The following update was prepared by the 18 teachers that were enrolled in two graduate education courses at Heidelberg University geared towards utilizing the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison archaeological study for middle school and high school use. They were asked just to present some aspect of the experience for the AIA readers. I hope [...]
Read full post »2009 Field Report 5
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Very. Small. Rocks.
In the beginning, it all looked the same. Bucket after bucket, screen after screen, a seemingly endless supply of very small rocks filled our working days. But as we approached the end of that first week, we began to look into those screens from a new perspective. It was not simply a bucket [...]
Read full post »Hard Rubber Ring Discovered
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Today, July 7, 2009, Hannah (a student in the Heidelberg University archaeological field school) discovered this hard rubber ring in the 1862-1863 prison hospital latrine. The ring is made from hard rubber, first patented in 1851. Prisoners made this jewelry to send to their families, friends, and to sell to fellow prisoners. Several prisoners were [...]
Read full post »A “Vessel Cluster” of Mystery
Sunday, July 5, 2009
by Juli, Phil, and Tim
One of the more intriguing finds of the past couple of weeks has been the fragments (referred to collectively as the “vessel cluster”) of a Kaolin clay tobacco pipe unearthed while excavating Block 6, the hospital block (Figure 1). Kaolin, a soft, white mineral, was first mined centuries ago in China, [...]
2009 Field Report 4
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Our excitement this week has been narrowly focused on feature 40, the latrine. Although we do find important items in the hospital block, in feature 40 we are presented with a unique opportunity. We know the exact dates that this latrine was in use, affording us a snapshot in time of the everyday life of [...]
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