June 30th - Deb's ALLTOP blog

A day to do some fun things and to study some Algebra and take a look at some of the wonderful links on Alltop.  Here is my Alltop.  I have selected a lot of history, anthropology and archaeology.

Enjoy!

http://my.alltop.com/deb

June 29th

Still busy with Algebra but I am very lucky to have Barb Wedow from the Math lab helping me get through things.  I went to do some home work and on the way home my beautiful 2000 Audi TT died on the way home.  The good news is that it is just the alternator.  So this post is admittedly off topic..but a 2000 year car with only about 31,000 miles is a bit of piece of automotive archaeology.  Standing and waiting for a tow truck in 100 degree heat on pavement was not as nice as standing at our dig site.

Enjoy this link about some old British cave art.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/?p=2428

June 28th

Well I have been busy going to Algebra school so I havent had a chance to stp by. Here are some cool links for today. I like the Menorah story!

 http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/archaeology_and_anthropology/index.html

June 24th - Dead Sea Scrolls

Here is a link to some interesting information on the Dead Sea Scrolls and much more!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/d/dead_sea_scrolls.htm

Some more photos from the Sabate Dig.

June 22st Archaeology Headlines

http://www.archaeology.org/news/

June 21st Minorcans

I decided to use this blog to link some cool archaeology sites. We were working on a household site of a Minorcan named Pablo Sabate. Here is some Minorcan history. http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/FHO/Minorcans/NorthBeach.htm

June 20th - a cool story

Another good link.

http://archaeology.about.com/

June 18 decided to keep this open unit the Doc is ready for his next dig

My intent is to just link some cool archeaology articless to read for fun.  Mybe even some anthropology.

Here goes....

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/arts/16iht-melikian16.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss


Enjoy!

June 6th - The End..but to be continued!

This blog will continue with the next dig.  As mentioned previously we had a wonderful time, learned an amazing amount of information in a short period of time and formed life long relationships.  Hat tip to our esteemed leader...Doctor Locascio. He sure taught us a lot.

One very interesting item of interest that we found was a perfume bottle that had a label of "Isaac D. Edrehi". It turns out that Isaac had a shady past and murdered his son and almost murdered his wife.  Here is an article about it.  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A02E0D7113BE033A25750C1A9639C94659FD7CF

It is pretty exciting to end the blog with a murder story connected to something we found on the dig.


This blog will continue when Doc. L does his next dig...so stay tuned!  It's been a blast!

May 31st - Thursday

Last day.  We mapped, profiled and used our muscle to back fill all the holes.  After we finished the joint looked as if we had never been there.  That is the idea behind our work.

After we finished at the site, we said a fond farewell, went home, got cleaned up and went to Deb Shaw's house for the best cook out ever.

Working hard together has given us a life long bond.  What a great dig!

May 30th - Wednesday

We are winding down and cleaning artifacts mapping and backfilling.  We had the time of our lives and learned so much!  We are all so grateful to Doc L.

May 29th - Tuesday

It was a very wet dig. Unit 2.3 continued to level the ground. Other open units continued to dig.
Many of us spent most of the time screening dirt in the pouring rain.  It was messy and cold.  Doc L. seemed very used to working in the pouring rain and is a good role model to us.

Each unit has started to gather information and report on their individual units.

May 28th - Monday

Washed artifacts at Dr. Locascio's house. We had doughnuts because washing is hard work and of course coffee. We talked about our papers which will be a report for each unit rolled into one.

We found out our very nice volunteer Nick, broke his ankle when he feel into unit 3 last week.

We are really sorry Nick!

Pictures from Dig

 Dr. L. showing us stratigraphy.

 Looking at the walls.

 Halee and Nick

Deb Digging.

Emily digging.

Nick and Eddie

Profiling with Will, Doc, Kelly Halee, Nick

Lorenzo with musket ball

 Brandy

Nick

May 25th Friday - Flagler College Archaeology Field School.

A little history:

http://www.unf.edu/floridahistoryonline/FHO/Minorcans/NorthBeach.html

I am more of a clam chowdah (New England) person, but here is some information of our Minorcan Clam chowder.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Chowder/MinorcanChowder.htm

Lots of sun, sweating and cleaning up each unit to get rid of loose dirt to map and photograph. We are winding down and visited the Spanish Quarter today to look at old walls. It helps put our dig in context.

Bon weekend!

May 24th Thursday - Flagler College Archaeology Field School

Hot and humid again today but that is to be expected.  We took a side trip to see the Ximenez Fatio house to look at the walls.  We are probably the digging through the same sort of materials at the Sabate site.

http://www.ximenezfatiohouse.org/

We found some sort of feature in unit 5 at level 7B.  We will know more today, but it looks like a post hole due to the darkness of the dirt.

