Update from the 1st week of field school

We gathered Monday morning to break ground at the Pecunies House site here at Strawbery Banke with a crew of 10: archaeologists, volunteers, and field school students.

We began by removing the topsoil from beneath the heirloom strawberries that had been growing within the bounds of the Pecunies House foundation.  We quickly encountered fill that had been deposited after the house was torn down in the 1960s. We had not been sure whether the fill would relate to the construction or the destruction of the house, but we believe that clean, gravelly sand was brought to the site to fill in the foundation after the house was torn down.  Of course there are still many architectural fragments from the Pecunies House including nails, painted wooden boards, asphalt shingles, and window glass.

After a few days on site, we began to recover fragments of white glazed bricks that we soon found in course and expanded our excavation to reveal the floor of the mikveh we had been searching for.

Check back in next week for further updates and photos!  Leave your questions in the comments below.

Alex, Chrissy, and Nadia trowel after encountering a break in the soil between topsoil and fill.

Jim trowels topsoil while Sally supervises.

A tumble of foundation rocks, bricks, and industrial pipe were uncovered in our eastern excavation block. 

Chrissy displays an intact historic bottle she recovered from the fill above the mikveh.

The mikveh floor has been revealed beneath bricks and fill in the western excavation block. We believe this is the floor because there is a drain in the top right corner.

A close up of the edge of the mikveh floor - we should be able to source these white glazed buff-bodied bath bricks.