Friday, May 28, 2010

We're going to need a locksmith!

Hi folks!
As Jim mentioned on Monday we recovered a large padlock from our excavations around Burch House. It is possible that this is the padlock for the Port Tobacco jail, as Washington Burch was the jailer and may have ended up with it after the jail closed.


This is the sort of interesting item all of us like to pull out of the screen at Port Tobacco! It would be great if we could conserve it.

Have a great weekend!
Kelley

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

A Rocky Vacation






Greetings all -


While today's blog doesn't have to do with an archaeological site directly, it does have to do with the future of archaeology...

(DU Campus)

I just returned from a three day visit to Denver Colorado where I will be attending graduate school in the fall to get my Masters in Anthropology at the University of Denver.

(Sturm Hall - my new home!)


I met with staff, professors and students during my visit. Everyone seems to be very focused and energetic about all aspects of Anthropology and Archaeology. I look forward to spending the next two years there gaining a better understanding of it all for myself.




(The Rocky Mountains)

They have several superb professors at DU focusing on things ranging from colonialism in Mozambique, WWII Japanese internment camps, ground-penetrating radar, and the archaeology of place and identity to name a few.

I leave at the end of August and will post updates on my progress when I can...as will Kelley down at William & Mary.

See you in the trenches soon I hope...including tomorrow, Thursday May 27th at the Burch House!!



- Peter

Monday, May 24, 2010

Saturday Lab

The Saturday lab was very successful, the six volunters having washed all of the material excavated the previous week. We'll be digging again Tuesday and Thursday and washing in front of the courthouse Saturday.

In other news, Jane donated several brand new hand tools and expendable materials to the project. Thank you Jane. Also, during the Saturday lab, we cleaned a large padlock that likely was from the jail house...Washington Burch was the jailer for several years before the new jail opened in La Plata. Hopefully, I'll get an image up on tomorrow's blog.

Jim