Owing to a shortage of labor and the rigors of the 

 weather, it was necessary to confine the digging to 

 small areas which could be completed in a single day's 

 work. Consequently, it was not possible to clear the 

 whole area, as one part would be back-filled during 

 the digging of the next. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, the 

 owners of the property, were extremely tolerant of 

 the damage that was done to their gardens, but after 

 the clearance of the large area E, they indicated that 

 the project had gone far enough. Nevertheless, they 

 were persuaded to permit the cutting of another 

 smaller test area to the west (F), but when this, too, 

 failed to find the westerly extremity of the cellar, the 

 project was abandoned. Subsequently, relatives of 

 the owners cut into the exposed north face of area E 

 and extracted a number of potsherds and other frag- 

 mentary objects from the sand filling. 18 The under- 

 cutting of the bank extended to a distance of 1 foot 

 6 inches without encountering the north edge of the 

 cellar, thus showing that the total width was in excess 

 of 14 feet. 



Extensive probing all around the total area of 

 excavation failed to produce any further traces of 

 the building, though the 1 foot 8 inches of topsoil and 

 sandy loam was found to be bedded on numerous 

 small deposits of oystershells and scattered brickbats. 

 Test holes found that all the located deposits north 

 and west of the existing house had been laid down or 

 disturbed in the 19th century. Five test traverses with 

 a soil resistivity meter west and south of the excava- 

 tion area produced numerous anomalies which, when 

 checked out, all failed to be associated with the 1 — 1 1 1 - 

 century cellar. It seemed that the misleading readings 

 were caused by variations in the density and moisture- 

 retaining qualities of the natural sandy clay subsoil. 



Early in 1963, while planting a small tree to the 

 south of the existing house, Mr. Jenkins encountered 

 a stratum of oystershells at approximately 8 inches be- 

 low the present grade. (Fig. 2, Area K.) A series of 

 small test holes was subsequently dug to the south 

 and southeast of the house, and showed that the layer 

 of shells (average thickness 4 inches) overlay the subsoil 

 and was spread over an area at least 15 by 10 feet. A 

 small number of 19th-century pottery fragments were 

 found mixed into the stratum, but the vast majority of 

 the artifacts comprised bottle glass and earthenwares 



18 The undercutting is shown on the plan (fig. 3, area H) as a 

 straight-edged unit. This has been done for the sake of neat- 

 ness, but it should be noted that there was actually a series of 

 holes that presented an extremely ragged appearance. 



of similar types to those encountered in the cellar hole 

 excavation. I!l The most important item was a pew tei 

 spoon handle of late 17th-century character (fig. 15, 

 no. 27) stamped with the initial "M." The presence 

 of this obvious domestic refuse was not satisfactorily 

 explained, but it is concluded that it was originallv 

 deposited on the land surface and later disturbed by 

 cultivation. 



Landscaping work towards the York River westof 

 the house had yielded a few widely scattered frag- 

 ments of colonial and Indian pottery as well as nu- 

 merous 19th-century sherds. The colonial material 

 was predominantly of late 17th- or early 18th-centuiv 

 date, but two sherds of Staffordshire combed dishes 

 were of a type unlikely to date before about 1720. No 

 archeological digging was undertaken in these areas. 



Archeological Stratigraphy 



Each excavated area was given an identifying letter 

 (fig. 3) and each stratum a number. Thus an artifact 

 marked i- B2" was found in the archeological area 

 that contained the chimney and was recovered from 

 the top stratum of sandy loam and clay. It should be 



1 ' An unusual lead-glazed earthenware rim sherd from a jar 

 was probably from the same pot as other fragments (fie. 15. 

 no. 14) found in the cellar hole. 



■^w I I'D 



- 



Figure 7. — Remains of decayed board on floor in front of 

 underhearth. (Photo courtesy of E. DeHardit.) 



PAPER 52: EXCAVATIONS AT CLAY BANK 



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