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Search for the secrets of the past by participating in a real archaeological excavation. Join Strawbery Banke’s Archaeology Department to excavate the grounds of the 1762 Chase House site to gather information about its former kitchen ell, barn, and privy. Ready to dig? (Continued below)

Students in the Archaeology Field School work alongside professional archaeologists, preservationists, curators, and historians, exploring the site with volunteers and students of all ages. Learn approved excavation techniques and be part of a team, unearthing information about four centuries of neighborhood life. This two-week intensive experience includes fieldwork, lab work, object handling and identification, tours, activities, and instruction. The Archeological Field School is a valuable opportunity for career exploration as well as a fun outdoor learning experience!

REGISTRATION: Pre-registration is required for all programs.
Registration $400 member/$500 nonmembers
Direct questions to Sheila Charles, Strawbery Banke Museum Archaeologist
Phone: 603-422-7521

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Archaeology at Strawbery Banke Museum Summer 2010
By Archaeologist Sheila Charles

Archaeological activities at Strawbery Banke Museum during the summer of 2010 included a summer field school, summer camp, and special projects.

Strawbery Banke’s 2010 Archaeology Field School (July 5-16) involved 14 students and over 25 volunteers from Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia and New Hampshire, ranging in age from 15 into senior status. Field school staff included Principle Archaeologist Sheila Charles, Field Supervisor Lindsey Weeks, Volunteer Laboratory Supervisor Sally Strazdins, as well as other veteran archaeology department volunteers. For the third summer season, Strawbery Banke’s field school investigation focused on the southeast yard of the 1762 Chase House, associated with wealthy Portsmouth merchant and patriot Stephen Chase and family.  The field results included a revised understanding of the orientation and fieldstone construction of the approximately 22 by 60 foot outbuilding foundation (depicted on the 1813 map but absent by the 1850s).   Fieldwork also disclosed new information about a former privy pit with a brick footing and fieldstone foundation, which may have stood within the former outbuilding prior to the 1850s and within the 8 by 16 foot water closet portrayed on Sanborn maps between 1887 and 1956.

Excavation focused on exposing the outbuilding and privy pit’s foundations and the dense artifact bearing deposits within the footprint of the former structures. Although the large outbuilding foundation was composed of fieldstone, the substantive privy pit (measuring 2.5 by 10.5 feet) contained a brick footing overlaying a fieldstone foundation. While recovered ceramics from the broad trash deposit are predominately early 19^th century and British, the privy pit footing bricks most likely derive from nearby New England clay beds. Two different brick construction patterns are seen in the privy pit’s south wall. One wall section is comprised of alternating courses of stretchers (sides) and headers (ends), an English bond pattern popular in the 17^th century. An adjacent wall section of the privy’s brick footing was comprised of all stretchers, creating a running or stretcher bond pattern. Although not structurally as strong as other brick bonding patterns, this brick laying technique was commonly associated with cavity wall construction or brick veneers. In deep wall construction, an American brick bond style c.1850 utilized up to seven courses of stretchers to one course of headers. While Ivor Noel Hume in Artifacts of Colonial America (1978:84) states, “footings were frequently built in a mixed or haphazard bond,” these two patterns of construction may indicate the enlargement of the privy over time, possibly following the growth of the Chase family, or between 1882 and 1916 when the Chase House served as a home for “orphan and destitute children.”

Beginning at approximately 30 cmbs, fragments of multiple early 19^th century ceramic and glass vessels, many reconstructible, were recovered from the broad trash deposit surrounding the privy.  Vessels include chamberpots, kitchenware, and table and teawares. These specimens reflect the broad trade network that included England, Germany and China, as well as local New England redware production. Exhibit worthy ceramic vessels, such as the 1820-1840 blue hand painted pearlware chamberpot manufactured by Staffordshire potter Enoch Wood, are being mended and analyzed. Artifacts recovered from the deeper depths (approximately 1 meter below surface) include ceramics manufactured in the late 1600s and early 1700s, such as Nottingham, Westerwald and white salt-glazed stoneware. To date, over 8000 artifacts have been catalogued from the 2008 Chase House site excavation and cataloguing continues for artifacts recovered during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Dr. Joan Merriman of Plymouth State University and Archaeology Department Maryann Stacy are conducting faunal analysis, primarily aimed at historic foodways interpretation.  Diana Gallagher, Boston University PhD candidate, retrieved soil samples for parasite analysis associated with the privy to see how people adhered to social and legal cleanliness standards. Press coverage of the 2010 field school included a substantive WMUR NH Chronicle television spot that aired on July 22, 2010. Our efforts were also documented on our blog, where Strawbery Banke Museum Intern Sarah Helmers posted updates on the field school activities.

Summer archaeological activities at Strawbery Banke Museum included a camp (July 26-30) for ages 10 to 12 years old, “Uncovering the Past: An Archaeological Adventure.” Eighteen students participated in hands-on activities, including mock excavations, and learned about responsible archaeology, scientific inquiry, preservation ethics, and the value of management and stewardship of our cultural legacy. The curriculum aligned with the award winning educational Project Archaeology program, developed under the auspices of the Bureau of Land Management.

Additional special archaeological projects were undertaken over the summer by Strawbery Banke Intern Ben Curran who scanned and rectified historic and archaeological maps to create digital overlays that depict landscape changes over time.  Curran also conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar survey to create GIS maps to identify archaeologically sensitive areas of the Chase House, Hough House, Marshall Pottery, and Puddle Dock. The scans of a filled in foundation near the Marshall Pottery site may have revealed the location of a Jewish ceremonial Mikvah bath. The scans of Puddle Dock are being analyzed to determine the potential effects of tidal change of the water table. The results of this study may determine future test locations of Strawbery Banke Museum to ensure the preservation and interpretation of the many aspects of this historic neighborhood along the banks of the Piscataqua River.

© Strawbery Banke Archaeology Dept.  2011