Remind me to file this under "Something you don't hear everyday"--"We went on an archaeological dig before school." !
And it's true. We did go on an archaeological dig this morning, being a little late to school. Only we weren't the ones digging. Archaeologists are digging some test trenches in the yard at "my" historic house, having dug two previous test pits in the midden and privvy. They've found what you would expect to find from a site continuously occupied since the end of the 17th century: porcelain fragments, redware fragments, nails, pins, glassware bits, buttons, some grapeshot from the Revolutionary War, and, making up the majority of the finds, bones and shells of oysters and clams.
We spoke to the archaeologists while they dug and sifted, recorded and drew. Sis and Bud got to see the man in the pit check the soil sample against his field Munsell soil chart to record the "sandy loam" or "loamy sand" or whatever on the locus sheet where he would make notes about finds and features and also later draw the trench level before moving on to the last level of habitation (the terminus--old sand--which he was just reaching as we left). He also hacked away at an obstructive tree root with a machete. From the pit, which was about 4 1/2' deep and about 6 x 4' in size with old water pipes and a tree root, the rocky soil (so common in CT, they said) was put in a bucket and then sifted on a screen for archaeologists to look for the small finds. Another archaeologist let us watch her sort and showed the kids a bit of everything she found, mainly shells (they ate a lot of oysters and clams), bones (one from a cow while we were there), and some redware. She described how the calcium-rich shells often helped preserve the more delicate artifacts which would otherwise decay in our acidic soil. She also pulled out some earlier finds, proudly showing the kids a rare large fragment of handpainted-with-blue-stars Delftware, which she said was often too delicate to find more than tiny pieces of (I'd say the two fragments made up more than half a dish/saucer shape). She mentioned that they had found a large milk pan, for cooling milk before making butter, the day before. And a small doll's head. We asked her what the most exciting find she'd ever uncovered was and she said, from a dig in Europe, a Neanderthal's stone tool. She also likes the Native American artifacts she's uncovered in New England, amazed at how beautiful they can make stone for simple tools.
After she sorted the dirt and placed the finds in small bags, labeled with the trench quadrant location, she actually poured clean dirt back in the bag. Sis asked, "If you just sifted it, why did you put dirt back in the bag?" Good question, the archaeologist replied, noting that the dirt actually protects the fragments during transportation and storage before cleaning. They also use the sifted dirt to back fill the site, after lining it with plastic, so they know where they've dug. Then back at the office, after the artifacts are washed and recorded, and the locus sheets (which they have, "because," she said, "we'll forget by Monday!") are compiled, the archaeologists write a report for us so we know what they found and what it might mean. She said that archaeologists are schooled in lots of disciplines--history, art (and drawing skills!), math, science--combined with strength and endurance and a love of the outdoors.
"I want to be an archaeologist," Sis proclaimed excitedly, inspired by the visit. Which is absolutely why we were late to school this morning!
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