Friday, September 14, 2007

Report from the Field

Today we excavated a series of shovel test pits (STPs) south of the courthouse. Most of the STPs contained a foot or more of plowzone just below the surface. The plowzone contains varying amounts of brick, coal, and oyster shell that has been broken by decades of field plowing. Below the plowzone we usually encounter what we call subsoil; a natural soil that has not been modified by human activity. Occasionally we encounter undisturbed deposits below the plowzone, such as building foundations, cellars, wells, or trash pits.

One of today's STPs contained an undisturbed deposit below the plowzone. Ceramics, glass, metal, and animal bone were quite abundant. The depth of the deposit and the high density of brick and nails suggest that this is a cellar that was filled in by trash and demolition debris.

Based on the Barbour map, we may have located the cellar of the Wade Store.


-April

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