Sorry for the long time between blogs but I felt that I should have more than just lab work to write about. After a long couple of weeks I had finally been able to go through and process all of the artifacts that had not been cleaned or sorted. They were from this past summer/fall and included some pretty interesting items. The excavations were some test plots around Beal Gardens, and the Beal Phase 2, or College Hall preliminary excavations. Historic Archaeology is a very interesting subject but it is important to remember that the artifacts are probably not going to be as intriguing as finding a Prehistoric Hand Axe or an Antler of an Elk that has been turned into some type of tool, but they are interesting and important in their own right. For those of you who don’t know a lot of Preliminary Archaeological Lab work is not very glamorous. There are usually no white coat (unless you bring your own) and the tools aren’t very high tech (most of the time), but it is a very important aspect of any Archaeological Dig/Project. The tools usually include some type of brush (toothbrush, scrubbing brush) and a tub full of water, I know it sounds exciting. For me at least the one big payoff of doing cleaning and sorting is that it is relaxing. You get to sit down stairs, listen to music and basically brush whatever the object is until most traces of dirt are gone. The Beal Garden Test offered some pretty interesting artifacts. The amount of artifacts from the College Hall excavation was quite large for the short amount of time it was there. Mostly yielding brick, glass, and coal the job of cleaning and organizing into new acid free plastic bags was quite the tedious job. Documentation is a large part of any excavation and I am sure sooner or later I am going to have to set up a database for all the finds. Note Cards are inserted into each bag with the Site Name, Unit designation, Level designation, Excavators, and if you’re lucky bag numbers. All this information is important because Archaeological Site interpretation is all about Context and if you hadn’t guessed after you excavate something you know longer have its original context. Documenting all the important information is therefore very important for people who are involved later on in the excavation. Now remember that these are just some of the aspects involved in Archaeological Lab work. Cleaning and Documenting are just some of the basic things that get done. Other more sophisticated analysis such as Use/wear analysis, residue analysis and other things all fall under the title of “lab work” so don’t go judging. Like I said earlier most of the objects that were represented were either brick, glass or coal. This does not mean, however, that there were not other artifacts worth mentioning. As the title of this entry indicates we did indeed do a photo shoot of some of the more interesting items. As mentioned above the Beal Garden Test offered some pretty interesting things and you might of guessed it they had to do with flower pots. The ceramic flower pots came in all shapes, color, and sizes and it was important to document some of the more interesting remains of them. A lot of the pot sherds probably came from the same pot or pots and did indeed fit together. A nice flower patterned ceramic sherd may have come from a dish that was located on the grounds. Another interesting item seemed like siding of a house, but apparently has something to do with the watering/heating of a greenhouse and was more likely inside the structure.
College Hall/Beal Street excavations yielded some items that were the property of students not only apart of the building. A beaded necklace was found and probably was dropped/lost around the building. A Canadian dime was also found that as you guessed might indicate that Canadian money was as useless back then as it is now…. Just joking Canada, good game. An eye drop cap, a button, and even a Syringe Stopper were also found and photographed.
The crown jewel of the finds regarding personal items, however, was a rather bent Beer bottle Cap with what appears to be the label ”Goebel”.
“Goebel Brewing Company was a brewing company in Detroit, Michigan from1873 to 1964 eventually acquired late in its existence by Stroh Brewery Company. The beer was locally popular in Detroit from the company’s inception, but grew in popularity and was eventually available in many states for a brief period in the 1940s, with an ad campaign in Life magazine that featured restaurant ads from many famous eateries around the country using Goebel beer as an ingredient. The beer, billed as a “light lager”, was golden in color, and was noticeably drier than most everyday beers of the era. Their longtime mascot was a bantam, called Brewster Rooster, who wore attire with Goebel’s logo, and the beer was a long-time sponsor of Detroit Tigers baseball broadcasts on radio.” (Thanks Wikipedia). Another interesting item photographed, and something I might do a seperate blog post about, was a tile that would have gone over the brick wall/floor. It has text on the back and reads “Patent RIP back A.E. Tile Co.” and was found in Unit 2 Level 3 Feature 1 of Beal Phase 2 excavation. Preliminary research (Google) tells me that there is a lot about the company and since this blog is already quite long I will save an explanation for later. Other artifacts were of course just as interesting but we did not photograph them all so I am not going to mention them….. Yet Thanks for reading my ramblings followers.
J2E
PS: Some of the pictures came out rather small so please visit our Flickr site to view better images of them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/capmsu
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