Laurie led the dig again on Monday the 12th, which was spent digging Feature 4 - what we have been referring to as the church foundation (though it should be pointed out that that is by no means a foregone conclusion!). Having completed the excavation of Feature 4B, Laurie and Tricia strung out an additional rectangle, extending the unit four feet to the west to follow the trail of stones that we have been unearthing.
This photo shows the progress of the "foundation wall." What seemed in the original unit to be a relatively cohesive grouping of rocks has become fairly irregular and jumbled, though mixed with the same basic assemblage of architectural artifacts. Feature 4A, as you may recall, yielded one hand pestle and the gunflint, while Feature 4B produced a large number of sherds seeming to belong to a single earthenware vessel; a few pieces of worked wood (perhaps from a floor); and a large amount of slate tiles. All of the evidence seems to be pointing to the existence of a structure on this site. Was it St. George's Church? Does the irregular pattern of stones indicate some sort of structural collapse, or demolition in the process of deconstructing the building?
Meanwhile, work also continued at the dump site, where evidence is always forthcoming. The team found some pipe bowls to match the pipe stems they found last week (I don't know if they are a literal match, but they appear to be made of the same white clay, or kaolin):
Then there is this object, which I can't identify ...
The following objects were all surface finds. Laurie researched the crock base with the name W. P. Hartley on it and dated it to about 1900.
This piece of porcelain, also a surface find, may date to the late 19th century.
The next time the team meets I will actually be able to participate. Though I've loved reading about and seeing the team's progress from afar, there's nothing like actually taking part in an excavation, getting down in the dirt, and unearthing artifacts that haven't been touched by human hands in 100 or 200 years. I am hoping that by the end of the season we'll have a better idea of what our pile of jumbled stones (aka the foundation wall) represents and how it came to be in its present state. There are definitely some mysteries here that are waiting to be unraveled.
The size and shape of the Bridgwood fragment suggests a milk jug from a tea set to me. Is this the Staffordshire Bridgwood and Sons, and does the company still exist?
ReplyDeleteAs for the brown mysterious thing, how big is it and what's it made of? If it's metal, I wonder whether it could be bridle ornament for a shire horse.