Last day in the AC...

May 16th,2014
        Today was rainy as predicted and so we continued to wash and accession our artifacts. Today is our last day of the class so we are all going home after this artifact cleaning session. I had a lot of fun learning about and experiencing American Archaeology. 

At the site and a little artifact sorting...

May 15th,2014
         Today is out last day out in the field. We are working at the site til about noon. Sam finished taking down our wall in the SE quad. Once that was complete we helped Chris and Elizabeth in their pit by transporting their buckets to Dru and Sammy to screen. After they finished up Sammy and I got down into the pits and began taking the southern corner balks down in our pits. Then we went back to Lyco. Once we got back to the AC we began washing artifacts. We sorted them out by excavation units so that each group can wash their own artifacts, so we could see what actually came out of our pits. Once I washed bags of ours I found that we actually had a good bit of Indian pottery. Our pit was a historic site in which we believe was a barrow pit. I thought it was very beneficial for us to see exactly what we found in our own pits.

Glunk site

May 14th,2014
        Today the weather didn't hold us up at all. We went to the field at 9 am and dug all morning and afternoon. Sam started off the day breaking down the wall in the SE quad to the 12 in to meet what I dug yesterday.  We continued to find nails, brick, and glass. Once Sam finished I started working on the same wall to bring it down to 24 in, even with the floor in Chris and Elizabeth's unit. Once I finished, not finding anything of significance, we switched and Sam dug in the NE quad breaking that wall down to 24 in as well. In between these two breakdowns we had a lunch break and then continued working. After Sam finished I dug the NE quad wall down to 33 in, even with the floor in our pit. After that we wrapped up for the day and got ice cream from Eder's, I got chocolate supreme which was delicious!

Flint napping and digging...again...

May 13th,2014
         Today there was dreary weather so we started out with flint napping. I had a flake that I started to shape yesterday. I continued to work on it using better tools this time like an antler and the copper headed tool. I made a pretty decent point with it, if I do say so myself. After lunch, and the weather cleared up, we went down to the site. I continued and finished the wall between our's and Chris and Elizabeth's unit in the NE quad to the 12 in mark before the day was finished. We found more nail and brick in the wall breakdown.

Flint napping and digging...

May 12th,2014
         Today there was supposed to be bad weather, and so we started out the day in the AC watching flint napping videos and attempting to flint nap ourselves. We had very poor chert because the local chert in our area is not very good, but I did have a couple good flakes which I broke trying to make them into points. Dr. Knauth came to give us better tools for our flint napping. Then, we went to the site to do some digging because the weather turned out to be much nicer. Once on site we unpacked everything and I started on finishing the SE wall clean up. After I finished, Sam took over cleaning the wall of the NE quad. All our walls were now cleaned and then Sam drew the wall profiles for the North and East walls. I then began to break down the wall between our unit and EU 17. It was very hot, and I didn't get much done before it started to drizzle and we had to pack up.

In the AC...

May 9th,2014

        Today we stayed inside to round up all paper work on New Berlin. We needed to make sure we had all the paper work in line with that so we could also properly accession the artifacts from New Berlin. The others in the group worked on the accession once all the paper work was located. I used google sheets to input all of the already accessioned artifacts from New Berlin. I have updated google sheets with all the artifacts accessioned up to date from New Berlin for everyone to use.

Glunk Site

May 8th,2014
        Today I started out digging in the SW quad. It was dug down to 33 inches, even with the SE quad. At 25 inches there was a rock 7 inches long protruding out 3 inches from the wall in the SE corner of the quad. Also once I leveled out the floor there was still charcoal and the greasy stain which we mapped out in the SW quad, and the brown greasy stain was in the middle, SW, NW and NE corners of the quad. The new layer of orange yellow sand matrix Munsell soil reading is 7.5 YR/4/4 from 27" to 33" down. Next, Sam dug the NW quad to meet the previous 2 at 33 inches. We finished out the leveling of all 4 quads and a wall clean up on the NW quad, SW quad, and started to clean up the walls of the SE quad.

Glunk Site

May 7th,2014
         Today I finished digging in the NE quad to level it with the north and south west quads. All 3 quads are now sitting at an even 27 inches. While digging the NE quad I uncovered much more charcoal, and that greasy brown/black staining. I also continued to find historic artifacts like glass and nails. There must have been a trash or barrow pit where the people here burned their trash. Sam and I mapped out the stain and charcoal patterns. There was also another stain that was a rust color about 28 inches down and 3 inches deep. It was a rather interesting feature. Later, after lunch Sam dug in the SE quad to even out the level from the feature we bisected yesterday. Nothing of interest was uncovered while evening out the SE quad. Sam then continued to do a wall clean up in the SE quad. We only cleaned up the Southern wall because we are getting ready to break down the walls, or balks between each pit.

