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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[CRUSADER]

As a kid, I used to stand in holes that were deeper than me & dig out the Victorian Bottles from the dump. I have not had a chance since I was young, as many of the sites no longer exist, many have started diving the rivers instead.
I have never dug a Georgian period pit/dump but I'm very interested in trying, based on your great results.
The Sheep Field has such a dump, & I was working up an idea to get the local school kids involved. So, what sifter set up do you have & any tips you can give?

 

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[Bill D. (VA)]

As a kid, I used to stand in holes that were deeper than me & dig out the Victorian Bottles from the dump. I have not had a chance since I was young, as many of the sites no longer exist, many have started diving the rivers instead.
I have never dug a Georgian period pit/dump but I'm very interested in trying, based on your great results.
The Sheep Field has such a dump, & I was working up an idea to get the local school kids involved. So, what sifter set up do you have & any tips you can give?

Below are some pics of the sifter I'm currently using. The sifter frame itself is 24" x 32", but you can make it any size you want. It's also 1/4" mesh, and I wouldn't recommend anything smaller or it will take much longer. I also have a set of long legs that I can quickly attach using bolts and wing nuts to allow standing and sifting at waist height if that's preferable. But I usually like to lay the sifter over top of the pit and sift directly back into the hole. Its also best to use screws and not nails as it will hold together much better with the rugged use it gets. I would also recommend using treated lumber especially if you're going to leave it out in the weather. And one improvement I may make is to put the screen frame on a hinge so it will be easier to periodically dump out the leftover trash. Otherwise you have to turn the whole sifter upside down to do that. Another option I considered is to just lay a couple of 2 x 2s about 5-6 ft long across the pit and place the sifter across those. That way if the hole gets too big you can still sift over top of it. Anyway, there's a million ways you can do it, but regardless of which way you go its very inexpensive and a relatively easy project to take on. You'll also need to get a nice probe if you're looking to find the privies and pits. I wrote an article for a detecting magazine a while back about colonial trash pit digging, and if you're interested just send me your email address and I'll forward you a pdf copy of the article. Hope this helps ..... Bill

 

[CRUSADER]

Below are some pics of the sifter I'm currently using. The sifter frame itself is 24" x 32", but you can make it any size you want. It's also 1/4" mesh, and I wouldn't recommend anything smaller or it will take much longer. I also have a set of long legs that I can quickly attach using bolts and wing nuts to allow standing and sifting at waist height if that's preferable. But I usually like to lay the sifter over top of the pit and sift directly back into the hole. Its also best to use screws and not nails as it will hold together much better with the rugged use it gets. I would also recommend using treated lumber especially if you're going to leave it out in the weather. And one improvement I may make is to put the screen frame on a hinge so it will be easier to periodically dump out the leftover trash. Otherwise you have to turn the whole sifter upside down to do that. Another option I considered is to just lay a couple of 2 x 2s about 5-6 ft long across the pit and place the sifter across those. That way if the hole gets too big you can still sift over top of it. Anyway, there's a million ways you can do it, but regardless of which way you go its very inexpensive and a relatively easy project to take on. You'll also need to get a nice probe if you're looking to find the privies and pits. I wrote an article for a detecting magazine a while back about colonial trash pit digging, and if you're interested just send me your email address and I'll forward you a pdf copy of the article. Hope this helps ..... Bill

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Thanks very much. Very helpful.

I know what probing is & how to do it, but its not something I'm going to start doing. Its just this 1 pit that interests me & I already know where it is, as the rabbits helped me.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Even though you know about where the trash pit is located, it would be helpful to have a probe to determine the extent and depth of the pit when you start digging. That can save you time and a lot of muscle power. Good luck and keep me updated on your progress.

 

[CRUSADER]

Even though you know about where the trash pit is located, it would be helpful to have a probe to determine the extent and depth of the pit when you start digging. That can save you time and a lot of muscle power. Good luck and keep me updated on your progress.

This project will go on the back burner. I'm not worried about digging the whole pit, its pretty big & might be the Villiage one or the nearby masion/large house. It was more for the kids to get an idea & interest in History, not to do a proper job of it.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

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.

Thanks for your comments. We don't have the time or patience to go with anything finer than a 1/4" screen for sifting. The pits we're digging are loaded with oyster shells, brick, pottery, glass, iron, etc, and are difficult to sift even using 1/4" mesh. We're not too concerned with anything small falling through, at least not metallic items as we check the dirt pile periodically with a detector to make sure we don't miss anything (like a cut silver coin). There have been 2 or 3 whole pancake onion bottles found here out of the hundreds of broken ones. I guess finding a whole bottle is our #1 priority each time out, but we know the chances are very slim. But the bottles seals are a nice consolation prize as are some of the whole pipe bowls and marked stems we find. But as always it's the anticipation and thrill of the hunt that makes this all worthwhile regardless of the recoveries.

 

[metalev4]

Wow Bill, stunning seals. Looks like you were in the earliest section of the pit, can't wait to see what else comes out. One of these days i hope you get a complete spout and shoulder with seal. Good luck this week.
Evan

 

[sscindercoop]

Great finds!!!! Cant wait to do some pit digging. HH

 

[joeyfresh]

Get in line coop!!!!