The Fiske Center Blog

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

March 28, 2017
by Dennis Piechota
2 Comments

Heavy Liquid Separation at Burial Hill

By Dennis Piechota At the Burial Hill site in Plymouth, Massachusetts we screen all excavated soil though 1/8” or ¼” screens. The 1/8 inch screens are used for features, and they recover hundreds of very small unknowns, tiny soil covered … Continue reading

March 22, 2017
by Christa Beranek
3 Comments

A First Look at the Early Features in Plymouth

Last fall, we announced that we had discovered the first archaeological features from the 17th-century palisaded town of Plymouth during our 2016 field season on Burial Hill. Now, as we prepare the technical report, we are starting to have a … Continue reading

February 17, 2017
by Fiske Center
5 Comments

Cole’s Hill Mystery Artifact!

by Nadia Waski We need your help! Excavations from this past summer’s fieldwork on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts, revealed a 19th century cache of intentionally buried personal items—which we are calling the Cole’s Hill Memorial Cache. (Click here for … Continue reading

January 30, 2017
by Dennis Piechota
0 comments

From Dustpan to Daguerreotype

In this post, Dennis Piechota, the archaeological conservator at the Fiske Center, recounts the discovery of the central objects in the Cole’s Hill cache. In the field, we recognized that we had something rectangular and fragile, with leather components, so … Continue reading

January 24, 2017
by John Steinberg
0 comments

Archaeological Organizations Concerned about Funding for National Endowment for the Humanities

The Hill has published an article describing the Trump Administration’s plans for the 2017 budget.  They explain that the plan is close to the Heritage Foundation’s “Blueprint” (summary and full document).  The author, Alex Bolton, cites “Staffers for the Trump transition” as … Continue reading

January 18, 2017
by Fiske Center
0 comments

From Pine Cone to Gilded Ivory Brooch

By Dennis Piechota Most objects encountered in the field are easily identified. But the identity of some, like this artifact from Coles Hill in Plymouth MA, can unfold slowly for the archaeologist and conservator. When still partly covered with the … Continue reading

November 28, 2016
by Victoria Cacchione
0 comments

Cole’s Hill Memorial Cache: An Introduction

In the course of this summer’s excavations on Cole’s Hill located in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts, as part of the University of Massachusetts Boston’s multi-year archaeological project, Project 400, a group of archaeologists uncovered a mystery for the ages – a … Continue reading

November 24, 2016
by John Steinberg
0 comments

Plymouth Excavations in the News

The press release put out by Colleen Locke from the Office of Communications has been picked up by a number of news organizations. The main story is in the Boston Globe by Brian MacQuarrie.  From the Globe, the DailyCaller,  AP and  Archaeology picked … Continue reading

November 7, 2016
by Christa Beranek
0 comments

Deciding Where to Dig: Geophysical Survey and Excavation Unit Placement

A geophysical survey is frequently the first intensive, visible, field component of a project, and photographs of the survey in progress often are shared on social media to announce the start of the field season (Fig. 1). But what about … Continue reading

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