1600s-1700s Colonial Pit - just the beginning!

HomeGuardDan

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Jul 15, 2011
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Williamsburg, VA
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Yesterday my good buddy Bill D and I got out to do some clean-up work on the colonial site that we have been working. We wanted to walk it just once more before moving on and boy am I glad that we did.

The weather was iffy all day and with each new hour we felt like we were on borrowed time. The fields were already sloppy from the previous days rain and the dry spell we were digging in was really more of a mist and humid spell. That being said we started off doing a bit of surface hunting and with that came a few buttons here and there, the occasional musket ball and other tid bit.

This property has two sites, and after an hour we wandered back to the original site that we located (where I dug the cut silver that landed on my loop a few weeks ago). I walked a line right through the site and to a small slope on the back of the site. I was looking for targets but also investigating for potential pits. I dug a button and then some misc brass and then BAM machine gun iron with deep big targets hidden within. It only took me about four shovel fulls to hit the initial layer (about 15" down). Bone, stone, brick and a great color layer were present. I immediately waved for Bill to come on over and the dirt flinging began.

We could not sift and really could not do much more than to investigate the size and extent of the pit as the dirt was sloppy muck and the rain beginning to come back. I did recover much of an early Bellarmine rhenishware jug (with the design partially present). Some early puzzle work already had matched a few pieces together. Also present were some mid 1700's wine bottles and some gray stoneware and other colonial glass goodies. The pit was full of stone which was most likely the cause of all the destruction. A nice but bashed 17th-early 18th century triangular padlock was also recovered. The pit was deeper than we dug as well - all leaving plenty to look forward to.

We will certainly be going back to sift and fully dig this pit out. We also hope that there are others located nearby.

My toll for the day was 8 buttons, some musket balls and other tid bits. We spent 70% of our time digging the pit - it was full of cast iron pot shards as well and we really did not mess too much with scanning the dirt - though I have to believe some goodies are there as well.

HH

Dan
 

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Upvote 8
Looks like you got yourself another honey hole there Dan, congrats. I'll be watching for the goodies to come rolling in. It would be really nice to get one of those Bellarmine jugs in one piece of at least all the pieces to put it back together.
ZDD
 

Keeping my eye on this thread Dan because I find pit digging to be so interesting.Looks like you have a great start to some wonderful relics.
 

That sure looks interesting! Hope you find a whole bottle in there somewhere. Makes me want to investigate a possible trash pit / privy I have been putting off for a while.
 

There's the pics. Very nice.
 

The pit sure looks promising! :icon_thumleft: Will be interesting to see what you get out of it.

And I'm jealous that you have the chance to dig in early January in a tee shirt!
 

The pit sure looks promising! :icon_thumleft: Will be interesting to see what you get out of it.

And I'm jealous that you have the chance to dig in early January in a tee shirt!

HA! That was a rarity for here as well. Our average high is 48, we were on pace to set a record that day!
 

Another great time as usual Dan. I can't wait to go back and finish digging out that pit. That design on that bellarmine shard is very cool and one I haven't come across before. Maybe we can locate the remaining pieces including the bearded man himself. That would make for an awesome reconstruction. Looking forward to the weekend .....
 

Dang! Haven't dug an "old" pit in years! I love it! thanks for the pics.
 

Great finds, Dan. One day I will dig a pit, one day I tell ya! lol
 

Hello Dan & Bill,

Congratulations on finding a pit of great potential. That is some really super shardage! I've got fingers & toes crossed on your behalf.

bellarmine_jug_by_out2lunch2-d5pomyr.jpg
 

Looks like there's lot of potential to the pit, good luck on the next dig.
 

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Sweet! I would kill for even a partially reconstructed bartmann jug. Get back out there and dig the rest. Great job guys!
 

Those are some great finds. Looks like I dug that same pc of pottery with the blue stripe

If you don't mind me asking can you help id some of these pcs as well as a basic time frame. The targets I've dug here are 1663- 1 real cob as well as a 1694 W&M Halfpenny s well as other colonial items.
 

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Those are some great finds. Looks like I dug that same pc of pottery with the blue stripe

If you don't mind me asking can you help id some of these pcs as well as a basic time frame. The targets I've dug here are 1663- 1 real cob as well as a 1694 W&M Halfpenny s well as other colonial items.

Tough to tell from the pics. The bottle is def mid 1800s, the stoneware (blue) is late 1700s, the rest is tough to determine without seeing it in person. Either way you have a span of time there. Should be plenty of goodies there.
 

Those are some great finds. Looks like I dug that same pc of pottery with the blue stripe

If you don't mind me asking can you help id some of these pcs as well as a basic time frame. The targets I've dug here are 1663- 1 real cob as well as a 1694 W&M Halfpenny s well as other colonial items.

I agree with Dan with that bottle base dating to the mid-to-late 1800s. That blue and gray rhenish stoneware shard could date as early as the early 1700s, but most likely is from the mid-to-late 18th century. That pattern is a very common find on colonial sites.
 

I've never dug a pit, but it looks like I'm going to have to keep my eyes open. Nice finds and thanks for the education and motivation to go find one.
 

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