Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
After a couple of cancellations due to factors beyond our control, my good buddy Stan and I finally got the green light to return for a day of digging in the enormous colonial pit that has produced all the bottle seals and other great finds in recent years. I got up early, loaded up all my tools and sifter, and made the 90 min trek to meet Stan at the site. After probing and finding a couple of good side-by-side spots we hacked our way through vines and large roots to get down to the use layer. And it's always hard going here as the area is absolutely filled with loads of brick and oyster shells making it very difficult to get any penetration with the shovel. In this particular area the pit was not as deep as in many other spots - only 2-3 ft as opposed to as deep as 4-5 ft. My spot seemed to be producing large numbers of clay pipe bowls plus over 100 stem pieces. The stem bore diameters were mostly 6/64" or 7/64" which equates to 1650-1710, and this is consistent with the other finds we've been making here. Some of the bowls also had makers marks on the side of the heel or on the bowl itself. The "RT" on that one bowl is the mark for pipemaker Robert Tippet (1660-1690). But Stan was the hero of the day as he recovered 2 bottle seals in the sifter in the same pile of dirt. These were both identical "RC" seals which came from personalized wine bottles belonging to Robert "King" Carter who was probably the wealthiest Virginia landowner at that time. It came from a pancake onion bottle dating to the very late 1600s most likely, and we dug a large number of spouts and bases from these early bottles as well. And Stan graciously gave me one of the seals since I came up empty in my pit, unfortunately. Thanks buddy! I also recovered 4 large pieces from a gorgeous globular-shaped rhenish stoneware jug from the same period. I'm hoping to find the rest of it on another dig. It'll will take me a while to clean up the rest of the stuff, and I'll eventually post some more pics when I'm finished. By the way, that's "Smiling Stan" below, and I'm the human gopher scratchin' around in the hole. Thanks again Stan. I had a great time as usual, and look forward to a return trip soon.
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Love the seals, any ideas about the initials on them? It looks like you have a Westerwald piece there.
