Excavations--Test Trench--Excavation Unit South 2 West 80.5

This unit is the southernmost in a series of 2.5 by 5-foot units that will compose a trench to eventually reach from the edge of the garden parterre (the location of this unit) to the back wall of the property. This small rectangle of earth yielded many interesting and diverse layers of soil, features, and artifacts!

As we dug through had the layers of soil, we looked carefully for any changes in the soil’s texture, color, and content. When we saw or felt a change, we gave that level a new "name," really a number. Each number represents the physical remains of a specific "event" that occurred on this spot of land—digging a trench to lay a pipe, installing a fence post, planting a shrub, depositing a cartload of soil to raise the surface of the ground, or dumping a bucket of trash from the kitchen. We excavated through 37 layers and features that reached more than 3 feet below the surface of the ground. Several of the layers were fill deposits of soil brought into the property for landscaping and to raise and level the ground between the late 1700s and mid-1800s.

Each level that we uncovered was older than the one above it. As we excavated through each layer of time, we discovered artifacts from that period. We found a lot of evidence of building construction and/or destruction in the form of bricks, mortar, nails, and tile. Perhaps most interesting is the amazing amount of evidence of the eating habits of these 17^th, 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th-century people: at least seven different styles of ceramics, glass wine bottles, wine glass fragments, oyster shells, and bones from various barnyard animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl. Other artifacts told us about other aspects of past life. We found pewter and bone buttons, a bone lice comb, clay tobacco pipes, and a half-penny minted between 1729 and 1739.

Overall, the excavation produced a lot of information about the previous residents of the Read property. Our unit eventually reached the natural, undisturbed soil, with some flakes from native Delawareans’ stone tool making appearing in the deepest layers. In the "clean" yellowish subsoil, we could easily see distinct "features" filled with different soil. Features are evidence of human occupation that are not movable "things." These features were postholes, darkened circles and squares of soil where a hole been dug for a fence post. The darkest stains, within the larger feature, were all that remained of the wooden posts. In the coming years, we will continue to study the features, soil levels, and artifacts from this unit to learn more about past ways of life in New Castle that cannot be found in books and documents.

QuickTime Movies from the excavations!

• South 2 West 80.5 Duration: 36.5 seconds Size: 1.4MB

ATTENTION WINDOWS USERS: Having trouble with the QuickTime movies? Click here to go to a site where you can download the QuickTime movie player program.

Return to the Test Trench Excavations Page

Return to Archaeology at the George Read II House