Mini-Video: Meet Dave Watt--Waterscreening, Take 2

David Watt explains waterscreening, too.

Mini-Video: Meet Helen Brandt--artifact washing

Why Ceramics?

Archaeologists spend a lot of our time discussing ceramics but it is not always clear to those listening why that may be such an important part of our research. On our site this year we have found a variety of ceramics some smaller than a penny and some as large as our fists but each of these sherds can provide information about the people who lived and worked on this landscape. There are a variety of reasons that ceramics are vital to archaeology including but not limited to their potential for social and household interpretations.

Each time you pick up a ceramic sherd you can potentially learn about the type of vessel (form), the purpose of that vessel, what kinds of decorations graced the body and how this vessel was made. These types of information can help archaeologists learn about the household and how it functions. One important piece of information that ceramics can provide is information on gender roles within a household. In Cherokee society women held much of the control over ceramics because they created the vessels. Theda Perdue (1998) in her book Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, describes the vessels made by women as pitchers, bowls, dishes, basins and platters. Most of the vessels we have examined in our lab time and in the field have been bowls of varying sizes.

Ceramic sherds can also provides us with information about how vessels are made, for example temper or coiled versus hand formed. We have learned quite a bit this summer about the different types of temper that are common in ceramics for our region. We have had the opportunity to examine shell tempering, grit tempering and sand tempering. Looking at all of these types of tempering has been interesting because it gives us a better idea of how these pots were made and where the materials may have been coming from.

Ceramics are also vital to archaeology because of their presence in the archaeological record. Ceramics simply preserve well in most contexts and are relatively fragile during use. This seemingly contradictory fact makes ceramics both easily destructible, getting deposited in the archaeological record frequently, and well preserved. This good preservation is great for archaeologists because it provides us with a wealth of information about households and social relations within a community or even a region.

Day 11 - Welcome to the Lab

We're shifting into high gear with lab analysis, as the students work to analyze some of the materials (currently ceramics) collected at the site. So I decided (that's me in the video below, the lab director) to give a brief intro to our laboratory. I hope to show some of the students' analysis work, and perhaps some of their conclusions, at a future date.

Day 6 and 7 - Groundbreaking! (Excavation Begins)

By B. Smith

After a week of surveying and learning about some of the background history and prehistory of northeastern Tennessee, the students were finally ready to start breaking ground on the Yellow Cabin Site. Excavations this year will focus primarily on the area around last year's Operation 1, unit number 20 South 21 East, which produced some curious features filled with charcoal. On Monday the students started out helping to measure out 2X2 meter grids, which were subsequently subdivided into 1X1 meter grids to be converted into test units.

Measuring out a grid, and double-checking appropriate point distances with the hypotenuse.

Altogether, six units were parceled out for excavation - one per student, and an additional unit to be worked on by both lab director Dr. Jeb Card, and field director Burton Smith. After the students received their designated 1X1 test units, they began the arduous task of clearing off excess brush and tall grass off of the surface.

Clearing the surface.

Once the units were all reasonably cleared, the students assisted in shooting in elevation points in their units with the total station.

Holding the stadia rod and prism in place.

By Tuesday morning, students were ready to establish their datums and start digging down 5 centimeters to the bottom of their first level. Since the surface soil was plow zone and choked with thick roots, this task was accomplished through the use of shovels for skimming, with some troweling to smooth out the floor. The students struggled through the roots, but all managed to finish their first level by the end of the day. They even managed to bag, pack up, and haul away all of the dry-screened soil from their individual units, to be water-screened at a later date.

All students were able to finish their levels before the end of the day.

The plow zone at the Yellow House Site represents a completely disturbed context that can extend below the surface to about 20 or 25 centimeters. In spite of this decontextualized soil horizon, artifacts found here can still give clues to the nature of cultural activity preserved below the plow zone line. Students collectively uncovered several artifacts - sand or grit-tempered ceramic sherds, lithic flakes made from local chert, fire-cracked rocks, as well as the occasional artifact of more recent periods (plastic). Not bad for the first day!

Two examples of some of our first finds of the season - a couple of small ceramic sherds.

The students definitely deserve praise - they've worked very hard and diligently, and have been very productive with the time allotted for excavating. With any luck, we may yet be able to finish these first sets of units and open up new units around last year's Operation 5, unit number 20 South 15 East, which produced a series of small post holes.