One Last Archaeology Post

The Wednesday digs at Newlin Grist Mill are coming to a close for the season. This Wednesday will be the last one until Spring (well, unless there is nice weather and Keith decides to dig again). Our stone paths will be covered with layers of sand, tarps, and backfill so it will be easy to open up again. We discovered it is a nice warm, flat space that would be good for school groups to gather. It not, however the right place to build the log cabin on that they acquired. Keith is happy we made as much progress as we did, after all the season started with just him and Ed (a septuagenarian with super human upper body strength) and has expanded to about a half dozen of us on any given Wednesday, with me being the youngest in the group as well as the one who travels the farthest. 

On our last day of digging Paul carefully extracted the most unique find of the season -- an intact bottle circa 1880, similar to this one selling on eBay for $9.99.

Archaeologist Keith looked at the bottle and said the body was made in a mold because you can see the line down the side, but that the top was hand made. He also said it is not a ketchup bottle, but rather would have held Worchester sauce. The bottle was clear so purchasers could see the quality of the contents. I suspect once cleaned up and catalogued it will be added to the collection.

On my last day, Keith taught me how to map out the site. In one case we did this just before removing some rocks to see if anything else was beneath it. In another case, it is to document the formations before it gets covered over. As much fun the digging is, my passion has been the behind-the-scenes work. 

After mapping, I swept the areas clean so Keith could photograph them with his cell phone. I had flashbacks to being in Israel and not being able to get the dirt floor clean enough. Fortunately, Keith is less exacting. Though it was frustrating that after I got it clean, he would see something else he wanted to uncover before photographing it, which made me want to clean it again. 

This autumn has had some magical weather, especially on Wednesdays. Though it is a long drive, I've fallen in love with my Wednesday escapes and look forward to returning again in he Spring.