Glunk Site

May 6th,2014
         Today we continued excavating our feature in EU 18. The soil is filled with charcoal and a greasy brown looking soil. Robin wanted to see how far down the stain went so we bisected the feature in the SE quad and continued digging on its west side. This was so we could see the profile of it, While digging half of the feature we continued to find historic artifacts, but we also found what appears to be half of a stone pendent. We marked it as a special find. While digging we also took Munsell soil samples of the different colors of soil we were seeing. A sketch of the stain was also done on graph paper.

Muncy Historical Society

May 5th,2014
        Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Today we traveled to Muncy to visit their historical society. It is in a very old home, and there are lots of very cool artifacts inside. I found the working loom and square piano the most interesting. Once we received the tour of the house museum we ventured down to the Muncy Heritage park and Nature trail, which is a project of the historical society. The park was very nice with a trail that wrapped around Fischer's pond. We learned a lot about canals and the lock system. There was a very fascinating story about the last raft. When a group of older men in 1938 decided to build a logging raft like they used to in their youth and sail down to Harrisburg one last time it didn't exactly go as planned. They made it to Harrisburg just fine, but on their way back up the Susquehanna it crashed into a pier on the bridge in Muncy and 7 people died. That was the end of an era, or time when rafts were used to carry logs to other cities. We then ate lunch at the Indian Park in Montoursville, and then got ice cream at Eder's. I got mint chocolate chip, which was very good. We then, went on a little adventure up through the mountains on a Willards rum rd. Overall, it was a very interesting and educational day. Oh, and we also found some chert and hammer stones to use as flint napping tools later on in our field school.

Glunk Site

May 2nd,2014
           Today it is a bit chilly outside and we are down 2 members of the crew. Sam and I finished our wall clean up, and we must continue onto a level 2/3 transitional phase cautiously because of charcoal evidence found on the floor of our pit, which we found mostly in the SE quad. We have past the arbitrary level 1, and are now continuing on now by natural soil level changes. The top level is dark brown and it continues to a lighter yellow layer. We had many features in our pit so far and we have mapped out our EU at level 1. We have a large historic cluster of brick and limestone in the wall of the south west quad as well as other historical features we included in the map.

Glunk Site

May 1st,2014
        Today we got a late start because on an early afternoon thunderstorm. Also, we started at around 2 because Robin wanted us to meet some of the members of NCC8. We continued on digging with the members, and we met Andy, who has a formal degree in archaeology. Also Matt was introduced to us, and he took the same class as we are with Robin. It was a very productive day as Sam and I hit a new level in the soil, marked by a lighter yellow colored soil. While digging at level 1 I found a large limestone block (8x6x2.5 in). The large limestone brick was 14 inches deep, but it was to only one we found in level 1. We also uncovered a small brick protruding from the North west wall at the depth of 9 in.

Another rainy day...with museums!

April 30th,2014
                Today was also rainy weather so we ventured out in the rain and visited the Little League Baseball Museum and the Taber Museum. The Little League Baseball museum is newly renovated and is very nice. The exhibits were modern and interactive. I thought the museum tour was very nice and I can see many little leaguers have lots of fun in this museum while learning a lot about their favorite sport.
                We stopped at Robin's house to eat lunch and pass time before our next tour at the Taber museum. After we finished our lunch we drove the the Taber Museum and began our tour. Robin lead us around the Indian exhibits as we looked at and talked about the artifacts on display that we could possibly find at the Glunk site. We also looked at the other exhibits downstairs as well as the archaeology lab. The lab in in the basement and is for North Central Chapter 8 to use with their artifacts. While in the lab we got to look at artifacts found at sites around Glunk like the Snyder and Ault sites. I learned a lot today during the rainy weather.

Rainy Day

April 29th,2014
                Today was a rainy day and so we were inside cleaning artifacts. We set up shop in the lounge area between the theater and Pennington Lounge. While we cleaned the artifacts from yesterday we watched a documentary called "Debunking Ancient Aliens". It was a very interesting and productive day.

http://ancientaliensdebunked.com/  

First day at the Glunk

April 28th,2014
              It is a nice breezy day, about 60 degrees F, and sunny. It got warmer as the day went on. I started off the day screening for my partner, Sam. Then we switched off. Sam dug the SW quadrant of our excavation unit, 18. I dug out the SE quadrant. We dug the arbitrary level 1, down to about 10 inches.
              We took a break at noon for lunch. After we ate we went for a short walk along the field because they had just been plowed. After, I kept on digging in my quad. Once I got to the bottom there began a slight change in soil. It transitioned to a lighter clay, yellowish in color. It was also very annoying to cut out all of the roots in our pit. 

