Colonial trashpit diggin and river walkin

[Pacivilwarluke]

Colonial trashpit diggin' and river walkin'

Yesterday it was kinda yucky out ( but cool, only the low 80s) in the lowcountry so I decided to go trashpit digging! I spent about one and a half hours digging one out and found some decent colonial relics! The highlight was 96 pipe stems mostly dating to the mid 1700s ( that makes about 250-300 from this pit so far) but I found a few other things, I got a tiny thimble and another stud backed gilted rosette, a musketball, a brass ring, and some piece of iron that needs IDing. Of course ghere was tons of pottery too, but I only picked up the pretty pieces. Brick, oyster, bone and nails are everywhere too. It reminds me of something from a fireplace/hearth for some reason. I also found some things walking a river down here, the highlight being the neck and lip of a black glass mallet or onion bottle but I also got two more necks that are proabbly mid 1700s with really crude lips but they aren't black glass. Also, one of the clay pipes has an 8 in it, any idea? Size, or makers mark?

 

[coinman123]

Man! Those are some nice pieces. I would kill for a trash pit that old!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Colonial pit digging - now that's my idea of a fun time. Much more exciting than swinging a detector. Looks like you've landed yourself onto a mid-1700s to early 1800s site based on the assortment of finds you're recovering. I assume you've dated your pipe stems based on the bore diameter. If you'd like to calculate a mean date of occupancy for the site based on pipe stem bore diameters, you can use the method described in the pic below from one of my articles. That would probably be a good piece of info to know about your site. And that "8" on that one frag is probably some sort of maker's mark, but it's one I'm not familiar with. Both of your bottle necks are neither onion nor mallet, but are classified as "cylindrical" and would probably date to the very late 1700s. Here's a link that may help you with the dating: http://www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk/pdffiles/cylindrical.pdf

I hope you're sifting that spot as you'll be astonished at what you can miss if you just try to eyeball everything. I like to eyeball finds as I dig the pit out, and periodically detect the spoils pile with a small coil as usually there's tremendous amounts of small iron present. Then I sift the dirt back into the hole, and like I said, you'll be quite surprised with the results. Also, make sure you go down to the very bottom and completely out to all the sides as many of the best finds can come from these areas. Good luck and keep us posted on your continued progress.

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

Colonial pit digging - now that's my idea of a fun time. Much more exciting than swinging a detector. Looks like you've landed yourself onto a mid-1700s to early 1800s site based on the assortment of finds you're recovering. I assume you've dated your pipe stems based on the bore diameter. If you'd like to calculate a mean date of occupancy for the site based on pipe stem bore diameters, you can use the method described in the pic below from one of my articles. That would probably be a good piece of info to know about your site. And that "8" on that one frag is probably some sort of maker's mark, but it's one I'm not familiar with. Both of your bottle necks are neither onion nor mallet, but are classified as "cylindrical" and would probably date to the very late 1700s. Here's a link that may help you with the dating: http://www.georgianglassmakers.co.uk/pdffiles/cylindrical.pdf

I hope you're sifting that spot as you'll be astonished at what you can miss if you just try to eyeball everything. I like to eyeball finds as I dig the pit out, and periodically detect the spoils pile with a small coil as usually there's tremendous amounts of small iron present. Then I sift the dirt back into the hole, and like I said, you'll be quite surprised with the results. Also, make sure you go down to the very bottom and completely out to all the sides as many of the best finds can come from these areas. Good luck and keep us posted on your continued progress.

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First, thanks so much for the links and photos. Yes, I've been dating the pipe stems by the bore when I'm "finished I plan on using the formula. Regretabbly I do not own a sifter yet but am in the process of making one for next time. Thanks for the info on the bottles, I'm not so good with glass yet haha. You're correct with the age, I basilcally know that the site was there from around the 1730s to the 1820s. It's a huge out it just seems to keep going but it's realitely shallow 14-18 inches, is that typical? I dig down until the soil colors change and the finds stop. One of the coolest things I've found there was a colonial clay marble that emerged from the pit. Thanks for the info and I'll hopefully be back next week.

 

[DownNDirty]

That's a large volume & great variety of 18th century finds. The occupants must've been heavy smokers! lol The Lowcountry is full of great colonial sites-looks like you found a really good one.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

First, thanks so much for the links and photos. Yes, I've been dating the pipe stems by the bore when I'm "finished I plan on using the formula. Regretabbly I do not own a sifter yet but am in the process of making one for next time. Thanks for the info on the bottles, I'm not so good with glass yet haha. You're correct with the age, I basilcally know that the site was there from around the 1730s to the 1820s. It's a huge out it just seems to keep going but it's realitely shallow 14-18 inches, is that typical? I dig down until the soil colors change and the finds stop. One of the coolest things I've found there was a colonial clay marble that emerged from the pit. Thanks for the info and I'll hopefully be back next week.

There's really no such thing as "typical" when it comes to colonial trash pits although many we find are relatively shallow like yours. But I've dug ones that were 5 ft deep, and be glad yours is not like that. An example showing my friend Chuck digging in a deep one is shown below (and we weren't at the bottom yet when the pic was taken). This pit dated to about 1640 (which is the mean occupancy date as calculated by the pipe stem formula), and gave up some awesome finds. And 27 hammered silver coins dating between 1563 and about 1640 were also dug within a couple hundred feet of this pit.

