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 19th
century), shards of glass (consistent with the type of glass used in early 19th
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 19th 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.
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| here is a picture of my test pit drawing for TSP #1: |
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| and here is a picture from our day there with three of my classmates and me: |
