The Fiske Center Blog

Weblog for the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Despite threat of poison ivy, the search for Deb Newman continues undeterred

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After adjusting our strategy for the remainder of the season, our STP survey took us across the street, where the foundation of Lewis Ellis’s home beckoned through the poison ivy. Drs. Trigg and Bolender, Sam, and myself faced the task of marking off the STPs without getting poison ivy on the tapes or ourselves. In an ideal world this would be possible with the aid of a Total Station- our particular model can find the stadia rod all on its own, with minimal human prodding- but with our line of sight blocked by the trees we did it the old-fashioned way, by pacing off every 10 M with tapes. Naturally this entailed dragging them straight through poison ivy, which is why the tapes are now stored in their own bag in a separate bucket until we clean the equipment at the end of the project.

Jessica gets coordinate information from the Total Station

Jessica gets coordinate information from the Total Station

Sam checks the line of sight

Sam checks the line of sight

Back across the street we have officially designated the area around the “barn” as a brand new site because the area doesn’t fall into either of the 1727 allotments of either Deb Newman and Lewis Ellis. Other potential uses for the enclosure include a meeting-house or schoolhouse for the seven Nipmuc families at Hassanamesit in the 18th century, making it even more important that any units dug in this area be given a separate designation in our records.
Dr. Trigg has begun coring inside the enclosure to find the best places for taking soil samples. Like the phosphate analysis she will conduct for the lambing pen, testing these samples will help us narrow down the possible uses for the enclosure.

Dr. Trigg examines a soil core sample

Dr. Trigg examines a soil core sample

Dr. Trigg removes another sample while Carolyn (middle) places a flag in the previous one and Janice (left) prepares to do the same

Dr. Trigg removes another sample while Carolyn (middle) places a flag in the previous one and Janice (left) prepares to do the same

Author: Jessica Rymer

Jessica Rymer is a historical archaeologist currently in the MA program at UMass Boston. She has dug at sites in Sicily, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Her interests include the archaeology of smoking, public archaeology, and heritage management.

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