Wrapping Things Up

Time really flies those five weeks what seemed like just a week. I remember on how diverse the room felt from people that came all the way from Hong Kong and the closest was Andover. I remember that first day sitting around the whole table and Sid saying his name was Siddarth Vader and we all laughed. The big thing that I will take away from this class is harder then it really seems it’s not about just digging up artifacts but also having to date them and figuring out where to dig the test pit. I have also learned that even the president won’t listen to the court and will tell the court that it should reinforce it in my final project of Trail of Tears. Also out of that research I did learn that the U.S. military did have to use force as a way of getting moving the Cherokee and that it was a very hard thing on the Cherokee. We learned about many cultures from Nacerima to the Sea dogs of queen Elizabeth. The Cornell notes that we took for all of these different things we learned about helped me get a better understanding than what I normally take notes. It makes it easier to look back and just be able to read the summary to know what the notes are about instead of reading all the notes.

The field trips we went on were both informative but at the same time interesting to look and read. Some field trips were hands on while others were about learning about Native American culture. I even learned how to measure the length and width of a pipe, which is very interesting to find out, and once you are able to find the length and width you can tell the time period it was made in. Also what was interesting about this course was that we were able to see a backyard excavation and what you might find in your backyard and gave people and idea to dig up their backyard.

Final Field Trip, Salem Massacusetts

Salem Massachusetts

Today we went to Salem Massachusetts where the hanging tree once was, there now is a playground. We then went to the Visitor Center where we saw a short award winning video on the history of Salem. From there we went to a home and a park ranger gave a tour of the house. The ranger talked about as the family grew more additions would be made to the house. She also talked about that the garbage would be thrown out into the back. Also once the privy was full and it began to smell the people back then would throw their garbage over it and then the layers began to accumulate. They had an archaeological dig in the backyard and had over 150,000 artifacts were found when the park wanted to acquire the building. When I found that out it really surprised me on how many things can be found in that backyard. We then went to the French Ship at the wharf where we had lunch. They gave us an activity to do on the boat to become a junior ranger. Once we were done on the French ship which was very interesting to see we the went to the Mr. and Mrs. Carrs house where Mr. Carr had dug up his backyard to see what was under the ground and had found over 10,000 artifacts. He even found a tea pot only missing a little piece on the top that was completely in tact. There house is from the 1700s so that was why they found so many things in the backyard.

Last day at the Homestead

Today we went to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead for the very last time with Dig This. We started 10 new test pits at different points around the front of the house. I was with Lindsey John and Sid. At first we didn’t find anything, but as we dug our way down we began finding lots more things. It was another promising dig at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. We found lots of pieces of red ware and bricks. Some of the red ware we found had a lead glaze on it. We also found some glass and a piece of ceramic. We made it all the way down to the gravel layer before we went on our second tour, which was a tour of the meetinghouse and Rebecca’s house. First we started in the barn where we learned that at first some houses were built for a small family with a chimney on the end but as the family grew they would build more to the house and maybe even have a second door to the home. We then headed over to the meetinghouse where we learned that families would not sit with each other during church and that women would sit on the east and men on the west. Children and slaves would stand in the back or go to the second floor. Church lasted 3 hours in the morning and then you would come back for another 3 hours. Also the meetinghouse was used in the movie Three Sovereigns For Sarah. We concluded the tour by going to the house and in their it was split in half on one half there is a caretaker who lives there and on the other side is the museum. We also saw a lot of wheels used to make clothes, and we learned that the frame was made of wood and rope and if you wanted the bed really tight you would use a special tool to tighten it. The mattresses were made of hay and if you were lucky you would have a mattress made of feathers. We learned that if a family were poor they would actually have to make their own clothes. Overall it was a very interesting day.

Rebecca Nurse Homestead Dig and Tour

Today we went to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead for the third time. This time of digging we went on a tour of the homestead. When we were touring the property we started with the outside of the house and the garden growing in the back. We saw that in the garden that the two main things were hopps and asparagus. We learned that in the 17^th century they had a fence around the garden and that the garden was near by because of the animals that would try to eat it. The whole entire homestead once was 300 acres and now is only 27 acres. We went down to the private burial ground that they had where it was infested with mosquitoes. We learned that both the Nurses and the Putnam’s had buried their family members there and the funny thing about it is that they both hated each other. Also where the graveyard was we learned that since there were a lot of trees that some times the wind or the branches would break some of the stones. Also Professor Hamilton told us that he had been asked many time if he knew where the body was and that if he had found it. He told us that he had not but he knew that it must have been near the house because native Americans lived on the land to and they would desecrate the dead body so if someone was killed under certain circumstances they would be buried near the house with a unmarked grave. We learned that from where the group that I was in that was digging on the west side of the house that some of the material found was from the Putnam’s in the 1880s and 1890s. Once we got away from the graveyard we learned that war vets back then after the revolutionary war got a minimum of 128 acres. So that 48 acres would go toward the homestead and the 148 acres were meant for growing hay. After the tour we began to dig again but switched where we would be digging at. Instead of me digging in the woods I was able to dig in front of the house. In the spot where I was digging we did not find anything really interesting only some bone and broken down pieces of brick. On the site in the woods they found a cats skull which was pretty interesting to see. We saw the color change of the pit we went from a brown to a mix of black and orange. We concluded the day with us having to be able to say what each object that we sat in front of was and what it was made of.

Harvard Peabody Museum

Today on July 16, 2008 Dig This visited the Harvard Peabody Museum. We first started out by learning about the history of the museum. We learned that the institution was first opened in 1636. It was once used as a Indian college and there was an Indian school some where on the campus but has not yet been found by archaeologists. The museum had a partnership with the Robert S. Peabody’s uncle. The museum is the oldest and first anthropology museum in North America.

Pequot Museum

Today on July 9, 2008 Dig This! All of Dig this 08 went to the Pequot museum in Connecticut. First we went to the exhibit that was the village of the Pequot’s. Where I first saw this girl and this huge pile and then when I learned more about it I found out that she had the grueling task of taking the garbage out. Along with what she was throwing out she was throwing out a broken ceramic pot that fell from the shelf, along with bones and shells. I also learned that maize was served with nuts, meats and beans. They would also get the maize off the cob and then grind it in a bowl. Crops even have sisters, but not literally they just grow well together. The three crops are maize, green beans, and squash. The green beans help support the maize as it grows. The best place to have a village is near the coast. This is because there are many things to do and you can learn a lot. The men would when the weather was good go and trade to get high quality things, fish or hunt. They would also smoke tobacco for religious reasons and social reasons. The material worth for the Pequot’s was not by wealth but instead by what you could trade for and bring back but at the same time material worth was also judged by their workmanship.