Units 1 and 2 expanding their dig area and going through shell and glass.

The city archaeologist (Carl Halbirt) and one of his helpers named Moses came to weigh in on some of our areas including looking at feature discovery in unit 5.

May 23rd Flagler College Archaeology Field School Dig

It was sunny, hot and humid.  In other words typical Florida weather.  The people from Unit 3 moved to units 1 and 2 and 5 to help.  We are getting our sea legs because the terrain and layout from unit 3 is very different. It is good to change to see how different the challenges of digging in those units are. There is a lot of floor and coquina.

I got the feeling that the heavy scraping of the coquina and the humidity slowed us all down today.  Nick C.'s mom came through for us and brought frozen lemonade and strawberries.  Wow...it really gave us a second wind.

We have a guest expert archaeology friend of Doc. L.'s named Will and it is wonderful to listen to his expertise.  We are very lucky. We have Doc. L, Carl Halbirt, (the city archaeologist), and Will mentoring us and sharing their knowledge.  What a gift!

May 22nd Flagler College Archaeology Field School

Did he say "Don't forget to bring a trowel"? :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx5AgLWtSMo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Unit 3 has hit sterile dirt and we are finished with that dig ending at 134 cm above sea level down 8 levels. Some very interesting artifacts were found and we learned so much about field methods.  It is a great feeling to start at top soil and learn methods of archaeology and discover the items the Sabate's used.

We all went out to lunch after the dig and it was awesome.  We have become peers, friends and a team!

May 21st Flagler College Archaeology Field School.

So proud of Doc L’s. fledgling archaeologists. In two short weeks we have learned so much. Who would have thought that we could identify so many different types of ceramics in just two weeks? Each unit looks neat and tidy with walls and levels that have been carefully combed through with careful notations of the artifacts found and the levels we are at. It is so interesting to begin to see the context of the rooms, hearths and outsides areas and how they relate to each other.

The weather has been perfect and we are learning and feel like one big team now. 

We had two guests giving us a hand today. Young Emily, and Doc L’s friend, archaeology guru Will joined us.

Carl Halbirt (the city archaeologist) comes by to see what we are finding and is able to identify odd bits that we find.

We are starting to learn good methods of fieldwork and see the big picture.  It is no longer the “Sabate” site but rather we can see the family of Pablo Sabate and hope to learn more about him and the Minorcans. The inside and outside parts of the complex become more evident to us. It is all very exciting.

Unit 1 - Hit more floor and found a very interesting belt buckle.
Unit 2 - Digging out 2.2 and finding glass, charcoal, marble at Canova level and an 1895 penny.
Unit 3 - Some interesting crock and ceramic a lot less metal. Color change but not sterile sand yet.
Unit 4 - Tabby not sterile sand yet. They run the gamut from Jiancinto wall (First Spanish) to Sabate.

Deb

May 18th Flagler College Archaeology Field School

Friday is wash day. We all sit with bowls of water and toothbrushes and wash all of the metal, ceramic, and glass that we found. We then weigh all the shells that we have found. Judging from our garbage, the Sabates' ate a lot of oysters!

Our very nice Dr. L. bought doughnuts for us to eat while we were washing.

The best part of Friday's is that we are all together in a small area rather than digging apart from each other. It's a really fun day and great class. We all went out to lunch today.

This is a fabulous class, leader and hands on learning experience!

May 17th Flagler College Archaeology Field School

We are digging at the Minorcan property of Pablo Sabate.

There are 4 dig units and we are all finding some very interesting items.  The unit that I am working in appears to be external to the other units and more of a garbage pit.

The book that we are reading during the dig to learn more about the Minorcans in St. Augustine is "Mullet On The Beach" by Patricia C. Griffin.  I truly hope that our dig might add to our knowledge of the Minorcans in St. Augustine.

http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=GRIFFF91

Today we wash our artifacts.

The Unit One Chronicles

A not so long time ago, in an archaeological dig not too far away...


      Unit one consists of myself (Nicholas Campbell), Eddie Lawton, and Kelly Sejeck.  Our unit is interesting in that we are currently digging out part of the hearth at the Sabate residence as well as defining the floor of one of the rooms.  We currently have a 1.5 meter North X 2.0 meter East unit dug out, in it we have defined a wall, floor, and hearth of the Sabate residence. 

We made the St. Augustine Record!

Garbage is good!

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2012-05-16/students-archaeologists-learn-garbage-good#.T7TZB2t5mK0

May 16th Flagler College Archaeology Field School

Our overcast day turned into a rainy wet day on the site. We covered up units 3 and 4 and continued working under a tarp on units 1 and 2.