James V. Brown Library

April 17th, 2014
                Today we walked to the James V. Brown Library to look at the city directories. Earlier while on a geocaching adventure we picked adresses on Mulberry Street, and I chose 816 Mulberry St.
                 1906, also the same year as the San Francisco earthquake, the city directory has ads for businesses on each pages just like they do today. Henry Landsman lived in this home and was a manager at Larus- Altheimer Co. a Joseph Gray also lived there and he was a breakman.
                 1912, also the year that the titanic sunk, a Melvin R. Clark lived at 816 Mulberry and he was a Stenographer.
                  I continued on every 6 years, and so in 1918 a Harold A. Brown lived there and he was the assistant treasurer of the Northern Central Trust Co.
                  1924, this time the city directory included more ads than previous years. William L. Schaefer and wife Margaret G. lived there and he was a salesman at 233 West.
                  1930, the beginning of the depression, and the directory now has pink pages which are also thicker. Samuel L. Boone and wife Sarah lived there and he was a packer. The names are also now organized by last name instead of first when looking up by the address.
                  1936, in the middle of the depression, there are even ads on the outside front, back and sides of the directory. Peter C. Coleman and wife Mary P. lived here and it was also a home business as Peter ran a detective agency from his home.
                  I picked a directory every six years and each time there was a new resident. Maybe in the city people don't stay around as long. I have lived in my house for 12 years and my parents still continue to live there. Maybe back then people moved more often? The directories also changed slightly each time, mostly in the amount of ads.

Williamsport Cemetary

April 8th, 2014
              Today during class we drove to the Williamsport Cemetery to complete the lab; Gravestones as Indicators of Human Demography. Our goal is to learn how to extract information concerning death rates from the study of tombstones.
Data Collection:
(1) Period 1 1800-1875
(2) Period 2 1876-1945
(3) Period 3 1946-present

Ages:
(N) Neonatal 0-1 yrs
(SB) Sub Adult 2-15 yrs
(A) Adult 16-45 yrs
(O) Older Adult 46-..n

Tombstone types:
(C) cross
(H) headstone
(SP) ground level stone plaque
(SM) stone monument

Data collection

We also walked over to St. Boniface Cemetery to take down last names:
Ziegler                                           Seewald
Younes                                          Crouse
Blitz                                               Katz
Kern                                              Gnilka
Aleberte                                        Kressling
Hartland                                        Yagle
Fischer                                          Kranz
Cummings                                     Staib
Orso
Audet
Juskowiak
Fitzpatrick
Yetter
1) Adults had the highest mortality rates for the first time period.
2) Older adults had the highest mortality rates from the second time period.
3) Older adults had the highest mortality rates from the third time period.
4) Yes, once into the 3rd period there was basically no neonatal or sub adults buried in the cemetery.
5) Life spans were shorter in the first time period.
6) The second time period had many more adults and sub adults, also the first had the most infants.
7) Different living conditions and scientific advances in health care would cause pattern changes.
8) The men had more older adults buried, but a female was the oldest adult I recorded (97). The men lived into their 60's and 70's.
9) In the earlier time periods the women died younger than the men, but in the 3rd the women started to live longer. I would assume this is due to the dangers of childbirth in the first time period.
10) The tombstones were mostly headstones, and then stone plaques. Rarely a stone monument among my sample. Stone monuments indicated a wealthy person, unlike a cheaper headstone, or stone plaque.

New Berlin, Pa

April 6th, 2014
                Today we worked at the church site in New Berlin again. It is a very hot day, high of 80 degrees, the sun is out, and there is a nice breeze coming up off the creek just south of the site. We have a tent set up for shade and we have lots of water. I worked on Shovel test pit 5 today which I found lots of large rocks, brick, white ceramics, and glass. My pit had many large rocks so I expanded it another foot to the east,and
 I uncovered a rock about 3inches down that had a hole in it about 3 inches in diameter. The hole had metal lining like it could hold a fence post.
                 Later in the day, while I was digging in STP 5 the wind picked up and blew the tent we had set up over the top of the monument in the center of the property. The tent knocked over the neighbors cable line (oops!). I had only dug down about 6 inches before this happen, but once we got everything cleaned up I could continue digging. At about 9 inches down the soil changed to dark brown instead of light brown like the soil above it. Overall, we accomplished a lot our fist weekend at New Berlin because we found what we believe to be the footer, and I uncovered what could have been a fence around the church. 

New Berlin, Pa

April 6th, 2014
              We were asked to dig at the site of the first church ediface of "Albright's people". These people eventually form the United Methodist Church, and this site is the first of these churches in the New World. The Evangelical church was first built in 1816 and then again in 1873. Our job is to find the footer of the old church and map it out for a landscaping project they are working on for the site. We simply started digging test pits along the front of the property in line with all the other homes. Robin noticed that all the houses were in line with each other, and so we lined our test pits up with the front of the homes next door. I screened dirt for shovel test pit 1, and we found things like glass, brick, ceramics (white), limestone mortar, and lots of rocks. We did find large stones which we believe to be a part of the footer. Our tests pits were all 1ft x 1ft. I also dug shovel test pit 3 where I found ceramics (red), limestone, footer stones, nails, coal, and brick.

Shovel Test Pit 3 map