2012 field school at French’s Tavern

Site A overall with Crystal facing west

We just finished up the 2012 field school at French’s Tavern at the larger Indian Camp site. The purpose of the field work was to locate a quartering site dating from 1730-1777, the period of ownership of Francis Eppes, then John Wayles, and then Thomas Jefferson.

44PO158 covers an area of about 85 ft. x 125 ft. that is located at a field edge and extends into the adjacent forest. This field season, we laid out 10 5 ft. x 5 ft. units along the field edge in two rows in a checkerboard pattern in hopes of locating features associated with a possible slave quarter.

In the far southwest unit we found a large feature extending out of the northwest corner of the unit. We opened up another unit along the northern wall and the feature continued into that unit. It appeared to form to corner of a larger square or rectangle. We mapped the portion of the feature that was exposed and cored it with a small diameter coring tool. The soil contained within the core was uniformly silty from top to bottom, indicating that the feature contains a single layer of fill that probably represents sediment deposited from heavy rain. The core results suggest that the feature may be a tree-fall or other natural depression.

Katherine and Lauren mapping at Site A

In the other excavation units, we have found many artifacts that could relate to the target time period, but are not precisely dateable. For example, we’ve found many brick fragments, pieces of charcoal, fragments of dark green wine bottle glass, and hand wrought nails or fragments. We have also found sizeable pieces of iron that we have not yet identified.

The ceramics from the site are more dateable. Two types were made and used within our period of interest: English brown stoneware and creamware. The greatest concentration of these ceramics is on the eastern side of the northern line of units, closest to the forest edge. Fragments of Chinese porcelain may also date to this period, or may be later. Pearlware sherds, which date after 1780, have also been found at the site.

Large feature at 44PO158

A quick look at the spatial distribution of these artifacts may indicate that we are excavating at the edge of a site located slightly farther to the north, in the woods. Due to plowing, drainage and erosion, some of the artifacts may have moved down slope from the east, west, or south due to the sloping landscape of the site.

 
 Further work relating to the site will include analyzing artifacts and samples in the lab. 

Written by: Kathryn Gard 

Geophysics at Indian Camp

Gradiometry: Stephen and Crystal with gradiometer

In early June, Dr. Gerald Schroedl and Stephen Yerka came to explore the French’s Tavern subsite of Indian Camp with noninvasive surveying equipment.  Once the 20 meter grids had been shot in with the total station, I was able to assist during the process of surveying Site B with a gradiometer. Because the gradiometer functions by measuring changes in the earth’s magnetic field, Stephencould not wear any metal while operating it. We also had to remove the nails from the corners of the excavation units or the instrument would have registered them and the readings would have been essentially useless.

In order to take systematic readings across the grid, ropes were laid out and one had to be moved at intervals as a guideline for each transect—meaning that Dr. Schroedl moved one end of the rope and staked it into the ground, and I moved the other end the same distance. Then Stephen walked along the line (rope) at a pace of one meter per beep of the metronome on the gradiometer, and took a reading at each beep.

gradiometry: Stephen and Aaron with gradiometer

The readings taken by the gradiometer were then entered into a computer program by Stephen, where he could map the data. The magnetic anomalies were displayed on the map and could be clarified by “despiking,” which edits out high magnetic readings that would otherwise obscure the less obvious, but potentially meaningful, magnetic disturbances within the grid.

Rachel pulling ropes

Once the data are properly processed, gradiometry can provide useful information about a site and help direct decisions about where next to excavate.

Blog written by:

Rachel Guy

Wingos Field Work 2012

During May we returned to Wingos for a few weeks of additional excavations. Last winter, when we were working on the report, we found that we had several different lines of evidence suggesting that there was an enclosure southwest of the slave cabin that we’d discovered in 2009. First, we had mapped and excavated a number of small, circular features that we think were the remains of small posts. When we plotted them on a master map, they seemed to form two perpendicular lines, and part of a third line. The posts are quite small, and we think that they may have supported a woven wattle fence. Second, we found that there were concentrations of artifacts corresponding to these lines, indicating that the lines had formed boundaries between spaces that site residents kept intentionally clean, and spaces where they dumped trash. Third, we found that concentrations of soil chemicals associated with trash disposal generally mirrored the highs and lows of artifact counts. All of these lines of evidence point to our discovery of fence lines that enclosed a yard space. We hadn’t dug enough to determine the location of all the fences, the overall size of the yard, or what, if anything, may have been adjacent to it on the eastern side, so we set out to gather more information this year.

Our group from the University of Tennessee was expanded by volunteers from the Archeological Society of Virginia, Monticello, Poplar Forest, Roanoke College, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources who spent one or more days working with us. We found three more features that are probably associated with the enclosure, collected more soil samples from within and outside of the enclosure, and excavated additional artifacts. Once these are placed on our master map along with the new chemical and artifact data, we will have a clearer picture of the way that people living at Wingos organized and used the space around their house.

Becoming “Official”

In 2011 we completed a shovel test pit survey of about 20 acres of woods, fields and lawn at French’s Tavern. We found hundreds of artifacts made and used from prehistory through to the 20^th century. Two areas contained 18^th-century artifacts that might date prior to the 1770s. We decided to do additional work at both sites in 2012. Although both were disturbed in the 20^th century by logging or plowing, we thought that they still contained enough information to make them excavation worthwhile.

Over the winter we catalogued artifacts and mapped their distribution to determine rough boundaries for each site. In the spring we submitted site forms to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Their staff assigned a state site number to each site, which will serve as an official name for record-keeping and reporting. Following a system developed by the Smithsonian Institution in the 1940s and adopted nationally, each site is given a number that is coded with three sets of information. The site number begins with a numeric code for the state in which it is located. The states are numbered in alphabetic order, with 44 standing for Virginia. That two-digit code is followed by an abbreviation for the county in which the site is located (PO stands for Powhatan) and the final number of the code is  assigned based on a cumulatively numbered list of previous sites.  In this case, our sites are the 157^th and 158^th archaeological sites recorded in Powhatan, so they are now officially 44PO157 and 44PO158.

44PO157 is located in the field immediately west of French’s Tavern, the historic tavern and dwelling located near the eastern edge of the Indian Camp property.  Crystal Ptacek and Hope Smith supervised excavations there in 2012.

44PO158 is on a gentle slope above a spring that feeds Indian Camp creek. Brad Hatch and Lauren McMillan oversaw excavations there. Kathryn Gard, Rachel Guy, and Aaron Miller excavated both sites as field school students.