Carl Halbirt the city Archeaologist came to unit 3 before the rain started and helped us remove the plaster of the turtle shell. He hammered a metal plate under the turtle to keep it intact and the whole plaster rested on the plate to be lifted out by two people.

This turned out to be a good experience to see exactly what the other units are doing and to add context to what we are doing in unit 3. It gave us the opportunity to get a bigger picture of the dig.

It is amazing to see what we have learned in a short period of time. Everyone understands the importance of the very careful methods we are using to record what we are finding and how it relates to the multi cultures that have occupied the site.

May 15th Flagler College Archaeology Field School

We all took turns going to see the dig at Hypolita Street. This is deeper than our units. The city Archaeolgist and volunteers are working at the site which was closer to the sea and as Toni Wallace explained "closer to the outside wall of the first Spanish occupation."

The turtle in unit 3 was plastered today to perserve it.
Units 1 and 4 found floors in their units.
Unit 2 has some nice creamware!

May 14th Flagler College Archaeology Field School

We didn't have the key today so we scaled the fence. Hat tip to Nick Pearce and Eddie for getting me over the spikes!

Unit 1 is not sure exactly what they have..lots of Bricks.
Unit 2 found some really interesting ceramic with blue transfer.
Unit 3 found lots of construction materials. Coquina, tabby, etc. Possibly from destruction of Sabate house.
Unit 4 excavated to 2009 floor rubble from Canova house.

Flagler College Archaeology Field School

May 11th Flagler College Archaeology Program Field School

Just a short update.

Ok..I think this is the handle we decided on but we can check with Doc L. " Flagler College Archaeology Program Field School." We had an adventure yesterday when we decided to wash our artifacts but had no water.  So off we went to Deb Shaw's hours to scrub our finds.

I think we have some lovely nails and shards but there were some issues with ink getting wet on the bags.  I believe I have every thing in the correct unit and level.  I do have a few items with no tags so perhaps someone can identify them.

All in all a good time was had by all. I will bring the items to the site on Monday.

I will be sending you a  link to google blogger tutorial soon and I will attach our little video from yesterday. I will take a swag at starting a blog that we can all contribute too.

See you Monday!

May 10th Flager College Archaeology Program Field School

May 10^th 2012

All at the Flagler College Archaeology Program had a good day.  It was a little cooler and we used just the trowels and did a lot of sifting.  The fair skin people at Unit 1 had a tarp today so they did not burn as badly.  Having been focused on the unit that my team is excavating, I wanted to talk to the teams digging other pits.  We are finding some interesting items in each it.

Unit one team is Eddie Lawton and Nick Campel and Kelly Sejec was our volunteer at that site. The unit started uncovering a hearth and found a good amount of artifacts such as bone metal shell, some Native American pottery shards, ceramic, bullet casings and glass. The team also ran into a lot of coquina ad a bag covering the hearth. Unit 1 is at 1.91 meters and 20 cm down. They have been spending time cleaning the hearth.  They may be at a wall.

 Nick Pearce and Halee Grimes and volunteers are digging unit 2.  They have found a ton of pipe stems and ceramics. (Maybe it was an old designated smoking area!) They are finding some cool ceramics too.

Untit 3 is Me (Deb Shaw) Brandy Ham and Lorenzo Deagle.  We have found a lot of old nails, some ceramic and a very cool sea turtle. We believe we are in the Sabate Mionorcan level.

We are getting filthy dirty, learning how to keep things pristine and record meticulously, we are all having a wonderful time but learning so much by having a hands on real experience rather than reading a book.

Tomorrow we will wash the dirt off our finds. I have some pictures too which hopefully we can do this quickly and get it to pop in a search.  The formatting and pictures will fall into place when we are more familiar with blogger.

May 9th Day 3 of Doc L.'s Dig at Flagler College Archaeology Program Field School

May 9th 2012 All at the Flager College Archaeology Program Field School had a good day. It was a little cooler and we used just the trowels and did a lot of sifting.  The fair skin people at Unit 1 had a tarp today so they did not burn as badly. Having been focused on the unit that my team is excavating, I wanted to talk to the teams digging other pits.  We are finding some interesting items in each it.

 Unit one team is Eddie Lawton and Nick Campel and Kelly Sejec was our volunteer at that site. The unit started uncovering a hearth and found a good amount of artifacts such as bone metal shell, some Native American pottery shards, ceramic, bullet casings and glass. The team also ran into a lot of coquina and a bag covering the hearth. They are at 1.91 meters and 20 cm down. They have been spending time cleaning the hearth. The team may be at a wall.

