Colonial pit dig - Part II

[Bill D. (VA)]

Well, after my buddy Stan and I got into a few early dated wine bottle seals at this site back in Dec he decided it was time for a return trip and gave me a call to join him on Sat. We decided to concentrate in the same area where the seals had popped up last time. I probed around where we had dug before and the whole area was loaded from a depth of about 1-4 feet. So after clearing the surface roots I started going down and soon started hitting the use layer. However, I quickly came to the conclusion that this new pit didn't have the quantity of glass like the last time so my hopes for multiple seals was dashed early on. It was tough digging with hard-packed brick and oyster shells being predominant (but was much easier than Stan's root-filled pit!), and I eventually started digging a few pipe stems, pottery shards, and wine bottle spouts and bases. No whole pipe bowls showed up this time either. My preferred method of pit digging is to first dig it out and eyeball what I can, then sift the dirt back into the hole. Stan prefers to sift as he takes the dirt out, then rake it back in the hole when he's done. Either way works just fine. Stan finally got things started with a partially broken 1719 seal just like several others he's dug here before. He finished up filling his hole right as I was just getting started sifting and left to go detect in the adjacent fields. I was finding very little of real interest in the sifter, but as I was just about to finish up I eyed another 1719 seal just like Stan had dug, and it was partially broken as well. That was fine with me, though, as I had been successful in finding what I looking for plus it had the full mongram and date. I wrapped up the pit and spent about an hour in the field but only came up with a couple buttons. Anyway, we had a great time and I'm looking forward to getting back there again for another day of backbreaking work. Thanks again Stan for the invite - I really appreciate it!

 

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[birdman]

You are living the dream!

 

[bluehunter1973]

thats some great finds. Nice key and seal

 

[Steve in PA]

That's some OLD stuff your digging in Bill! Too bad they didn't throw out clothes and shoes with buttons an buckles on them!!

 

[Valley Ranger]

Great post - thanks for sharing!

 

[JOE-DIRTDIGGER]

THAT IS A BIG OLE HOLE
NICE FINDS

 

[lost hunter]

great finds lots of hard work

 

[CSA2K]

Incredible!

 

[umrgolf]

great finds, Bill

 

[joeyfresh]

Awesome digs Bill. What did you ever find out about the Robert Carter seal? Did you do any research on it?

 

[Lanny in AB]

Sweet finds!

All the best,

Lanny

 

[Kirk PA]

You always get my passion high for Colonial pit digging, Bill. That is some killer stuff you excavated there. It is good to see you as a regular poster on this great forum. You have been doing very well in the fields of Virginia lately. Thank you for sharing your finds.

Kirk

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

UPDATE: Colonial pit dig - Part II - iron key after electrolysis

Just thought I'd show how well the key cleaned up. Good enough to make the display case.

 

[OldSean]

You must do some great research. You always find the stuff I can only dream of. Great job.

 

[bookfisher]

Nice Colonial Digs! Have you ever pulled out a bottle fully intact, or did they always break them to create more room in the pit?

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Nice Colonial Digs! Have you ever pulled out a bottle fully intact, or did they always break them to create more room in the pit?

There's been one late 1600s pancake onion bottle pulled from the pit area, and one other from the adjacent yard area. But generally bottles and other pottery were reused and not tossed out until they were broken beyond repair. So probably 99% or more of what was thrown in the pit was already broken. And any whole ones tossed in had a tough time surviving due to all the brick, iron and other trash that a bottle could easily break on. So even though our goal is to retreive a whole bottle we know the odds of that are extremely slim. The next best option is to sift the dirt in hopes of recovering a nice dated bottle seal, and we've been successful doing that. Also, to answer your specific question, they were not concerned with room as the pit area is on a very wide and deep slope and there's almost an unlimited area for throwing stuff away. So it wasn't really a "pit" they were tossing stuff into but just a ravine. But over time natural forces covered the area due to erosion, decaying leaves, etc, so we have to actually dig down into what we're calling a pit. Hope this helps.

 

[Colonial Copper Zeus]

Not too many pit diggers on this site. Veddy Interesting ! Kirk has told me of you before. You found some cool things for sure. There are a few areas that KKC has hunted up that would benifit from digging and sifting. I don't think the farmers could be convinced though.
Chris

 

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

very cool relics Bill!

 

[bookfisher]

Nice Colonial Digs! Have you ever pulled out a bottle fully intact, or did they always break them to create more room in the pit?

There's been one late 1600s pancake onion bottle pulled from the pit area, and one other from the adjacent yard area. But generally bottles and other pottery were reused and not tossed out until they were broken beyond repair. So probably 99% or more of what was thrown in the pit was already broken. And any whole ones tossed in had a tough time surviving due to all the brick, iron and other trash that a bottle could easily break on. So even though our goal is to retreive a whole bottle we know the odds of that are extremely slim. The next best option is to sift the dirt in hopes of recovering a nice dated bottle seal, and we've been successful doing that. Also, to answer your specific question, they were not concerned with room as the pit area is on a very wide and deep slope and there's almost an unlimited area for throwing stuff away. So it wasn't really a "pit" they were tossing stuff into but just a ravine. But over time natural forces covered the area due to erosion, decaying leaves, etc, so we have to actually dig down into what we're calling a pit. Hope this helps.

Thanks for answering my question, though I should have remembered that the early settlers did reuse as much as they could. Though an intact bottle is the ultimate, those pottery shards, bottle pieces, and dated bottle seal are historically important early American finds!

 

[johnnyblaze]

Sweet dig


Did i miss part 1



Blaze