2022 Archaeology Field Season Wrap-Up Posted September 9, 2022 Possible milk pan.Potential sugar bowl. The second half of the 2022 Michilimackinac archaeology field season was as interesting as the first half, with several complementary finds. We found three more rim sherds in the southeast cellar which matched the large piece of bowl (more info here) found the first week of the season. From these, we can see that the vessel had a spout and may have been a milk pan used to cool milk fresh from the cow and allow the cream to separate. The southeast cellar also contained three pieces of what appears to be a sugar bowl, a large fragment of a saucer and several pieces of an unknown vessel with the handle broken off.Large fragment of a saucer.Unknown vessel with handle broken. Buttplate from a trade gun. The southeast cellar also yielded part of a buttplate from a trade gun. It does not match the buttplate finial found earlier in the season. It is thicker and engraved with a different motif. Brass scale weight. The central cellar yielded a second brass scale weight. It was in the form of a cup, from a nested set of weights. It weighed half of an apothecary dram and is stamped with what appears to be a fleur-de-lis. Joined sleeve buttonsEarring fragment. Following the single sleeve button found in June, a linked pair of sleeve buttons and an earring fragment were found in August. All had green paste stones, and all were found in the 1781 demolition rubble layer. Padlock The final unusual find of the season was a small padlock found in the southeast cellar [image 20220818_padlock]. It was only 1.75” tall. This fits in well with the image we have constructed of a wealthy household, as you do not need a lock unless you have something to protect. The site is now lined with plastic and packed with hay bales for the winter. Work has shifted to the lab, where the artifacts will be cleaned, sorted, counted, and identified over the coming months.
At Last… Posted June 15, 2020 The site being prepared for the field season. The plastic containers protected wood posts under the plastic sheeting and straw over the winter. After a very long wait, MSHP archaeologists were excited to remove the straw and plastic sheeting from the archaeological site and begin preparing the site for excavation. Unfortunately, there was a lot of slump, especially along the north wall, so there is a lot of clean up ahead. The next step is to re-establish the grid strings used to record where features and artifacts are found relative to the overall master map. This will be our fourteenth season of excavation at House E of the Southeast Rowhouse. The rowhouse was constructed in the 1730s and this unit was owned by Charles Gonneville for most of the French era at Michilimackinac. By 1765 the house was owned by an as-yet-unknown English trader. Our initial research question for the project was how does an English trader’s house look different from a French-Canadian trader’s house? The early answer is that there is more trade silver and ceramics. This trader not only had fashionable furnishings, but dressed stylishly as well, based on the sleeve buttons and other adornment items we have recovered. Our main goals for this summer relate to the deep features previously exposed. We think we are nearing the bottom of the root cellar in the southeast corner of the building and hope to complete its excavation this season. There are two more deep features, which intersect, in the west and south-central areas of the house. We hope to better define them this season. As with any archaeological excavation there will be surprises that raise new questions. You can come watch history being uncovered at Colonial Michilimackinac every day from June 12 – August 22, from 9 am until 5 pm, weather permitting. You can also follow along all season on the MSHP blog and social media channels.
Winter in the Lab Posted March 14, 2019 The long winter has given the archaeology staff plenty of time in the lab to process and catalog the artifacts from the over 500 separate contexts excavated at Michilimackinac during the 2018 field season. A context is a single soil type in a tenth of a foot level in a 5’ x 5’ square. (more…)
