Pit 72: Level 2
Completed on October 31, 2014 by Jerry Bright, DC Locke, Dean Hunt, Teresa Mitchell, Steven Rougeau, Martin Banks, and David Brinkman. Odess was still working inside to cook-up the Halloween party dinner. Teresa and Steven arrived for level 2 and Martin took up the job of digging. That's a good bit of work when you are supplying the dirt for 6 sifters. We needed Martin and all these workers for level 2 as it turned into one of our best levels. Several of the special finds were not identified until artifact cleaning. Like a brass piece that may have been a badge and the possible front/insert for a button. Also, a number of possible Native American pieces appeared after cleaning. There were some easy to identify finds like a 1750-1780 pipe stem but this was different. Pure black. Black pipes are rare and it is possible that this one was burnt all the way through. Going along with this was the discovery of one of our biggest brick piece and it had been toasted. No doubt that this was part of the inside of a fireplace. There were also a number of smaller brick pieces like this and a huge number of regular Granby brick pieces. At almost 1Kg, this may be the most brick we have found in a single level. We also found a huge number of pottery and glass pieces. If that wasn't enough, level 2 ended with a bang as an obvious post hole appeared at the bottom. The soil consistency through level 2 gave us the feeling that this area had not been disturbed as much as the previous pits and the post hole confirmed this. A great level on a perfect day for digging.
Pit 72: Level 2 produced: 37 pieces of pottery, 56 pieces of glass, 16 nails, over 2 pounds of brick, 8 Native American pieces, a pipe bowl and pipe stem (1750-1800), 15 iron pieces, a possible brass badge and button front, and a post hole feature.
Below: A possible brass Badge
Below: Possible front of a Colonial period button
Below: Obvious post hole
Below: Excavation of a large brick. The grey color means it was probably on the inside of the fireplace.
