Last Day of Digging

May 15, 2014
36Ly0345 Glunk
EU 18 E Wall breakdown
weather: humid, misty, cloudy
time: 9AM-12PM

SE Quadrant 24-33in

feature notes: no new features

artifact notes: -fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)
-charcoal fragments (indt.)

I then took drawings of the South and North walls of the connected EU 16-17-18 pit

12PM-6PM: The team wrapped up the day washing artifacts and separating out any significant finds (rim shards, arrow points etc.)

-End of the American Archaeology class

Here is my drawing of the South Wall
of the three pits

Here is my drawing of the North Wall
of the three pits

Even More Glunk Digging

May 14, 2014
36LY0345 Glunk
weather: sunny, cool
time: 9AM-3PM

E Wall Take down SE Qudarant 0-12in.
dig: me          sift: Emily

feature notes: no new features

artifact notes: -indt. stones (indt.)
-limestone fragments (historic)
-brick fragments (historic)
-fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-iron nails (historic)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)

E Wall Take down SE Quadrant 12-24in.
dig: Emily    sift: me

feature notes: no new features

artifacts: -limestone fragments (historic)
-brick fragments (historic)
-iron nails (historic)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)
-fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-glass shard- window pane late 1800s (historic)

E Wall Take down NE Quadrant 12-24in.
dig: me          sift: Emily

feature notes: no new features

artifact notes: -brick fragments (historic)
-fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)

E Wall Takedown NE Quadrant 24-33in.
dig: Emily     sift: me

feature notes: no new features

artifact notes: -chert tempered pottery (prehistoric)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)
-fire cracked rocks- sandstone (indt.)
-brick fragments (historic)
-worked small stone (prehistoric)
- charcoal (indt.)

Flint Fail Part 2 and Glunk Digging

May, 13, 2014
9AM-12PM
- I tried flint knapping for a while, though I quickly switched to washing artifacts due to an extreme lack of success with flint knapping.

Glunk 36LY0345
weather: damp, humid, cloudy
time: 12PM-3PM

East Wall Take down 0-12in NE Quadrant
dig: Emily        sift: me

artifact notes: -indt. iron objects (historic)
iron nails (historic)
brick fragments (historic)
-limestone fragments (historic)
-fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-chert debitage (prehistoric)
-glass shard- window pane late 1800s (historic)

feature notes: -no real features

additional notes: -I walked the farm field looking for artifacts, but only for a little while
-I also assisted two of my classmates with sifting

Flint Fail and Another Day of Digging at Glunk

May 12, 2014
-from 9AM-12PM, the team worked to attempt  flint knapping. The atlatal (the tool we were building), is the lever, and the part that gets thrown by the atlatal is the spear with the flint point. We had little success though (due to lack of proper tools and good flint). Dr. Knauth showed up though for the day with the proper tools, though we went out to the site instead of working with flint.

36LY0345 Glunk
weather: cloudy, humid, hot
time: 12PM-4PM
digger: Emily     sifter: me
-Dr. Knauth observed out work today

SE Quadrant wall cleanup
artifact notes: -fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)
-iron nails and iron misc. objects (historic)

feature notes: -Emily used the trowel as a scrapper
-limestone and brick lumps were located in the wall

NE Wall Cleanup NE Quadrant
dig: me     sift: Emily

artifact notes: fire cracked rocks (indt.)
-iron pieces (historic)

feature notes: -I used the trowel as a scrapper
-separate artifact bags by level, even with wall cleanup

12-20in:
artifact notes: -fire cracked rocks (indt)
limestone fragments (historic)
iron nails (historic)
<note> one of the iron nails was bent, which is evidence of a burnt building (probably linked to nearby materials)

feature notes:- I used the trowel as a scrapper

20-33in
artifact notes: -fire cracked rocks (indt)
- iron nails (historic)

feature notes: -I used the trowel as a scrapper

additional notes: -Emily took pictures of the walls of the pit with my makeshift sign showing which wall was which
-Emily then took munsel soil color samples for a few different soil features:
A) top soil : 10YR/3/2
B) black charcoal: 7.5YR/2.5/0
C) dark-orange-yellow sand: 10YR/5/3
D) Pink-yellow-orange stain: 7.5YR/5/4
-I then did drawings of the North and East Walls:

EU 18 East Wall drawing

EU 18  North Wall drawing

EU 17-18 Wall take down:

-dig: Emily                 sift: me

-sadly, we only got one bucket of dirt sifted before the rain came, closing out dig for the day

Here is a picture of the East Wall of EU 18

Here is a picture of the South Wall of EU18

Here is a picture of the North Wall of EU18

Here is a picture of the West Wall of EU18
(sorry about the professor being in the background of the picture)

Paperwork Day

Today, we began the day by getting all of our notes and New Berlin paperwork in order. After that was done, we spent the rest of the day cataloging the remaining artifact bags from the New Berlin site.

