Pit 59: Level 2 and 3

Completed on January 12, 2014 by DC Locke, Dean Hunt, John Howell, and David Brinkman. We quickly ran into the mother of all roots. This must have been a foot in diameter and impossible (with our tools) to cut through so we did the best we could to dig around it. We decided to combine levels 2 and 3 as we lost about 1/3 of the pit's volume to this massive root. The overall lack of artifacts was disappointing (less than half the artifact count average with: 12 pieces of pottery, 27 pieces of glass, 15 nails, and a pipe stem) but this could explain the spike we have in artifacts in the adjacent pit 38 and the lack of artifacts we have in pit 59. The development of the huge root pushed artifacts into the area of pit 38. On a positive artifact note, David did find our first pipe stem mouth piece in this level. We completed and filled the pit just as the pizza arrived. Fred Morrison stopped by to check on us. Not yet satisfied, we all took a hike on the river walk and collected some modern day trash. Among this trash was a bottle that turned out to be a perfect 98 year old Botanic Blood Balm bottle. This once contained a cure-all quack medicine (15% alcohol with a little bit of arsenic). The Blood Balm Company was owned by the man (Asa Chandler) that would later make a fortune with a slightly different formula: Coca-Cola. A perfect Blood Balm bottle like this is rare and another example of the continuous human habitation evidence that is in this area.

Pit 59: Level 2 and 3 produced: 9 pieces of pottery, 23 pieces of glass, 15 nails, and a pipe stem.

Below is a closeup of the pipe stem mouth piece.

Below is the 1915 Botanic Blood Balm bottle (which we found near Granby) and an advertisement about the product.