UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 8, Page 10
October 20, 1994
Doms digs up campus dirt

     Digging up the dirt about Newark's past is all part of Keith
Doms' job as research associate II in anthropology.
     The construction of the new parking garage and student center has
provided opportunities for Doms and other researchers with the UD
Center for Archaeological Research to unearth foundations of houses
and business that long ago stood on Main Street and South College
Avenue.
     Two maps, one published in 1868 and another in 1915, have been
invaluable in plotting the digs, Doms said. The earlier map shows
where buildings were and the names of the owners, while the 1915 map
gives structural details about the buildings.
     In July, using a backhoe to strip the asphalt parking lot,
trenches were dug where houses facing Main Street used to stand. After
the preliminary excavation, members of the Center for Archaeological
Research, students and volunteers from the community began digging and
sifting for artifacts.
     Basement foundations and cellar rooms full of debris and rubble
were uncovered, as well as an old well.
     There were many interesting artifacts discovered, Doms said. One
corner of an old home gave evidence of being a beauty parlor. Several
bottles of nail polish, barber combs, curlers, other cosmetic products
and pieces of window glass with paint on them were found.
     Several bottles were discovered. Pieces of an old glass bottle
dating to the first half of the 19th century was found by Mike
Middleton, a junior who works on the project. Another find was a
pistol-shaped bottle that dated back to the early 1900s, which held
either candy or whiskey. A Rhodes Drugstore bottle dating back to the
1920s also came to light. Other household items such as crockery,
drinking glasses, a cast iron boiler were uncovered as well.
     The excavators also worked on South College Avenue, where
wheelwright and blacksmith shops once stood. The foundations of the
blacksmith shop and supports for the forge or other equipment have
been uncovered. Nails, pottery and metal scrap, including printers'
type and a turn-of-the-century printer's block of an advertisement for
patent medicine, were found. A rusting, but intact, horseshoe bears
testimony to the trade once practiced there.
     Volunteers are welcomed. Anyone interested in working on such
sites may call Doms at 831-6590.
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure