Productive colonial pit produces treasure-trove of early artifacts

[Bill D. (VA)]

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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[Doodle Bug]

Amazing finds, hope to see more!

 

[HomeGuardDan]

Excellent job as always! That place is an amusement park for diggers!

 

[Helix]

Wow that is an old pit! Working on cleaning up a pit or privy today myself, mostly sifting. Not as old as yours but still fun. I'll post about it later. Again nice finds!!

 

[The Boots]

Wow, those pipes are amazing.

 

[hunting deer]

I love clay pipes! I've only got one whole bowl with the stem broke off and the rest are fragments. Very nice!

 

[Davers]

All that "playing in the dirt" looks like fun to me esp, when you never know what will churn up next.
Good luck
Davers

 

[VERDE]

Hey Bill D. (VA)!! CONGRATS!! You guys really Smoked them!! GREAT FINDS!! Keep up the good work!! GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!

 

[metalev4]

Excellent recoveries Bill and Stan. That site never ceases to amaze me and will always be one of the best times I ever had relic hunting. Looking forward to the next post.
-Evan

 

[The Rebel]

WTG guys on awesome hunt! I love the way the glaze is still on the pottery!

 

[markp]

That's a nice dig site, keep it up

 

[joeyfresh]

I love it all Bill, from the seals to the stoneware pieces. Just looking at the pictures, I can smell that musty shell dust and brick. Makes me want to go out and find a pit....now that I have, thanks to you, a nice probe to use.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Excellent job men!

 

[Dug]

Awsome spot. Thanks for taking the time to put together the pics and the narration to share your day with us..

 

[pepperj]

Great day of sifting for sure, liking the pipe parts and the two seals. There sure a lot of oyster shells in the pile it must be hard digging through them.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

I love it all Bill, from the seals to the stoneware pieces. Just looking at the pictures, I can smell that musty shell dust and brick. Makes me want to go out and find a pit....now that I have, thanks to you, a nice probe to use.

That's funny you mentioned that Joey. Yesterday Stan made a comment about that great pit smell after first getting into the use layer. Love that smell as you always know what follows.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Wow...way to go Bill. Love the seals, any ideas about the initials on them? It looks like you have a Westerwald piece there.

I would love to see more of that come up.
Keep digging buddy,
ZDD

Edit: Oh yea King Carter, Duh.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Wow...way to go Bill. Love the seals, any ideas about the initials on them? It looks like you have a Westerwald piece there.
I would love to see more of that come up.
Keep digging buddy,
ZDD

Dave - the identity behind the bottle seal initials is mentioned in my post. My bottle seal article I sent you a while back talks about a dated Carter seal I found at the same site a couple years ago.

 

[goldnrelics]

Great job!

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Awsome spot. Thanks for taking the time to put together the pics and the narration to share your day with us..

You're certainly welcome Dug. I know I tend to be long-winded in my posts, but that's mostly because I like to print them out in color and put in 3-ring binders to serve as a historical record of my adventures/finds. Been doing it for almost 8 years now, and wish I started earlier. One day when I finally "retire" from digging it'll be great to go back and read through these and re-live the experiences again. Thanks again for your comment, and good luck to you.