineteenth and twentieth-centuries predominate. In a unit on the northeast corner of the house a small collection of early-twentieth century glass and ceramics including a porcelain teacup, a decorative elephant’s head and a small glass bottle was observed. Here is a picture of them in situ (in place): 
They were mapped and photographed exactly as they were found before being carefully removed by Ben, Vince and Cindy.
In the north of the house a high density of nineteenth century ceramics were recovered. Hopefully they will tell us a bit about this poorly documented period of time in the Market Master’s history. Here they are shown on the back of an upturned bucket, where field technician Susan was counting them for her test unit documentation forms:
On the far eastern edge of the site, field techs from the University of Maryland were digging through the top layers of jumbled fill soil where shovel tests turned up a deeply buried American Indian component. Shovel tests turned up stone flakes of green quartzite very similar to those we found on the east side of the Magruder House only weeks before. On the way down they found two shiny mercury head dimes dating to 1943 and 1944. Hopefully they will bring us good luck in the week to come.
Don’t forget, this Saturday is the Public Open Site day. Visitors will be given a self-guided tour and a chance to help us screen for artifacts. (see post for Tuesday May 26th for details)
Don’t forget, this Saturday is the Public Open Site day. Visitors will be given a self-guided tour and a chance to help us screen for artifacts. (see post for Tuesday May 26th for details)
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