An Archeological Dig!

This morning (Saturday, June 30th), I went on an archeological dig! It was in Fairfield, Virginia, and we were working on a plantation home, or at least the land it was on. It was at its peak in the 1700's and 1800's, owned by the Burwell family, but burned down around the turn of the 20th century. Now, there are lots of artifacts buried in the dirt around there, and we got to help excavate them!

I worked on starting the excavations on a brand new unit today, and it was a really great experience to watch it progress. We dug in layers, so that we could monitor where the artifacts came from, and we sifted through everything often.

Working on the unit, with one of the site's volunteers, Laura.

I didn't mind the digging, it wasn't bad at all, but my favorite part was definitely the sifting - that's where you have a chance to actually discover the artifacts themselves, and you get to play in the dirt. :)

Here's the sifter, a screen in a wood box, with our pile of artifact-free dirt under it!

We found a few pieces of brick, and then I ended up making the biggest discovery of the day! Unfortunately, it wasn't a period piece, but we all got a good laugh out of finding a little glass clown on site!

As we worked through the unit, we found things like bricks, oyster shells, nails, glass, pottery, and porcelain. Our unit was only a few yards from the remains of the house, so it's likely that most of the artifacts ended up there during the fire. However, some things - like the nails or the china or the pieces of glass bottles we found - could have ended up in the dirt when they were discarded, or possibly broken. The oyster shells probably came from the kitchens or from the dinner table, as oyster would have been a popular meal, especially with the proximity to the water. It was such a neat feeling to pick up little ordinary objects, and then realize that the last time anyone saw them or touched them was over 100 years ago. I can't wait to go back next weekend!