Indian Queen Tavern, Day 11: Unit Updates

Today we have updates on the findings from the three units we have opened upduring this last week of investigations at the Indian Queen Tavern site. First is the eastern most unit excavated by Julie, Nichole and Lisa:

My unit is on the far eastern side of the site and would be closest to where the Indian Queen Tavern would have stood during the 18th century. Just below the surface is part of a rock foundation that dates to the early 20th century, its use is not known. About a foot below the foundation we discovered a pit feature full of brick, rubble, clay, and some artifacts. At this time, the feature appears to be an older cellar, but it is too early determine a function. In addition to the pit feature we also encountered a post hole and post mold mixed with 18th and mid 19th century artifacts. The most exciting artifact to come out of our unit today was a complete pipe bowl. Next week we will be disassembling the 20th century foundation to better expose the pit feature.

The second unit sits in the center of trench three and is being excavated by Frank:

Today was a nice cool day compared to yesterday and I continued work on Test Unit 6. Work in the unit continued on the brick masonry feature that was identified on Wednesday. Having cleaned the bricks off completely it was determined that the brick masonry was likely the corner of a structure. A post hole was located within the south eastern corner of the test unit and it is unknown if the post hole and brick masonry feature are related, however, they both produced nineteenth century domestic and architectural artifacts. The excavation of the unit was completed today and the walls will be profiled on Monday.

The third unit is in the westernmost portion of the site, and has been excavated by Mike:

This unit was intended to expose the 18th century stone foundation discovered in the units just to the east during the previous two weeks of investigation. We hoped that we could learn more about the dimensions and function of the structure that related to the earliest occupation of the site. However, the last week has seen lots of surprises appear in this unit. There was clearly a lot of late 19th and early twentieth century construction activity in this area. Besides a large well that looks to be late 19th and possibly twentieth century in construction there is a post hole with an intact wooden post sticking up in the center of it. At the end of the day I encountered fill soils with a mixture of 19th and 18th century artifacts: a bad sign when we are looking for intact deposits. I was happy to find a beautiful quartz projectile point mixed in with everything, but it just underscores the level of mixing in these soils. Though activities from the latter occupations of the site are very interesting, we hope that some of the 18th century feature is intact below us. We will see what next week brings!