Even More Glunk Digging

May 8, 2014
36LY0345 Glunk Site
weather: sunny, humid, wet
time: 12:30PM-6PM

EU 18
-We began the day by building a small dike to prevent water from getting into our square

SW Quadrant 24-33in. (Level 3)
dig: Emily       sift: me

artifact notes: -brick fragments (historic)
-iron nails and pieces (historic)
-glass shards- window pane late 1800s (historic)
-limestone fragments (historic)
-worked stones (prehistoric)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)

feature notes: -new stain theory #1: -the stain is evidence of a limestone kiln.
A)-evidenced by fire cracked rocks and large amount of limestone
B)- the iron pieces could be evidence of tools
C) although- there are no by-products of a limestone kiln

Here is a drawing of the SW Quadrant
 27-33in in EU 18

NW Quadrant 27-33in

digger: me         sifter: Emily

artifact notes: - brick fragments (historic)

-rocks (indt.)

-glass shards- window pane late 1800s (historic)

-pottery fragments (prehistoric)

feature notes: -stain theory #2:

A) collapses chimney- accounts for fire cracked rocks as well as the large sandstone, limestone, and bricks

B) the stain itself is due to some type of seepage (oil?)- need chemical analysis to be sure

-stain theory #3: Borrow/Trash Pit::

A)- people threw things in the pit in the late 1800s- glass nails, bricks etc.

B)- stain  comes from something thrown in the pit (container of oil?)

Here is a drawing of the NW Quadrant
 from 27-33in.

NE Quadrant 27-33in.

digger:me      sifter: Emily

artifact notes: -iron pieces (historic)

--small stones (indt.)

-brick fragments (historic)

-quartzite stones (indt.)

-chert debitage (prehistoric)

feature notes:- roughly the same stain and charcoal patterns as before in other quadrants

Here is a drawing of the NE Quadrant
 27-33in down

Wall cleanup: I cleaned up the NW and SW Quadrant walls using the trowel as a scrapper

Emily began on the SE Quadrant wall cleanup, but we did not finish today.

More Glunk Digging

May 7, 2014
36LY0345 Glunk site
weather: cloudy, and chilly (around 45 degrees F)
time: 9AM-1PM

EU 18
NE Quadrant 12-27in
digger: Emily      sifter: me

artifact notes: -brick fragments (historic)
-limestone fragments (historic)
-iron nails (historic)
-glass shards- window pane late 1800s (historic)
-stones (indt.)
-chert flakes (prehistoric)
-jasper chert flake (prehistoric)

feature notes: -the yellow-orange sand matrix (munsel color: 7.5YR/4/4) had patches of black charcoal in it
-the red-brown stain (munsel color: 10YR/4/3), previously thought to be a fire pit, is now thought to possible be a stin from an oil spill
-the historical artifacts are now thought to be evidence of a historical era shed (possible storing oil?)

SE Quadrant 19-33in
dig: me         sift: Emily

artifact notes:- stones (indt.)
-limestone (probably historic)
-chert debitage (prehistoric)
-iron fragments (historic)
-glass shards- window pane late 1800s (historic)

feature notes: - I took the bisected part of the SE Quadrant down from 19 to 33in.
-Same feature noted for the previous section of the SE Quadrant
-I began SE Quadrant wall cleanup- though did not finish

Here is a drawing of EU 18
features from 20-27in

After leaving the site around 1PM (due to the threat of rain), we returned to campus, where I worked on taking inventory of some artifacts for around two hours

May 6th Glunk Dig pt. 2

Here is a drawing of EU 18
SE-NE Quad. wall 12-31in.

NW Quadrant 12-23in. down

dig: Emily         sift: me

artifact notes: -fire cracked rocks (indt)

-wood fragments (indt.)

-charcoal (indt.)

-brick fragments (historic)

-glass shards (hisoric)

-small stones (indt.)

