Featured artifact: The Graeme's Tin-Glazed Tiles

The most exciting find of the excavation so far revealed itself yesterday morning.  While I was digging, a small piece of tin-glazed ceramic popped out of the soil.  As I examined it, it struck me as very familiar for two reasons: (1) I had found similar pieces of it in a previous unit and (2) it has a small portion of the hand-painted design on it that looked like the tiles from the two upstairs bedrooms in the Keith House.  As the day progressed, I found about 10 more pieces of the same ceramic type, some plain and others decorated.  When I came home later that day, I looked at the picture I took of the reproduction tiles that currently adorn the two bedroom fireplaces.

The  colors were similar as well as the patterns and design (from what I could discern from the sherds).  This morning, I revisited the Keith house and looked at the three original tiles that are displayed in Dr. Keith's bedroom.  Much to my excitement, the artifacts were an exact match to the original tiles!  By the end of the day, I had found about 6 or 7 more pieces for a total of 18 sherds.  Additionally, the last piece I found fit with one of the larger pieces I found yesterday.

The sherds were found in what I believe is Penrose period trash.  It was found with other types of ceramics, glass, animal bones and nails that date later than Elizabeth's time at the house.  It seems as though the tile(s) was broken and discarded with other trash.  The tile date to the Graeme period, however.  It is quite amazing to discover artifacts that not only can be definitively dated to EGF's era, but that were once displayed in her and her father's bedrooms.  

For more information on tin-glaze earthenware, visit:

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/portroyal/tinglaze/index.htm

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/ceramics/pages/category.asp?cat_name=Tin%20glazed%20wares&cat_id=710

Stay tuned for more updates!

Excavation is underway!

We broke ground in the formal garden on May 31st, 2012.  The first unit, Unit A, was placed near the Keith house where the GPR survey identified a potential buried wall.  With the help of my friends and fellow graduate students Matt and Nydia, we were able to uncover part of the original 18th century garden wall!

This picture shows the closing, or end, of the first level (facing north).  You can begin to see some stones poking through the soil.

Here is the closing of level 3.  More stones are appearing as well as larger pieces of brick.

The western and eastern sides of the unit had different soils so we excavated them separately.  As we excavated, the wall became much more defined.  

Some of the larger rocks were still stuck together with mortar and large pieces of brick were found alongside the stones.  It is still unclear whether or not the brick was part of the original wall or whether it was from the garden walkways.  Because many of the chunks of brick were glazed, it is possible that these decorative bricks were part of the garden wall.  

Artifacts such as ceramic, glass, animal bones and teeth, nails, buttons and even the head of a spoon was found in this unit.  However, it seems that these artifacts date more to the Penrose period than Elizabeth's.  The Penrose family dismantled many of the Graeme's outbuildings and repurposed the materials for their own construction.  It can be assumed that the same thing happened to the garden walls.  As a result, the garden wall was dismantled, the stones and brick that was desired was removed, and soil full of Penrose-era "garbage" was dumped into the pit that was once the garden wall.  However, after further analysis it may be possible that some of the artifacts date to Elizabeth's occupation of the property.  

It was very difficult digging through the stones.  Although I decided to move on to a new unit, I may return to it in the future to determine the depth of the wall.  

Below are pictures of some of the artifacts after they were cleaned:

From left to right (top): Redware, animal bone, animal bone, window glass, mirror glass

From left to right (bottom): Yellowware, yellowware, transferware, transferware, brick, bottle glass

The quarter is there for scale.

More information about this unit and the others will shortly follow!  Many thanks to my volunteers for all of their hard work! 

Please email me if you have any questions about this excavation or Graeme Park in general.