The letter from the Principal Investigator

(Dick really wrote this. I did add hyphens and stuff, though. LJ)

SCRAP Field School 2005, Manchester NH

First there were the carbide rods, seemingly innocuous black crayon-like creatures that proliferated like hornworms on the tomato plants. Then there was the slag patch that expanded like a black glacier, engulfing square meters and even a carbide rod or two. Cradling these were the utility trenches, reaching meters deep into the deposits. These all blanketed a rather attractive--but culturally sterile-- rust- and yellow-rippled glacial lake bottom. Within this first half of the site was a rather nice though stratigraphically jumbled collection of very attractive prehistoric potsherds, and some rather good chipped stone tools, including some relatively long drill fragments and a few Archaic points. Such was the first session of the 2005 SCRAP Field School. We managed to establish our excavation grid, though not without completing the balding process of the field school director, and establishing a strategy for investigating what is the last remnant of the Neville Site in Manchester, NH. The weather gods were kind this year, delivering only one notable rainstorm just to establish their primacy in the cosmic order of things, and leaving a remarkable stretch of nice, warm, sunny weather (OK, OK it was a wretched spate of stifling hot, muggy weather but it is not good to speak ill of them).

Session Two saw us migrate south to the midsection of the parcel to execute a more conventional (at least for this unreconstructed prehistoric archaeologist) excavation. We started with a modified checkerboard approach of six one meter pits. We anchored the main line on a STP dug in December 2004 that identified a deep deposit with “a possible pit feature” in the west wall. The placement of the line of four test pits proved fortuitous: we did indeed follow a pit feature deep into the deposits and the line of pits turned into a seven meter long trench. In an unprecedented exhibit of good fortune, one of the early 20th century utility trenches managed to miss the trench almost completely (it nipped a wedge out of a couple of squares). The excavation of the seven-meter trench, with an adjacent mini-block to the west, proved to be an exceptional challenge: the slope (typically 25%) was oriented diagonally to the grid, necessitating the most exacting elevation control ever used on any SCRAP excavation. Line levels proved inadequate to the task and we ran back to the warmth and security of our beloved (though noisy to some) laser leveler.
The leveler prompted one of the more interesting interludes in the Field School. It seems that its similarity to a Total Data Station (laser transit for those of you who have not had to stand in traffic with a prism-on-a-stick) attracted a sargeant in the NH National Guard. She stopped her official government car in the southbound travel lane and got out to recruit surveyors for the Guard. She was only momentarily deterred when she learned that we were archaeologists and not surveyors, but she soldiered on with promises of signing bonuses and relief of college loans. Our ability to dig holes apparently was an acceptable substitute for road building skills.
Speaking of digging, we proceeded to sift the finest sand (literally) ever encountered on a SCRAP excavation. We eventually settled on using just two sifters to support a dozen or more excavators. While the sand sifted easily, it paid us off mostly in tiny flakes and even tinier pot crumbs. We were not without some very interesting finds however; the most prominent were a pair of delicately incised rimsherds from small, Late Prehistoric or Contact Period, vessels. Recovery of these prompted the expansion to the west of the seven-meter trench.

The third session carried on with the pursuit of the trench and adjacent block. The 'possible pit feature' identified in December turned into an extremely deep pit that morphed at last into one a very large rodent burrow. It could have completely held any two of the crew with room left over for the asphalt fragments that populated the lowest levels.
On the other hand, we recovered a trio of small glass beads from the trench and adjacent block that were recovered in squares adjacent to the incised sherds mentioned above. We still await feedback from colleagues expert in such materials, but it seems that we may have a small Contact Period component layered on top of a Woodland and Late Archaic deposit. We also pushed further south with a group of shovel test pits in the wooded portion of the parcel. Here we found poison ivy, roots, ceramics, roots, debitage, roots, an Archaic quartz point, roots and at the base of one pit a two inch iron water line. Oh, and some roots too. We also identified some contemporary rodent burrow entrances with sufficient amounts of soil kicked out to persuasively argue that these critters were lineal descendants of the rodents that constructed the mega-burrow at the south end of the trench. The upshot is that, while there is disturbance in the south end of the parcel, undisturbed components are present also. The excavations wound down with the bottoming-out of finds anywhere from half a meter to a meter in depth. Backfilling was accomplished mostly by sand bucket brigade in relatively short order. Our parting gesture was to reseed the devastated lawn in the north section of the site and to replenish the now grubby bark mulch around the tree and shrubs.

Throughout the Field School we operated the lab at our Concord facility. Here participants came to learn not only basic cataloging and analytical techniques, but also the consequences of “creative” completion of field forms and bag tags. Suffice it to say that many lessons taught in the field were learned in the lab.

We enjoyed many visitors through the summer, most notable were Gene Winter, who persuaded Harvard University into publishing the Neville Site monograph; Ken Rhodes one of the three principal (and only surviving) excavators of the Neville Site and Dena Dincauze the author of that monograph. Alice Kelly from the University of Maine accompanied by Karen Mack-Piacentini (SCRAP alumna from the early years) also visited and took soil samples to evaluate the very very very fine sands. We also had visits (or at least close sightings) of herons, Peregrine Falcons, the occasional tick and one very fat woodchuck. And then there were the tourists and commuters. It is fair to say that we observed quite a range of behavior on the part of passing motorists, some of whom actually traveled at or below the speed limit.

All in all we had a good summer and we met the dual objectives of training students in the art of archaeology in an urban environment as well as gathering information to assess the significance of the parcel. The lab work will continue through the fall.

In closing, I want to thank the entire crew for their hard work, patience and cheerfulness through the summer with special thanks to Jen, Field Supervisor; Laura, Lab Supervisor; Mark, SCRAP cartographer and Lauren, Julia and Amanda, Interns.




2005 SCRAP Field School Logo – Answering the question – Why do archaeologists cross the road?