Fantastic Friday

Last week wrapped up on an especially high note. Work progressed beautifully on finishing the our block. In Unit 6 our fifth pipebowl was found. As a specially added bonus- it was whole! This is just one more puzzle piece in the daily lives of the residents of our domestic structure.

Our new unit (Unit 12) was also pleasantly productive last Friday. We found a number of interesting artifacts in a feature, part of which was excavated last summer. In addition to a high percentage of fasteners (both nails and spikes), a large number of personal and domestic artifacts were recovered. These included two leather boot heels (left), buttons, green glass drawer pulls, and hooks and eyes for clothing closures. These personal items give us a tangible connection to those who've enjoyed the Arcadia complex long before us.

Other exciting finds within this feature are a large metal plate 50cm x 30cm (approximately 20 in x 12 in) perhaps from a stove or a piece of machinery, as well as half a dinner plate. Additional fragments of the plate were recovered this past Monday and the students working on that unit quickly identified a partial maker's mark! Hopefully this mark will help us place a more narrow time bracket for the period of occupation of this site. Below you can see an in-progress shot of this awesome feature as it appears straddling two units. Notice the large metal plate on the left and the dinner plate on the right.

Lastly, on the right you can see field school student Peter Sittig excavating the feature above. We were quite pleased to find such a large piece of ceramic. It's definitely one of the biggest pieces recovered in the past two seasons.