Black glass is a blast!

[DownNDirty]

Sunday vmiairpwr07 and I revisited my colonial/Rev War site with high hopes of finding another numbered regiment button or old coin. As luck would have it we found neither but it still turned out to be a great day.

As Jon was digging his fourth bridle boss of the day he noticed that there were a lot of black glass shards in the hole. Intrigued, we broke out the small shovels and proceeded to unearth a small bottle dump that was jam packed with black glass bottle bases, necks, other broken pieces and pottery shards. The dump was only about three feet square but we excavated a huge pile.

In addition to black glass I found the necks of three small bottles that I'm pretty sure were medicine bottles and two wine glass stems.

I have just started cleaning the bottle shards and I noticed that about two thirds of the necks still have some of the wax that sealed the tops. I've never seen that before & wasn't aware that the tops were sealed other than with corks.

Once again we had a great time & look forward to the next adventure.

 

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[DownNDirty]

thanks! yep, I found them in a very nice colonial pit with a bout 1000 total pipestems, bottles, wig curlers, clay marbles, musket balls etc!

Wow! Any whole bottles?

 

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[CTwoods]

crystal glass stems with those swirl patterns at a pit from around the same period around charleston. I personally think that they are incredible relics!

When I first looked at the pics in post #1 a few days ago, that tiny piece of spiral glass stem really jumped off the page. It is so non-uniform in the twist, which seems it really says very old

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

It's not all that uncommon to find a huge pile of black glass like that, especially at tavern sites, although I guess its possible at a military camp as well. But an army could probably care less about digging a neat little pit to throw all their bottles in so I doubt that's where they came from. Also, can you take a close-up of the wax on those bottle spoust? I've recovered many hundreds of 1700s bottle spouts and have never seen wax on one. Sometimes they do include a wire closure that was used to keep the cork in firmly in place, but I've never seen wax. I'm also attaching a pic from Hume's book "A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America" that shows some examples of the small pharmaceutical bottles your frags likely came from. These are commonly found as well, especially the pontilled bases to those little teal bottles. And if you're finding pits like that you need to do some systematic probing as I'm sure more are lurking nearby. Good luck!

 

[DownNDirty]

It's not all that uncommon to find a huge pile of black glass like that, especially at tavern sites, although I guess its possible at a military camp as well. But an army could probably care less about digging a neat little pit to throw all their bottles in so I doubt that's where they came from. Also, can you take a close-up of the wax on those bottle spoust? I've recovered many hundreds of 1700s bottle spouts and have never seen wax on one. Sometimes they do include a wire closure that was used to keep the cork in firmly in place, but I've never seen wax. I'm also attaching a pic from Hume's book "A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America" that shows some examples of the small pharmaceutical bottles your frags likely came from. These are commonly found as well, especially the pontilled bases to those little teal bottles. And if you're finding pits like that you need to do some systematic probing as I'm sure more are lurking nearby. Good luck!

View attachment 1265193

Thanks Bill. I'm not sure it is wax, maybe not. My first thought was wire but I tested a few with the pinpointer & they are non-metallic. The soil that the shards were buried in is a very dark, loamy soil so I don't think the residue is dirt or clay. Big mystery!

We stopped digging when the black glass ran out (vertically) but we did not dig down to the clay level. Do you think it would be worth it to re-excavate the hole and dig deeper, in case there may be other trash buried beneath the glass?

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

Wow! Any whole bottles?

Regrettably not yet! I've dtill got a lot to go since it's so large!

 

[TheGreatNorth]

This is awesome! I'm currently buried under 3 feet of snow and my season is DONE, but seeing this stuff keeps me going. That's so cool that there is wax on those bottle necks. Love that in situ picture... that looks like one packed pit. Keep it up man... I certainly enjoy/need this entertainment from my southern friends while we are frozen up here

I hear you brother!! Watching these guys dig great stuff like this keeps me interested while the ground is frozen!! Congrats on the finds! And pray for an early spring for your northern comrades!!

 

[DownNDirty]

Regrettably not yet! I've dtill got a lot to go since it's so large!

Well good luck-let me know if you need any help

 

[DownNDirty]

I hear you brother!! Watching these guys dig great stuff like this keeps me interested while the ground is frozen!! Congrats on the finds! And pray for an early spring for your northern comrades!!

I'll try to will some warm air up your way.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks Bill. I'm not sure it is wax, maybe not. My first thought was wire but I tested a few with the pinpointer & they are non-metallic. The soil that the shards were buried in is a very dark, loamy soil so I don't think the residue is dirt or clay. Big mystery!

We stopped digging when the black glass ran out (vertically) but we did not dig down to the clay level. Do you think it would be worth it to re-excavate the hole and dig deeper, in case there may be other trash buried beneath the glass?

With all that coming from one spot I would certainly dig both vertically and horizontally until you are sure you've excavated it all. Sometimes in pits and privies the best finds can be hiding in a bottom corner so you have to make sure you've covered all the bases. But with just bottle parts in that one spot there has to be others full of ceramics, pipe bowls, etc, so you need to check the area thoroughly. And I'd still like to see a close-up of that mystery substance on those spouts if you get a chance.

 

[metalev4]

Makes me miss digging colonial pits. Keep searching there are surely more around, maybe you will get lucky and find a seal.

 

[DownNDirty]

With all that coming from one spot I would certainly dig both vertically and horizontally until you are sure you've excavated it all. Sometimes in pits and privies the best finds can be hiding in a bottom corner so you have to make sure you've covered all the bases. But with just bottle parts in that one spot there has to be others full of ceramics, pipe bowls, etc, so you need to check the area thoroughly. And I'd still like to see a close-up of that mystery substance on those spouts if you get a chance.

Here you go Bill

 

[Silver Tree Chaser]

Awesome digs - but sobering that you could not get a complete bottle out of such a hole.