UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 38, Page 3
August 3, 1995
Historical study; Digging down deep under the hot summer sun

     This summer, four University students and several community
volunteers focused on an excavation project unearthing an area's early
landscape. The four-week effort occurred on The Strand, a street in
historic Olde New Castle, only one block from the banks of the
Delaware River.
     "Unearthing New Castle's Past: Archaeology in the Gardens at the
Read House" is a joint undertaking of the Historical Society of
Delaware and the UD Department of Anthropology, being directed by Lu
Ann De Cunzo, assistant professor of anthropology.
     De Cunzo, a specialist in American historical archaeology, said
landscape projects are an important way to reconstruct the past,
particularly by using evidence and remains of prior land settings that
help researchers determine how and why a site was created and how it
was used.
     Study sites can be as small as a formal garden, kitchen garden or
even a work yard, or they can be as large as a town or cityscape.
     In the case of New Castle's Read House, De Cunzo said the
Historical Society thinks the surrounding yard area has changed little
since the formal gardens were established in 1847.
     One of De Cunzo's objectives was to determine if that assumption
is correct, and, if not, to discover to what extent things have
changed from the original design.
     To accomplish this goal, project participants employed
traditional excavation techniques, conducted document research and
analyzed soil, microscopic mineral deposits, old seeds and organic
matter.
     In addition, she said, the society has a significant number of
photographs of the area from the 1880s to the present. This, De Cunzo
said, is both unusual and fortunate.
     The 18th-century house was home to George and Gertrude Read from
1767 to about 1800. George Read was a signer of the Declaration of
Independence. The original home burned in 1824, and the formal garden
was established on that site in 1847.
     Under a hot July sun, in the midst of the summer's first heat
wave, De Cunzo and her volunteers raced to complete the last of three,
5-foot square holes, each about four feet deep.
     She knelt down and pointed out older brick walkways-set in
distinct patterns and made of different materials-that had been laid
and used sometime in the 1800s. This indicates that the level of the
original garden was about a foot lower than it is today.
     De Cunzo said she and her students discovered thousands of
artifacts- including cow and pig teeth, fish bones, oyster shells and
other foods.
     All the uncovered items eventually combine to provide clues that
will help present day archaeologists, historians and museum curators
paint a more accurate portrait of the past.
     A major objectives of this first season of the landscape
archaeology project, De Cunzo said, is to determine the extent of
public interest in the work being conducted at the site.
     The positive answer came when more than 200 people visited the
excavation project in the gardens during a four-hour, public open
house. Some of the visitors even pitched in and helped clean and sift
some of the artifacts.
     The initial information gained from the Read Gardens project,
which De Cunzo said she hopes to continue working on for several
years, will improve the understanding of New Castle's history,
changing environment, family life, commerce, social life and culture.
     The project, she said, will produce information that is essential
for designing a long-term research program at the site. This
historical, anthropological research program would involve a holistic,
integrative, multifaceted approach, where many sources of evidence
would be combined to explore the way the past existed on both a social
and cultural level.
     The "hands-on" effort, she said, also serves as an important and
accessible training ground for students and area volunteers.
     "It's difficult to get experience in the field of archaeology,"
said Tim Layton, a junior anthropology major from West Chester, Pa.
"For me, this project was an ideal opportunity."
     Ian Janssen, a UD senior anthropology major from Dover, said he
had done research on the George Read property in previous courses and
for sn independent study project.
     "I was happy to be here and see how what I learned previously
applied," Janssen said, "to see what was here before and what actually
is here now."
     Sophomore Keith Adams of Hockessin is interested in English
pottery. "It was exciting for me to see the assemblage of artifacts,"
he said, "especially the ceramic fragments that came out of the
ground, and to associate them with certain time periods."
     Senior Nedda Moqtaderi of Wilmington is an art conservation major
with a minor in anthropology. She said she was thinking of shifting
the focus of her study. The excavation was an opportunity to gain
experience and help her make a decision.
     "I loved it," she said. "But, it wasn't so important finding the
stuff, but rather seeing it and realizing that it's been under the
ground for 200 years and no one else has seen it."
     Project director De Cunzo said the "treasure hunting" aspect of
excavation work always plays some part in each participant's interest,
whether they be students or experienced scholars.
     "We try not to emphasize it," she said, "but there is that part
of it. When someone finds something, others working in the area will
gather around to look."
     De Cunzo said researchers spend about three hours in the
laboratory for every hour digging at a site. And that, she explained,
is for cleaning and logging material.
     Additional time is spent on research and analysis.
     Ask De Cunzo what she likes about her work and she doesn't take
long to respond.
     "The diversity of it," she answered, "from getting dirty to
working in the archives to examining objects and deciphering their
cultural meanings."
     But, she admitted, as archaeologist it's difficult for her to
keep her mind from focusing on what may be waiting to be discovered
only a few feet below the surface.
     "I find I'm always looking at the ground while I'm walking,
wondering what I might be passing over. It's an occupational hazard."
                                                         -Ed Okonowicz