Archaeological Dig: Week 4

The dig went quite well this week, despite the temperatures. I think that Tuesday will go down as the hottest day so far. We are fairly certain it was close to 100 degrees. My sunburn has finally turned into a tan and my shoulders are peeling from the severe burn of two weeks ago, I am keeping them covered until they heal.

I found some amazing items this week, I can't wait to share them with you!

Here is a picture of what we are finding most of: NAILS, lots and lots of nails of all shapes and sizes

House #2 (the one we are currently excavating) has more nails than anyone thought possible, even the lead archaeologists. We think that this house must have been completely disassembled before being moved and that the nails were simply discarded on the ground. We typically find nails within the first 1-3 cms.

My amazing find #1: A porcelain doll hand!

This is the first evidence we have that a little girl might have lived or visited the area!

Notice the thumb on the north side of the hand and the fingers are slightly chopped off.

My amazing find #2: (no picture) a woman's black garment button

I didn't get a picture of this before it was cataloged and carried off. It was just a simple black button, but it was so delicate and small that it was most assuredly a woman's button.

My amazing find #3: (no picture) a pocket knife

Again, this was so fragile and so rare, they carried it off before I got a chance to photograph it.

My amazing find #4: a door hinge

There is a group of historical architects who are working on recreating/restoring an Officer's House for display at Fort Yamhill (hopefully on top of the footprint/foundation of the original). This find will excite them because they will officially know what the door hinges looked like! No guessing needed!

Some other terrific finds this week (which I did not have anything to do with) are: a marble, a complete crystal goblet, several parts of an iron stove, an aqua colored bottle and some Navy items (which is super interesting since this was an Army post).