Also, a sifter is very quick and inexpensive to make. I prefer to have extensions on either side of the screen so you can lay it across the hole when refilling the pit. I also recently made one on hinges that you can dump without having to pick the whole thing up. Pics of my 2 sifters are also shown below. Also, don't forget that in most cases, where there's one pit, there's likely to be more so you should do some more checking around that immediate area. You might even find one that dates a little earlier than where you're digging at now. Having a probe can be a big help in locating them and determining their width and depth. But generally I rely on detecting a deep iron signal as well as looking for surface indications, and then digging a test hole. But since your site appears to be in the woods that might be a little difficult. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[digging440yrs]

Awesome site--keep diggin

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats on the finds. Best of luck to you.

Good to see some treasure coming out of the Carolinas! Well done.

 

[rovnrbl53]

Pits

When you get to the bottom, you might check a small area another 6 - 10" down, sometimes there's another pit underneath - happens in CW huts, not often, but does occur.

Have fun!!

There's really no such thing as "typical" when it comes to colonial trash pits although many we find are relatively shallow like yours. But I've dug ones that were 5 ft deep, and be glad yours is not like that. An example showing my friend Chuck digging in a deep one is shown below (and we weren't at the bottom yet when the pic was taken). This pit dated to about 1640 (which is the mean occupancy date as calculated by the pipe stem formula), and gave up some awesome finds. And 27 hammered silver coins dating between 1563 and about 1640 were also dug within a couple hundred feet of this pit.

Also, a sifter is very quick and inexpensive to make. I prefer to have extensions on either side of the screen so you can lay it across the hole when refilling the pit. I also recently made one on hinges that you can dump without having to pick the whole thing up. Pics of my 2 sifters are also shown below. Also, don't forget that in most cases, where there's one pit, there's likely to be more so you should do some more checking around that immediate area. You might even find one that dates a little earlier than where you're digging at now. Having a probe can be a big help in locating them and determining their width and depth. But generally I rely on detecting a deep iron signal as well as looking for surface indications, and then digging a test hole. But since your site appears to be in the woods that might be a little difficult. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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[46Wheat]

Congrats on the finds. keep digging and searching

 

[pepperj]

That's crazy amount of pipe stems from that one pit, I guess they just smoked, drank, and ate oysters.

 

[joeyfresh]

That's crazy amount of pipe stems from that one pit, I guess they just smoked, drank, and ate oysters.

And lived to be a ripe old age of 35 [emoji15]

 

[WildWildBill]

The pic on the top row on the right end looks like the neck of an onion bottle! Common green color with a cork. May be British. Those bottles are worth boo-koo.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Those are some nice finds.

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

That's a large volume & great variety of 18th century finds. The occupants must've been heavy smokers! lol The Lowcountry is full of great colonial sites-looks like you found a really good one.

Thanks!! Yes, it appears they were! Nothing better to do I suppose!

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

There's really no such thing as "typical" when it comes to colonial trash pits although many we find are relatively shallow like yours. But I've dug ones that were 5 ft deep, and be glad yours is not like that. An example showing my friend Chuck digging in a deep one is shown below (and we weren't at the bottom yet when the pic was taken). This pit dated to about 1640 (which is the mean occupancy date as calculated by the pipe stem formula), and gave up some awesome finds. And 27 hammered silver coins dating between 1563 and about 1640 were also dug within a couple hundred feet of this pit.

Also, a sifter is very quick and inexpensive to make. I prefer to have extensions on either side of the screen so you can lay it across the hole when refilling the pit. I also recently made one on hinges that you can dump without having to pick the whole thing up. Pics of my 2 sifters are also shown below. Also, don't forget that in most cases, where there's one pit, there's likely to be more so you should do some more checking around that immediate area. You might even find one that dates a little earlier than where you're digging at now. Having a probe can be a big help in locating them and determining their width and depth. But generally I rely on detecting a deep iron signal as well as looking for surface indications, and then digging a test hole. But since your site appears to be in the woods that might be a little difficult. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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The softer design is genius! If you don't mind I think I'll copy that I do know there are more in the area, because I've detected around them ( that's how I found them) and I dig pipe stems, ceramics frags, glass, tons of nails in certain areas and hear lots of iron. The little colonial kettle came out of this area along with two coppers lots of buttons rosetee musketballs show buckle frags and the like. Thanks for all the helpful info!

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

The pic on the top row on the right end looks like the neck of an onion bottle! Common green color with a cork. May be British. Those bottles are worth boo-koo.

Found in a very British area, very likely thanks! Someday hopefully Ill get a complete one.. Someday.

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

When you get to the bottom, you might check a small area another 6 - 10" down, sometimes there's another pit underneath - happens in CW huts, not often, but does occur.

Have fun!!

Thank you for the tip! I will dig deeper and see what happens!!

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

That's crazy amount of pipe stems from that one pit, I guess they just smoked, drank, and ate oysters.

Thanks! That appears to be the conclusion!

 

[Garrett424]

Really nice bunch of finds.

Funny how that blue and white pottery always shows up in trash pits. I have quite a few of those fragments from multiple spots.

Musta' been real popular back in the day.