June 21st to June 23rd : Beginnings
An old friend of mine, a retired professor of archaeology from a small Pennsylvania college always tells his students “Archaeology is about progressing from what you know to what you don’t know.” It’s an old axiom and it’s true. Here in Fox Gap, we know a fair amount, but there are important gaps in our knowledge. We know Wise’s cabin was just southwest of the intersection of what’s now Reno Monument road and the old road along the ridgecrest, but we’re not sure how far from the intersection it stood, and there is some evidence that the ridge road may have been relocated after the battle, so even the intersection may not be quite where it used to be. We know that land use after the cabin’s demolition in 1919 undoubtedly affected parts of the Wise farmstead, but written and photographic records of that land use are scarce and fragmentary. We know that the remote sensing survey identified some significant sub-surface anomalies, but we’re not sure what, or how old, they might be.
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This weekend, we’ve located four 5 foot square areas called
excavation units in places that should help us make a transition from the
known to the unknown. Two units are placed in areas where no anomalies were
found in the remote sensing survey. These were intended to show us what an
undisturbed or “normal” soil profile should look like here. Called control
units, they will serve as a kind of index to compare with other, possibly more
complicated, excavation units later
in the project. Two other units were placed in locations where subsurface
anomalies were identified. We broke ground the morning of the 21st,
and things got complicated almost immediately.
One of our control units showed the expected, uncomplicated soil profile of a mountain farm field. There was a thin layer of dark plowed soil, immediately above a yellowish subsoil that bore the unmistakable horizontal scars of a plow. A small bit of plastic came from the very base of one of these plow scars, indicating that the site was being farmed as late as the 1950’s or 60’s!
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Our second control unit was not what we expected. As work progressed over the weekend, it was obvious that there had been some significant landscaping in the area. First, the old topsoil or A horizon was completely gone, having been removed very likely by a piece of machinery. Second, there was evidence that a trench had been mechanically dug in the area and filled with mostly 20th century debris. Mixed with the debris were a few objects probably related to the Wise occupation; an S-hook for suspending pots over a fire, some hand made nails, small amounts of earthenware pottery. Clearly any chance of undisturbed 19th century deposits in this area was pretty well dashed by earthmoving activity sometime in the recent past!As our excavations proceeded on Friday, we were forced to stop in mid-afternoon for a very important ceremony. On this first day of summer, 2002, the cooperative management agreement for the Appalachian Trail in Maryland was signed by ATC, the National Park Service, and the State of Maryland.
Representatives from all three entities, the local and regional press, many of the maintaining trail clubs, and our own crew and volunteers, took part in the ceremony which was capped by a trail hike, a reception, and the firing of a replica 12 pound Napoleon cannon identical to those employed during the battle. It was all great fun, and symbolic of the partnership that makes the Appalachian Trail, and projects like ours, successful!
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Our last two units, placed in areas where anomalies were identified by the remote sensing survey, raised as many questions as they answered. One unit produced a confusing mix of 19th and early 20th century objects that eventually resolved itself into what we are calling feature 33.
Feature 33 is a pit or trench that seems to be filled with debris from the
first part of the 20th century; a child’s hobnailed shoes, what may
be a harness chain, stoneware crocks, bottles and tin plates, nails.
Could this be a trench full of demolition debris from Wise’s cabin, or
does it represent some later episode of land use? The answer won’t come until
we begin the analysis of the artifacts in our field lab.
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The final unit proved another old archaeological axiom: “You will find the (temple, tomb, foundation, pottery, whatever you’re looking for) in the last hour of your last day of fieldwork.” Now this is, of course, a standing joke in our profession, but it’s unnerving just how often it comes true. The fourth unit began with multiple layers of fill emplaced mostly in the 1980’s and 90’s to raise the edge of a bank. Following the painstaking removal of these layers of fill, late on the afternoon of the 23rd, a new soil layer was encountered. As we prepared to close down the excavation, and put the site to bed until our next visit, two tantalizing artifacts appeared in this new layer of soil: a fragment of handmade red brick and a percussion cap from a 19th century military rifle…..To be continued…
Volunteer and Appalachian Trail caretaker Ron provides some much needed shade at Fox Gap. The enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers and visitors to the site really made this weekend a lot of fun.
