Pit 69: Level 3

Completed September 14, 2014 by Dean Hunt, DC Locke, Teresa Mitchell, Steven Rougeau, and David Brinkman. Level 3 started off the same way as level 2 finished: Lots of Magnolia tree roots and zero artifacts. About 5 centimeters into the level, we started seeing pottery again and it kept getting better until our normal stopping point of 50 centimeters. At that point, we were still finding good stuff so we continued. Teresa had one of the best finds of the day.. our 3rd buckle. DC also found what may be a small arrow-head and there were a couple of other possible Native American items that had been worked. David found another 1720-1750 pipe stem. Recent analysis of our pipe stem artifacts (now 67 of them) showed a clear ground depth distinction between Granby era pipe stems of 1750-1800 and the period before Granby (1680-1750). Once again, we found this older pipe stem at a depth below most of the Granby era artifacts. We were also seeing an increase in charcoal below 50cm. In the end, we took the pit all the way down to 70cm where we stopped at a feature which might possibly be of a pre-Granby structure. Could it be the house of Indian trader Thomas Brown? With 269 artifacts, Pit 69 has the 5th highest artifact count of the dig and its power rating ranks it number 8. In total, there were 79 pieces of pottery, 62 pieces of glass, 29 nails, 29 other iron pieces, 5 pipe pieces, 4 Native American pieces, 45 pieces of charcoal, an arrow-head, and a buckle.

Pit 69: Level 3 produced: 65 pieces of pottery, 46 pieces of glass, 28 nails, 4 Native American pieces, 36 pieces of charcoal, 29 pieces of iron, 5 pipe pieces, an arrow-head, and 1 buckle.

Below: Possible feature of a pre-Granby building. Thomas Brown's House?