-rubber (historic)

-chert flakes (prehistoric)

-iron slag (historic)

feature notes: -in this level, we found fire cracked rocks in the stain, along with wood, and all other artifacts were round outside the stain

-she used the trowel in the same manner I did

-I had to wash and then bite the rubber to determine that the object was rubber

Here is the drawing for the NW Quad
at 12-23in down

May 6th Glunk Dig pt. 1

May 12, 2014
Glunk Site 36LY0345
weather: sunny, chilly
time: 9AM-4PM

EU 18
SE Quadrant 10-20in.

feature notes: -I dug the whole quadrant down to 20in.
-I used the trowel as a scrapper, and used the clippers to cut troublesome roots
-the before mentioned stain went down to 20in. The professor then told me to bisect the quadrant, with me taking the West half down to 31in. (where the stain broke up into spots).
-the only things found in the stain were fire cracked rocks (supporting the fire pit hypothesis), with the historical artifacts in the surrounding sand matrix (which included things such as glass shards, nails, rubber, and varius pices of iron), as well as a part of a possible prehistoric worked stone pendant. A sample of the stain was taken for possible testing. After finding that the stain petters out around 31in., I did several drawings, while Emilt took several pictures.

Here is a picture looking at the base of the bisection

Here is a picture looking down at the bisection of the SE Quadrant 

Here is a drawing of the two quadrant
 drawings of the SE Quadrant

SE Quadrant Wall 20-31in

Here is a drawing of the Se Qd.- Ne Qd.
wall from 12-26in.

More Museums

May 5, 2014
-Today, the team went up t the Munsy Historical Society. There, we were given a tour of the museum. I was personally very interested in one of the rifled muskets made by a gunsmith sometime before he died in 1811. The only problem  is that the rifle had a percussion lock, which would was still in development in 1811, but could not see use in America for several more decades. This means that the rifle was passed down over several generations, and at some point in its use- was converted from flintlock to the new lock. After the museum tour, we toured the local heritage park with the remains of the 1800s canal. After that, we had lunch (and ice cream) and traveled the back roads for a while before returning to college.

More Glunk Site Digging

May 2, 2014
-the day began with the team working at college fr about 1/2 hour taking inventory of some artifacts we had found
-we then went to the Glunk site

Glunk Site 36LY0345
weather: overcast, chilly, but no rain
time: 9AM-3:30PM

EU 18 SW Quadrant Level 2: 10-24in.
dig: me           sift: Emily
artifact notes: -stones (various) (indt.)
- chert debitage (prehistoric)
-iron nails (historic)
-red okre (prehistoric)
-limestone (historic)
-brick fragments (historic)

feature notes: -due to the fact that the main features of Level 2 were stains in the soil.
- I did not use the shovel, and instead used the trowel as a scarper, and a brush for cleaning the delicate features
-In this level, the soil changes into an orange-yellow sand matrix
-the presence of both historic and prehistoric artifacts in the matrix shows that this suffered a historic era contamination
-as before, there were a large amount of roots, which required the use of clippers
-in order to not go down too far in one quadrant, we stopped at 24in down. Emily then took the SE Quadrant down to 24in.

Me digging the SW Quadrant

SE Quadrant Level 2 10-24in down
dig : Emily            dig: me

artifact notes: -plastic (historic)
-stones (various) (indt.)
-charcoal (indt.)
-glass shards (historic)
-wood in-situ (indt.)
-limestone fragments (historic)
-brick fragments (historic)
-chert debitage (prehistoric)
-iron nails (historic)

feature notes: -again, the soil changes to a yellow-orange sand matrix
-the presence of both historic and prehistoric artifacts leads me to the hypothesis that this pre-historic layer was dug into the historical era
-several features were found in this level
-this shows evidence of a possible Native American fire pit
-the red brown stain is thought to be soil stained with animal fat from cooking, it also had small fragments of wood in-situ
-the charcoal matrix is more evidence of a fire pit
-samples of the wood and charcoal were taken in case more testing could be done
-Emily used the scrapper- brush technique I did, with the same tools.

here is a drawing of the SE Quadrant Level 2

Here is a drawing of the SW Quadrant Level 2

-

Another day of Glunk Site Digging

May 1^st 2014

Glunk site 36LY0345 weather: muddy, damp, cool, overcast

Time: 9AM-4PM

EU 18

here is a picture of me excavating the
 surface layer of soil in the SW
 quadrant (before i switched to the trowel)

NE Quadrant

Dig: me                sift: Emily

0-14in: artifacts: -glass shards (historic)

-limestone chunks and fragments (historic)

-brick fragments (historic)

-various stones (indt.)

