How things are
Things are great!
So far, we have dug on 4 properties - Yellowbird, which has some material on an old property but a lot of disturbance in the accessible areas (4 shovel tests only); The Methodist House, where we had one day... really half a day... to dig, and managed to get 6 tests in), the Old Barry House ,in the old old part of town, around an exposed foundation, up into a gravel yard with lots and lost of chickens and some run down trucks (12 shovel tests), and Java House - another old house currently under historic-minded renovations (6 pits on two short transects where we could find bare yard, the second leading to where they found an old outdoor toilet (in local parlance ;) they have since filled in).
So that's a total of 28 tests! I know some of you who do CRM are probably laughing at such a poor turnover of tests for two people over 8 days of work but hey, we're actually finding stuff! Lots of stuff @_@ Lots of small things that require careful screen sorting - there is *Always* another fish bone, for instance! In addition to the piles of your typical historic small finds (glass, ceramics, bones... not as many pipe stems as you might expect...), we've found a handful of cool more unique things. The first (only @_@) day at the methodist House (MDH, as we call it around here), we found a cool little bone..... thing. It is clearly meant to be held, but its purpose remains enigmatic!
We found a cool pewter broach at the Old Barry House (OBH).... of course, it is in four pieces, but whatcha gonna do? Java House (JVH - do you see a trend here?) was especially kind, and we uncovered an iron, sans handle, the bone handle to some kind of implement, possibly a whisk (two pieces), and a fork! We've also got a handful of cool buttons, though none quite as snazzy as the kissing birds from last year.
In addition to digging the tests, we've also been keeping up with cleaning the artifacts (well, mostly... I think we are only 2 bags behind, just ognore that the last one probably has a hundred fish bones in it -_-), and mapping the sites. It is a fair amount of work, I promise! We're hoping to get one more in, which gives us time to dig, clean and log artifacts, and pack everything up before leaving on Saturday.
Of course, we are in a nice little property, right on the harbour, with a private dock home to probably a dozen different species of fish and other marine life, so there has been some evening swims, the lightning and star gazing, and the three evenings we got to watch the bermuda fire worm bioluminescent mating ritual :D
So that's basically what Catherine and I have been up to... now it is time for BBQ burgers and a dark and stormy. Or, since they have no dark rum and I'm making due with gold, an overcast and windy.
If anyone wants more info... I'll catch you in the morning :)
So far, we have dug on 4 properties - Yellowbird, which has some material on an old property but a lot of disturbance in the accessible areas (4 shovel tests only); The Methodist House, where we had one day... really half a day... to dig, and managed to get 6 tests in), the Old Barry House ,in the old old part of town, around an exposed foundation, up into a gravel yard with lots and lost of chickens and some run down trucks (12 shovel tests), and Java House - another old house currently under historic-minded renovations (6 pits on two short transects where we could find bare yard, the second leading to where they found an old outdoor toilet (in local parlance ;) they have since filled in).
So that's a total of 28 tests! I know some of you who do CRM are probably laughing at such a poor turnover of tests for two people over 8 days of work but hey, we're actually finding stuff! Lots of stuff @_@ Lots of small things that require careful screen sorting - there is *Always* another fish bone, for instance! In addition to the piles of your typical historic small finds (glass, ceramics, bones... not as many pipe stems as you might expect...), we've found a handful of cool more unique things. The first (only @_@) day at the methodist House (MDH, as we call it around here), we found a cool little bone..... thing. It is clearly meant to be held, but its purpose remains enigmatic!
We found a cool pewter broach at the Old Barry House (OBH).... of course, it is in four pieces, but whatcha gonna do? Java House (JVH - do you see a trend here?) was especially kind, and we uncovered an iron, sans handle, the bone handle to some kind of implement, possibly a whisk (two pieces), and a fork! We've also got a handful of cool buttons, though none quite as snazzy as the kissing birds from last year.
In addition to digging the tests, we've also been keeping up with cleaning the artifacts (well, mostly... I think we are only 2 bags behind, just ognore that the last one probably has a hundred fish bones in it -_-), and mapping the sites. It is a fair amount of work, I promise! We're hoping to get one more in, which gives us time to dig, clean and log artifacts, and pack everything up before leaving on Saturday.
Of course, we are in a nice little property, right on the harbour, with a private dock home to probably a dozen different species of fish and other marine life, so there has been some evening swims, the lightning and star gazing, and the three evenings we got to watch the bermuda fire worm bioluminescent mating ritual :D
So that's basically what Catherine and I have been up to... now it is time for BBQ burgers and a dark and stormy. Or, since they have no dark rum and I'm making due with gold, an overcast and windy.
If anyone wants more info... I'll catch you in the morning :)