Colonial pit yields early bottle seals, pipe bowls and more

[Bill D. (VA)]

Got an invite from my good buddy Stan to come up his way yesterday and check out a new colonial site where he had secured permission to dig out any privies and trash pits that may be on the property. But after probing and digging a few test holes without much success we decided to head back to his old standby site to dig in a very large and early pit. We initially started out where we left off last winter, but we quickly ran out of the use layer and needed to find another spot. We probed around a bit and both of us found areas that seemed to be promising with heavy crunchiness down as far as our probes would reach. We were already a bit tired after all the digging we had done earlier in the day, but we decided to push ourselves to the limit. We ended up with the usual large, deep pits but impending darkness forced us to finish our sifting and fill the holes back in even though both pits still had plenty of artifacts left to dig. We both were able to recover early bottle seals which is one of the primary goals we have each time out. My previous seals from this site were monogrammed and dated (early 1700s), but the two I dug yesterday have what appears to be family crests or coat of arms showing instead. I need to find a good website so I can ID these, but from my brief web research I believe one of them is from the Chicheley family (the one on the left in the pic showing both of them cleaned up). The seal was likely from a personalized bottle belonging to Sir Henry Chicheley who was a prominent gentleman in the late 1600s, and who also served as the lieutenant governor of VA from 1678-82. So that makes this a pretty cool find if I'm right about the ID. Not sure about the other one, but it may be a variation of the same family crest based on some info I saw online. The pit I was digging in seemed quite early based on these seals as well as the black glass bottle parts that had the wide, flat flange around the spout. These probably date to around 1660-80 per some of my reference books, and are a bit older than the usual pancake onion frags we find here that date to between 1690 and 1710. I also found 3 complete pipe bowls and a number of stems (including one that was marked that I’m researching) as well as some other assorted pottery. I also found my first decorative tin-glazed tile shards which also date to the 1600s. So all-in-all it was back-breaking but very fun day digging in the colonial pits. Can't wait to get back out there again soon.

 

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[hogge]

The seals are AWESOME! Congrats!! Hogge

 

[CoilyGirl]

Wow,I'm impressed! Lov th crackle on the old shards of pottery and seals are in such great shape. I hope that site on tines to produce for you for years to come.

 

[ClovisOak]

Neat finds, looks like it was a good party!

 

[fishstick]

STELLAR BILL!! The history your findin is unreal to most of us. Tell you what, I'll drive from IND, do all the diggin, you just sit up top , pull all the finds and tell me the history of them and we'll be even bud. I'll wait for directions. LOL. Keep at it, can't wait to see your next post. CONGRATS.. HH

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

STELLAR BILL!! The history your findin is unreal to most of us. Tell you what, I'll drive from IND, do all the diggin, you just sit up top , pull all the finds and tell me the history of them and we'll be even bud. I'll wait for directions. LOL. Keep at it, can't wait to see your next post. CONGRATS.. HH

That sounds like a deal I can't refuse, but I actually love the hard labor and gettin' down and dirty. Maybe when my arms and back have worn out I'll get back with you.

 

[Valley Ranger]

Another great dig. Thanks for sharin'!

 

[The Sanddigger]

Nice seals. Very ornate!!!

 

[joeyfresh]

Outstanding assortment of finds Bill. I am so fascinated with your bottle seals (especially your Robert Carter seal from last year) since they are identifiable, not only to a particular person, but very prominent colonial Virginians!! I am also amazed that you or Stan were able to identify the Chicheley seal right away....very impressive.

How close were your two new pits and do you feel you have a lot more to sift from them?

 

[tigerbeetle]

Great finds, guys. I'm a archeo-sifter from way back.
Go over your tailings with a finer mesh sifter, to search for the likes of beads and organic material,i.e. fish scales, nut shell pieces -- any tiny indicators of period foodstuffs. They tell a huge tale.
Just what I see in your photos indicate this was a kitchen midden from very well-to-do folks. Multiple onion bottles is a dead giveaway. Wine and brandy on a regular basis?
Why no whole bottles? Even the rich seldom threw away whole bottles -- at least the kitchen help didn't. Virtually all unbroken bottles in Colonial times were used and reused, often by slaves -- and even by Native Americans, who worked the broken glass into implements.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks Joey. Stan was the one who thought it might be a Chicheley seal, not me, so let's make sure we give all the credit for that to him. I was just trying to confirm his suspicions through a little research. The trash pit area is huge, and even though its been dug on and off for several years there are many areas that have yet to be touched. But its becoming more difficult to recognize where its been been dug before due to the nature of the landscape. You just have to dig test holes and confirm that the stratigraphy of the soil has not been disturbed. Otherwise it will just be a homogeneous mixture where it was previously dug and refilled. Yesterday we were digging separate pits about 10-12 ft apart as we usually do. That way we can keep a lot of the tools (mattock, pruners, bow saw, probe, etc) in-between us so we can both get at them easily. But we do have our own sifters which is a must.

 

[joeyfresh]

And I forgot to mention that those Dutch delft tiles are awesome too. Hopefully you can find the remaining pieces!!

 

[birdman]

Bill,you always bring a nice bunch of history to the surface. Fantastic!

 

[Gunrunner61]

Some really Cool finds..............................HH

 

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

gorgeous seals! wish i had one of those in my collection!

 

[okerraine]

Congratulations Bill. Have you ever tried detecting the dirt that you guys excavate? We sifted also but I got too impatient, so i detected did pretty well. Got bust half dime, cw buttons, seated quarter and an Andrew Jackson congressional button.

 

[oldsalty19]

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Congratulations Bill. Have you ever tried detecting the dirt that you guys excavate? We sifted also but I got too impatient, so i detected did pretty well. Got bust half dime, cw buttons, seated quarter and an Andrew Jackson congressional button.

We always periodically check the dirt that's coming out with the detector, but unless its something very small that could slip through the 1/4" mesh we're going to find it in the sifter anyway. Plus it's fairly rare to find a coin, button, buckle or any other non-ferrous target in these pits based on my years of experience.

 

[Southern_Digger]

Fantastic site. I would keep every piece of glass from that dump and attempt to rebuild those bottles. I did it with a whiskey froman 1840's dump in years past.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Fantastic site. I would keep every piece of glass from that dump and attempt to rebuild those bottles. I did it with a whiskey froman 1840's dump in years past.

There were literally hundreds of early black glass bottles thrown into this huge area over a very long period of time. It would be impossible to even attempt putting together a whole bottle from the massive number of pieces. I usually keep some of the spouts and bases, especially the older or unique ones, but all the other pieces are discarded unless they include a seal which we find during the sifting process, or sometimes with the eyeball. There are also massive amounts of brick and oyster shells in the pit too which makes it difficult to both dig and sift. But we do the best we can.