               Feature notes: - at 14 inches, the soil changes to a yellow-orange sand matrix with streaks of black charcoal in it (signs of s fire pit?)

               -I originally started off with the shovel, but then (after some thought) switched to the trowel and used it as a scrapper so I could more easily discern soil features

NW Quadrant

Dig: Emily            sift: Sam

0-10in: artifact notes: -iron nails (historic)

-limestone fragments (historic)

-pottery shards (prehistoric)

-chert flakes (prehistoric)

-brick fragments (historic)

-various stones (indt.)

               Feature notes: -while digging, Emily came across a rather large limestone stone, which was removed after being documented

               -in between sifting, I aided in the removal of roots in the pit with the clippers

Here is another picture of me excavating the SW quadrant
with the rest of the team in the background

Museum Day

April 30, 2014

<note> as like the previous day, rain prevented digging today. Instead, we visited various museums.

-first, we visited the Littlie League Series museum to gain a perspective into the post 1945 history of the area, as well as to see what a first class museum looks like

-after that we had lunch at the professor’s house, then we went to the local historical society museum.

-there, we toured the various exhibits, and visited the archives and lab in the basement of the museum

Another day of Washing Artifacts

April 29, 2014

-Today, the group cleaned the artifacts from the previous days dig.

-I washed the bags of artifacts from the SW and NE quadrants of EU 18- where I dug

-after cleaning the artifacts, I added chert-tempered pottery fragments to the SW Quadrant artifact list.

Beginning of Gunk Site Dig

Glunk Site PA, USA

April 28, 2014

Weather: sunny, cool

Time: 9AM-4PM

EU 18, SW Quadrant

Dig: me                sift: Emily

0-10in: -brick fragments- yellow (decorative purpose?), large chunks, and orange fragments (historic)

-limestone fragments (mortar?) (Historic)

<note> due to the large number of sizeable roots, the shovel had to be abandoned, and the clippers (for said roots) had to be used

-chert tempered pottery fragments (prehistoric)

SE Quadrant

Dig: Emily            sift: Sam

 0-10in: -sandstone block (indt.)

-brick: yellow chunks (decorative?), and orange fragments (historic)

-limestone fragments (mortar?) (Historic)

-chert debitage (prehistoric)

-chord stamped pottery shard, chert tempered (prehistoric)

-chert dart/arrowhead (prehistoric- woodlands era)

-iron nails (historic)

-charcoal fragments (indt.)

-Sandstone pebbles (indt.)

-chert arrowhead with broken tip (prehistoric: Shanks Ferry culture)

NE Quadrant

Dig: me                sift: Emily

0-10in: -glass shards (historic)

-iron nails (historic)

-Incised stone- purpose unknown (prehistoric)

-orange brick fragments (historic)

-chert flakes (prehistoric)

-limestone (mortar) (historic)

<note> again; due to the roots, the shovel had to be abandoned in favor of the trowel and clippers

Here is a picture of two of my classmates digging, while I was taking notes
 on the Emily's and I dig square and what we found in it
(sorry for the professor's finger in front of the lens).

New Berlin Dig: "Tent Adventures"

April 13, 2014

New Berlin site weather: windy, warm, sunny

Time: 10:30AM-5:30PM

TSP #5 N40⁰ 52¹ 35.6¹¹ W076⁰ 59¹ 06.9¹¹

Digger: me         sifter: Emily

0-10cm: Due to the fact that right below the grass level, I hit a concrete base (as we suspected we would), I could not use the shovel, instead, I used the trowel and brush due to the concrete base taking up most of the test pit- even when the pit was extended 30cm to the East. The soil contained eggshell pottery fragments, cement lumps and brick (full bricks and small fragments).

Observations: TSP #5 might mark a gate in the iron fence (based on the spacing between the cement bases).

Sadly, a failure to secure the tent safely resulted in the tent blowing up into the air and hitting a telephone pole- which knocked a wire over our test pit- which promptly ended that area of excavation.

While we relocated to the other side of the site, Professor Van Auken, asked me to accompany her to a local church and take some notes on various objects and pictures- including a model of the old church, its old stove, a cane made out of wood from the church, drawings of the old church, and a drawing of the founder of the old church.

After we returned to the site, test pits were set up to look for the other three corners of the 34X38ft. church based on the corner from STP #1

STP# 8 N 40⁰ 52¹ 35.7¹¹   W 076⁰ 59¹ 06.7¹¹

Digger: me          sifter: Professor Van Auken

0-10cm: This soil was rather loose, so all that was needed was a shovel. The soil included fragments and shards of eggshell & red ware, Bakelite and/or coal fragments and small stones, but no features.

