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Diaries 2005
Amy Schriever
Archaeology Field School Journal
05/9/05
Today was the first day of class. We got to know each other and
the proceeded to the Muncy Historical Society to get a general idea
of the time period we are looking at. We then were shown plans of
the site we were going to be digging at. We were then given the
history of the site when the site was in use. The canal was in use
from 1826 to 1889, when the great flood occurred. We were also told
what was to transport items to and from towns. You could go anywhere
in the country just by using the canals. We then finished the tour
of the Muncy Historical Society we then we went down to Pepper Street
where the site was. We were shown the entire area were in the next
four years there will be other sites there to dig, such as the lock
tender's house, the sawmill, and the privy. But, at the moment we
were focusing on the well. We cleared the area of bushes and shrubs.
While we were walking around with Bill Poulton, Robin our instructor
cleared of the site. She found the well cap with a date on top.
It was capped October 1928. We started out by digging around the
lid. We started to clear around the lid and get into the top of
the well from the side. We were limited to the digging because of
the lid was still on. We found a plate. Everything that we found
was documented. We measured the plate, and documented the proper
way of dusting off the fragile items. Also we took measurements
of the lid.
05/10/05
Today we arrived at the site. We worked on clearing the rest of
the area around the well. When Bill Poulton arrived, we were able
to move the lid. Erin, Kyle, Bill, and Wes were careful to drag
it. We didn’t want to destroy the well area. We proceeded
to move the cap down the slope. We then started the digging around
the well, and sifted. Underneath the lid we noticed how the lid
was created, the layers that it had. There were iron rods, stakes
and such around the lid.
05/11/05
Today we arrived at the site at 10 a.m. We cleared off the tarp,
and plywood that was placed there. We measured the diameter of the
well, as well as the depth of it. We use a line level to determine
the depth of the slope. We measure the distance from datum, which
was a painted orange mark on a stone. From datum we took measurements
of the stakes. The stakes were going to be placed around the site.
We did digging, and sifting. We found nails, stakes and pieces of
pottery. We put string on the sides of the slope on both sides of
the well. Between the strings is where we will dig and set up a
room wall. We will start on level 1, and we are going to level that
area. Around noon Bill Poulton came with the people that helped
him reconstruct the packetboat in his barn, and gave us a BBQ.
05/12/05
We arrived at the site at 10 a.m. Stephanie, April, Jocelyn and
Jeremiah, Jocelyn’s fiancée were present. We were the
first shift, and second shift consisted of Erin, Kyle and Wes. We
started digging down into level 2. While sifting we found more artifacts.
We found more pieces of potsherds, stakes, nails and glass. We also
made two paths down to the well. We started to protect the path
so people won’t destroy the path. The shrubs were taken down.
Today we got our port-a-potty. Saves us the time traveling back
and forth into town. We continued sifting further and we began digging
into level. We cleaned off the walls.
05/16/05
We continued to dig on level 3. More pieces of pieces were found.
We got a shed to store our equipment at the site. This would make
it easier so we didn’t have to go back to Poulton’s
barn. At the site we readjusted the stakes because would be digging
further next to the walls. We estimate digging in the well very
shortly.
05/17/05
First shift arrived at 10 a.m., we continued digging at the site.
We continued to level 2 of the slope wall. We did find a bone of
an animal. We found more pottery. A truck stopped with an Indian
arrowhead he inquired about the date of it. He wanted to know what
was going on. People haven’t stopped to ask what we were working
on. We were coming up with stories in case someone did ask. We were
coming close to the wall of the well. We had to remove the stones
from the well. We continued to sift level 3 also, we still were
finding more pottery. First shift continued to work until 3.
05/18/05
We continued further on level 4 of the slope. We found pieces of
pottery on the slope. We continued to clean up the walls of the
slope. We had to cut through lots of roots and level out the ground.
We continued to find bits of nails as well. We continued sifting
the dirt.
05/19/05
We were at the site for a little bit today. We were only there for
2 hours, then we headed to the Taber museum. Today we had our field
trip at the Taber Museum. We took a tour of the museum and learned
about the Native American artifacts, the different age periods and
the development of the tools that they used. We could find Indian
artifacts; also we were shown the artifacts from the 1800s, which
is around the time site was in use. We then went down to the lab
of the museum and looked at the artifacts.
05/23/05
Class was cancelled due to rain. It would be impossible to work
we don’t want to destroy the work.
05/24/05
It was kind of crummy out and unfit to work at the site. If we had
worked at the site it would have been destroyed because of trampling
on the ground. We headed up to the barn were we were cleaning artifacts.
A photographer from the Sun-Gazette came by so he took some shots;
we headed back to the site so he could get some shots with the well.
We headed back to the barn, and it was still cold; so we decided
to take some artifacts and catalog them back at school.
05/25/05
We headed back to the well we arrived at 10 a.m. We now started
digging in the well. It was too narrow, so only 1 person could dig
and that person could sift that their dirt. Dean Piper, Dr. Knauth
stopped by and was updated on how we were doing. He took some photos.
Second shift arrives normally after 12:30. We proceeded to dig in
the well. We found a piece of rope, and lots of paper. We recorded
this information.
05/26/05
We proceed to level out the areas around the well. Also we continued
to dig further into the well. We still were digging in the well.
One person at a time, we still were leveling off the slope wells.
05/31/05
We went to the barn today to catalog the artifacts that we had collected
over the past month. Nails were measured, pottery was separated
by the pattern that it had. We took each level and did them by level
and the area that they were found in. I was recording the measurements
and then once I finished it I passed it to Stephanie. Stephanie
then put all the information into the computer. Jocelyn was reading
a book on pottery, and coming up with the introduction for the paper.
Erin showed up so we proceeded to document every artifact.
06/1/05
We went straight to the barn today; it was just Stephanie and me.
Jocelyn left yesterday evening. So Stephanie and I continued to
catalog the artifacts. I continued to document the artifacts and
pass the information to Stephanie. When Erin and Wes arrived they
were shown how to document the artifacts. Stephanie and I only stayed
until 2. Second shift worked at the site after we left.
06/2/05
Today we went to the barn and documented the artifacts that we were
looking at the artifacts that we didn’t finish documenting
yesterday. Wes arrived early so he was water screening the screen
from the well. We left at noon to head to Haywoods. We went to the
restaurant since it was our last day. It has been a wonderful experience
working at the Muncy site.
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