 Nick Pearce and Halee Grimes and volunteers are digging unit 2. They have found a ton of pipe stems and ceramics. (Maybe it was an old designated smoking area!) They are finding some cool ceramics too.

 Untit 3 is Me (Deb Shaw) Brandy Ham and Lorenzo Deagle.  We have found a lot of old nails, some ceramic and a very cool sea turtle. We believe we are in the Sabate Mionorcan level. We are getting filthy dirty, learning how to keep things pristine and record meticulously, we are all having a wonderful time but learning so much by having a hands on real experience rather than reading a book. Tomorrow we will wash the dirt off our finds. I have more information in turning our updates into a blog.  I have some pictures too Hopefully we can do this quickly and get it to pop in a search. 

May 8th second day of Flagler College Archaeology Program Field School

May 8th 2012 -  The Big Dig Begins Just an FYI, I am speaking with IT and others on what tool we should use to create a blog to capture our experience. I copied you on some bits from yesterday but today I would like to name names as it were. I am so grateful to the amazing "real" archaeology mentors/volunteers that we had shepherding us through the field method learning process. I feel as if we hit the jackpot with the people that have given us their time and knowledge. Clearly  their passion is to share their knowledge and to help us carry the torch and be best in class. So a heartfelt thank you to our mentors:

•  Toni Wallace 
• Dr. Jessica Veenstra 
• Carl Lindenfeld 
• Nick McAulaffe 
• Matt Armstrong  

Thank you all.  You have been patient, kind, and enthusiastic. You all are incredible and have a knack for sharing knowledge and more importantly sharing  your infectious passion. We are grateful to learn from people like you. I don't have the emails yet for our mentors so if someone does have them...please forward our appreciation.  We are grateful!

 Now, I would like to mention our fearless leader and wonderful Professor.  We all see that he cares about each and every one of us and has the patience of Job.  Hat tip to Dr. Bill Locascio.  Thank you for showing us how to do things the right way!!

 Team Doc L consists of:

•  Lorenzo Deagle 
• Brandy Ham 
• Nicholas Campbell 
• Nick Pearce 
• Eddie Lawton 
• Halee Grimes 
• Deb Shaw 

 A small but powerful team. I see great finds in our future and a lifelong bond because we have learned that it is hard work sweating, and swinging a pick axe and shoveling and screening dirt in 90 degrees of humidity. We are the "Doc Locascio's Dirt Dogs".

 Update for today.  We started the big dig. There are 3 teams and 3 areas. The mentors started an area as well so we have a total of 4 areas to dig in. Between all of us we found Pottery, Old Nails, Glass, Pipe Stems, Bullet casings, and one site found San Marco pottery shards which is very old Native American pottery, a Flint, and a metal pulley. Our plots are very nicely formed and squared and put to bed for the night with a plastic blanket. We worked hard, learned a lot and got a ton of exercise swinging picks and shovels.  At one point I think I had the vapors. I think we are learning but having a blast at the same time.  It doesn't get better than that. I also have some nice pics that I have posted on facebook.  Send a friend request to Deb Shaw from the Boston or AOL network if you wish to see the daily pics.  I sent some tweets out during the dig and if anyone has a twitter account lets keep sending tweets. I attached pics to the tweets. You can follow DebjShaw on Twitter. Best quote of the day, Halee Grimes...."I feel dusty.". :) See you tomorrow if I can move. Deb

May 7th Day One Flagler College Archaeology Program Field School

Dr. Locascio started us out in the class room to give us the big picture of field tasks (concepts, field tasks and an overview of the history of the Minorcans) and he explained the importance of the Minorcans in St. Augustine. The land that we are digging in was the location of the minorcan household of Pablo Sabate. It is very exciting to perhaps be able to gather more knowledge of the history of the Minorcans in St. Augustine. We will be drawing, digging and most importantly, washing artifacts and recording our findings.  The site is a multi-cultural site that may garner relics from the first Spanish occupation to Minorcan and later Spanish habitation. We also talked about dry or cold climates preserving finds better such as the bog people in he UK. We walked over to the Sabate site. We talked about the importance of finding and recording finds in context to show the precise location of where an artifact is found.  Dr. Locascio showed us the stratigraphy (layers of earth) where different cultures lived. We pegged out three areas to explore more throughly starting tomorrow. A lot of information on methods was  disseminated but the most important take away was Dr. Locascio's words of wisdom "It's not what you find, but rather what you find out." We had a great time and learned a lot. The class is small but diverse.  It was a really fun day!  I'll send you a couple of pictures.  Let's keep it's going.