Colonial pit renders bottle seals, rare token, pipe bowls and other cool artifacts

[Bill D. (VA)]

I already posted the potentially very early coin/token I found during Saturday’s pit dig with my good friend Stan. It was just ID'd under that post by Bramblefind as a 1600s Edward Jarvis penny token from The George Tavern in London. Thanks so much again for your help with that. Now getting back to the rest of the dig ..... The area I chose to excavate was on the slope just below 2 large trees. I knew I was going to have major root problems, but that spot probed very nicely and I couldn’t turn it down. After digging out the top 18” of fairly clean topsoil, and then getting through the 12” sand cap, I entered into the solid use layer. There were an unusually large number of black glass frags showing up, and many of them were rather early which I figured would increase my chances to recover a wine bottle seal. As you can see from the pic, I dug quite a few spouts and bases. The small box at the bottom of the pic contains glass that was compressed into one small spot that I kept separate so I can attempt a reconstruction at a later time. Unfortunately I was unable to recover one of the elusive seals, but my buddy Stan in a pit just a few feet from mine was able to snag two of them. (And Stan very generously gave me the “I-M” seal that we’re still trying to ID). Neither was one of the 12 different types of seals that have been dug here before. But we know the “RC” one is a Robert “King” Carter seal. Stan and I have both dug Carter seals from this trash pit before that spell out his full name and include the date of 1713. That date corresponds nicely with 1715 I came up with as the mean date of occupancy based on a clay pipe stem bore diameter analysis I performed using the 50+ stems I dug yesterday. I was also able to find a complete and early bulbous-type pipe bowl as well as a later one with a long stem attached. Stan also got a nice little hoe from his pit which I took home to put in the electrolysis tank for him. So all-in-all it was a fun and exciting but backbreaking day, and it will probably be our last time there for the season.

 

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[mangum]

Great finds Bill, glad you got an ID on that token. Man, that is one sweet find! If you don't mind me asking, how do you go about locating these colonial dumps. I'd love to locate the dump on the property I'm searching.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Great finds Bill, glad you got an ID on that token. Man, that is one sweet find! If you don't mind me asking, how do you go about locating these colonial dumps. I'd love to locate the dump on the property I'm searching.

I wrote an article several years ago for a detecting magazine about finding and digging out colonial trash pits. PM your email address to me and I'll forward you a pdf copy.

 

[joeyfresh]

Great day bill! Im gonna keep trying to identify the I M seal. Could it possibly be J M? There was a British merchant who sailed and dealt a lot with the people who lived at that site.

 

[John_Deere]

Nice finds! Congrats and HH!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Great day bill! Im gonna keep trying to identify the I M seal. Could it possibly be J M? There was a British merchant who sailed and dealt a lot with the people who lived at that site.

Joey - it could very easily be a J. On that token I found the name Jarvis was spelled Iarvis. Let me know if you have any luck, and thanks for your help as always.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Fantastic finds there Bill, you have a sweet honey hole that's for sure. I think that Joeyfreash might have it and that "I" is a "J". back in the day the "I"s often had a cross in the middle of the letter like in this mallet I found.
Have you ever been fortunate enouph to dig a complete onion bottle yet?
ZDD

 

[SilverDreams]

Awesome!

 

[IAMZIM]

Cool! I like all the clay pipes, so far I have found several clay stems, but have yet to find a bowl, I REALLY hope I can find one someday.....Dont know why, I just want one in my collection! lol!

 

[John Boy]

Wow great work Bill.all that hard work really payed off.cool finds.Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Fantastic finds there Bill, you have a sweet honey hole that's for sure. I think that Joeyfreash might have it and that "I" is a "J". back in the day the "I"s often had a cross in the middle of the letter like in this mallet I found.
Have you ever been fortunate enouph to dig a complete onion bottle yet?
ZDD

Dave - I did find a possible connection with the initials J-M who was indeed a British merchant (as Joey mentioned) who likely carried on business with folks that lived at the site where we're digging the trash pit. By the way, no whole onion bottles for me yet, but 2 have been found at the site where we're digging at (along with hundreds of broken ones!).