several more artifacts unearthed at the "big dig" site earlier this week

despite the brutally cold weather, i began the work week at the "big dig" site with the hopes that we would discover a wood-lined privy towards the back of the two remaining (unexcavated) lots. immediately upon arriving at the site, the backhoe operator called me over to show a few bottles he had already discovered earlier in the morning. progress had no doubt been made, which included the complete removal of a brick-lined privy that left a large hole containing several artifacts that had not been disturbed during periodic cleaning when still in use and/or when the structure on the site was demolished.

in addition, there were several other sites of interest where artifacts dating from the 1870's were being unearthed. the discovery of a james stenson pony style "blob top" bottle was very encouraging. i wanted to further explore that site as well, but a slight change in plans led the backhoe operator to move into a region far from the back lots. i was undoubtedly frustrated by this seemingly last minute course of action, but i have no control over it. i'm fortunate enough as it is to have a sympathetic operator who allows me just a sliver of time to recover a bottle exposed from the movement of the backhoe.

as the afternoon wore on i contacted the shop requesting more manpower to help dig in two promising regions where i worked back and forth before my back was beginning to give. my right-hand man dave spent a good deal of time in one of those areas, located along one of the property lines where a wood-framed residence once stood. several artifacts in the form of medicinal bottles, granite ironware, pottery, builders' hardware and other odds and ends were recovered by his efforts. after taking a break, i continued to work along the edge of an adjoining lot where the stenson bottle (1870's) was discovered. a few medicinal bottles and stoneware fragments from the same time period were found, but not much else.

since the brick-lined privies yielded very little from days before and the sporadic ash pits were filled mostly with a mixture of building material and fragments, we decided to call off our efforts until movement shifted towards the back region of the lots. excavation of the area serving as the greatest candidate for seeking out undisturbed wood-lined privies would not begin for another few weeks.

an upcoming residential demolition was on the horizon, so a break from the "big dig" site" was actually welcomed. in the coming week or two we will be salvaging above ground, in two 19th century house slated for demolition. more on those projects in future posts. in the meantime, the image gallery offers a glimpse of some of the artifacts recovered from our efforts of the day. many more bottles were discovered, but await cleaning before they can be documented and shot in the studio.