10-20cm: The soil again turns into a sterile clay layer, where a trowel was used due to the density of the clay and the need to straighten the walls of the test pit. No features were found, which means we need to modify our concept of the layout of the old church.

Here is a picture of the layout of TSP #8:

and here is a picture of the layout of TSP #5

and here is  a picture of TSP# 5:

Here is a picture of the founder of the original church:

and here is a picture of the stove from the original church:

here is a picture of a cane made from the wood of the original church:

and here is a model of the original church made from the wood of the original church:

Here is a picture of TSP #8

Washing Artifacts Day

4/12/14: The team spent the day washing artifacts from out day digging at the New Berlin site.

New Berlin Dig First Day

Sunday, April 6, 2014

New Berlin First Evangelical Church, PA, USA

Weather: brisk cool morning, hot afternoon, sunny

Time: 10:30AM-5:30PM

STP 1 @ N35.5¹¹ Woo.6¹¹

Digger: me          sifter: Emily

0-10cm: Since the topsoil was loose enough, I used the shovel. The soil had numerous small stones and pieces of coal (and/or Bakelite?), but no features yet- makes sense I suppose not to find features this close to the surface since the church was (supposedly) torn down to the footer.

10-20cm: The soil still contained no features or sizable artifacts, so I still used a shovel, though I used the trowel to straighten out the walls of the test pit. The soil is now mixed with fragments of pottery (white ware with blue transfer dating to the mid late 19^th century), shards of glass (consistent with the type of glass used in early 19^th century window panes), and small pieces of brick (possible wall or walkway?), pieces of coal and/or Bakelite. A rifle shell was also found- upon further research, it was found to be a .35 Remington round designed in 1906 and sold in October 1906 through the 1930s and was used for deer hunting- which could relate to deer bones found in other test pits.

The walls of the test pit were now expanded beyond the original 30X30cm mark using a screwdriver for greater precision. A brick @ 20cm down was located that could possibly have been part of a walkway or wall. A large stone @ 19cm down was located, which could have been part of the footer of the church. Thoughts: makes sense to find features at 19cm down- beyond the needed level to remove material.

20-30cm: The soil now changes to a yellow clay with no artifacts in it (a sterile level). Due to the tough, dense nature of the clay, the clay was removed with the trowel, and more precise movements made with a screwdriver. The only feature from this level was a brick (A) @ 26cm down- possibly part of a pathway or wall. Thoughts: makes sense again for more features to appear- late 19^th century buildings would (if they could be) built down to a clay level- which is more flood resistant. Upon further excavation, brick A had to be removed to uncover larger features.

30-40cm: yellow clay- same tools- sterile level (save those artifacts that fell from the walls of higher levels). Sizeable rocks were found at 35 cm down (Rocks B,C and E) and at 38cm (Rock D) that appear to form a stone wall (church footer?) in an upside down L shape- possibly suggesting a corner

40-50cm: again a sterile yellow clay level. As the features became larger, and the spaces smaller, the trowel was replaced with my hand to grab the clay (kept the screwdriver because it was still useful in loosening the clay). At the corner of the upside-down L was found a large rectangular stone at 48cm down. Thoughts: while probably not a corner tone in the sense of it having symbolic value, it seems to mark the corner of the footer (if it is in fact the church footer).

Additional remarks: the other students in the 3 other test pits found evidence of a brick pathway/ wall and stone footer roughly along the lines and direction found in my pit. Professor Van Auken and the pastor walked the perimeter of the site. They determined that what originally were thought to be holes for road signs were in fact holes for the original wrought iron fence of the church extending all around the site.

here is a picture of my test pit drawing for TSP #1:

and here is a picture from our day there with three of my classmates and me:

Sigh, cleaning artifacts and the shed

·        4/5/14:

·        Today, we cleaned artifacts from previous digs. At the end of the day, we went to the Glunk Site to organize the archaeological storage shed.

Andrew Montour Visits Montoursville

·        3/29/14:

·        Today, we spent the day with the Native American Interpreter. While others were put to work on various instruments, I was put to work as a cameraman. I was tasked with recording his presentation for the North Central Chapter 8 Website (which I did till it ran out of power). After the presentation at the local high school, we packed up our presentation table and accompanied him to the local park for some picture taking. A few of us went on a tour of the historic park while others assisted with the picture taking.

·        3/30/14:

·        Since it was raining today, we did not meet.