ARCH 1900 John Brown House Excavations Unit 6

ARCH 1900: John Brown House Excavations Unit 6 Presentation by Elise Merchant 12/07/09

Choosing a Location Encompasses Unit 5 from 2008 digging season. Geophysical feature, wall feature found in Unit 5 Unit 6

Hale Ives House 1875 Atlas of the City of Providence

Stratigraphy (JBH 46) JBH 46 JBH 48 JBH 52 JBH 54 JBH 52 JBH 61 Harris Matrix by Sarah Baker

JBH 46 Topsoil Layer JBH 46 JBH 48 • Dark grayish brown soil color • Heavily root content

JBH 46 Finds Find Date Wire nail 1877 - present 1 Brown glass Green glass Curved colorless glass Fragments of measuring cup Plastic beads Piece of brown rubber Whiteware 1830 s – present 2 Creamware 1762 – 18202 Brick fragments Shell Piece of plastic coffee cup lid 1997 – present – TPQ 3 Plastic soda bottle cap gasket 1960 s – present 4 1 Edwards and Wells p. 61 2 FLMNH, Mean Cereamic Manufacturing Dates. 3 U. S. Patent number 5, 613, 619 4 Object Bio, Elise Merchant

JBH 48 Find Date Pencil fragment 1893 – present 1 Whiteware 1830 – present 2 Creamware 1762 – 18202 Red-painted creamware Colorless curved glass Ridged molded glass JBH 46 1700 s – present 3 Shell JBH 48 Coal Asphalt with Cobblestone 1871 – present 4 Porcelain electrical insulation 1800 s 5 11. 5 cm spike 1798 – 18476 Wire nails 1877 – present 6 Cut nails 1791 - 19006 Slate roofing pieces Red and yellow brick Mortar • Declared based on soil color/composition change: sandy yellowish soil with high gravel content 1 Elise Merchant, Object Bio 2 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing dates 3 Parks Canada Glass Glossary 4 CNEHA, “Telling Time in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century” 5 Ansel, Evelyn, Object Biography: “Porcelain Fuse”, Final Report 2008 6 Edwards and Wells

Architectural Rubble

Gravel and Architectural Rubble TPQ date: 1893 (pencil fragment) Hale Ives House demolished around 19251 by Marsden Perry Gravel path installed most likely during Perry’s occupation of the Brown House, running apparently through Unit 6 in the same direction as JBH 48 Students excavating Unit had actually hypothesized JBH 48 as a path based on consistency of gravel Architectural rubble from the demolition of the Hale Ives House could have been used for “fill” for the path, or could have just been disturbed by the construction of the path 1 Yellin, Steffi, Final Report 2008

JBH 52 Find Date Colorless curved glass Clear green glass Pink-tinted glass Dark green glass Porcelain bone china JBH 52 JBH 48 JBH 52 1830 – 19001 Blue-printed whiteware 1840 – 18601 Pearlware with greenish tinged scallop edge 1802 – 18321 Creamware 1762 – 18201 Small molded button (potentially metal) New context designated based on soil color change: same color as JBH 46 but mottled with yellow-orange Patch in Southwest corner added after original designation of JBH 52 based on lack of consistency with JBH 48 (soil had low gravel content and featured the same mottling seen on the East side of the unit). JBH 52 surrounding the contexts in the middle and having relatively low artifact content could lead to the hypothesis that this was the “natural” soil, and contexts JBH 48 and the ones below it were man-made depositions. Unidentifiable metal Cut nails 1791 – 19002 Brick fragments Shell 1 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates. 2 Edwards and Wells

JBH 54 Find Date Mortar Ridged piece of molded glass (corresponding to piece found in JBH 48) Asphalt with cobblestone 1700 s – Present 1 JBH 54 1871 – present 2 Unit 5 JBH 48 JBH 52 Small shard of slate Concrete with gravel JBH 54 JBH 52 Brick pieces Whiteware 1830 – present 3 5 x 5 thin flat metal piece Cut nails 1791 – 19004 Cut spike 1798 – 18474 4. 5 cm finishing nail 1900 – present 4 1 Parks Canada Glass Glossary 2 CNEHA, “Telling Time in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century” 3 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates. 4 Edwards and Wells • No distinct break with JBH 48 • Still high gravel content, but sandier, denser soil, more tightly packed around the stones • No longer high content of architectural rubble • Same large stones and patches of mortar seen in Unit 5 begin to appear, especially in North side of context

JBH 61 – Feature 3 Find Date Mortar Bricks Red Tiles (1 cm thick) Green glass Earthenware JBH 52 JBH 61 JBH 52 1490 – 19001 Flat Iron Pieces (architectural? ) Cut nails 1791 – 19002 Plastic Report Cover Sliding Bar 1984 – present 3 Slab of marble • Wall-like feature composed of sizeable rocks • Same as feature found in Unit 5 1 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates. 2 Edwards and Wells 3 Giblin, et al. , March 1986, U. S. patent number 4, 575, 123

Problematic TPQ date… http: //static. www. odcdn. com/pictures/us/od/sk/lg/42 9258_sk_lg. jpg

Potentially Explaining the Anomaly The path was destroyed during the construction of the parking lot in the North side of the yard. The exact date for the construction of the parking lot (and destruction of the path) is unknown. The most recent proposal plan for the parking lot dates to 1964, and an undated map found in a box with a label dating up through 1988 shows the parking lot in place on the property. 1 Potentially, the destruction of the path and construction of the parking lot disturbed JBH 61, and the plastic binder clip was deposited at that time. 1 JBH 48 could be the gravel and rubble remaining from the path which was not successfully removed from the site (assuming that the majority of the gravel was removed) 1 Personal Correspondance with Julie Pridham

The Unit in Summary • JBH 61 is fairly clearly some sort of architectural feature – potentially a wall or part of a foundation. Given the location of the unit in relation to what we know about the location of the former Hale Ives House, this feature was likely associated with that structure.

JBH 46: Modern topsoil layer JBH 48: Archaeological and photographic evidence to support the hypothesis that the gravel and rubble fill of JBH 48 is the remnants of a gravel path which ran through the yard. This path was most likely built by Marsden Perry, following the demolition of the Hale Ives House in the 1920 s. JBH 52: Relatively undisturbed “natural” soil, based on appearance on both sides of the path/wall contexts JBH 54: Potentially bottom layer of path or just soil layer underlying path JBH 61: Wall feature, potentially part of Hale Ives House – problematic TPQ date, potentially explained by disturbance during construction of parking lot