Digging in Russia, Town of, that is. . . The Roberts Road Site: Part 2 - Investigation

Since the writing of Part 1 I have been back to the Roberts Road site a few times. I’ve made a number of interesting (at least to me) “discoveries” that in some way might seem more geological, but none the less open up more of the history of the area. During the visits the weather conditions were generally good although at one visit it was relatively cold with a little snow on the ground. 

At another visit Bruce and I had to clear the trail to the dig because of a wind storm. The blow-down didn’t hit everywhere but it made a line across the area bringing down large trees and even taking a garage off its foundation. 

Clearing up around the dig itself we came across a 1949 Kinsey glass whiskey bottle. This points that many surface finds could be from the 1940’s to the present.

As always, I have a number of guests to the dig whenever I’m there. The questions are pretty typical. What are you doing? What are you looking for? Have you found anything? And of course, why here? I enjoy the inquisitiveness and answers are pretty much the same. Sometimes, I have something to show but most of the time it’s, “look at these rocks and what appears to be earthenware.”

In Part 1 I talked about why I felt that the erratic would be a perfect place to start. The simple reason, it has always been there. “It wasn’t moved there to clear an area and it is at a height where it’s easy to sit or set things on. It seemed it would give me an idea of the stratification of the area that was least disturbed” (Rugenstein Part 1).

Because of concentrating near the erratic, I divided the test pit in half (AA & AB) and then further divide them into quadrants (A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.). Please forgive the messy notes.

During each visit I excavated the site to different depths. In my August visit I excavated the site down to 13 cm across all the sections. A dark (charcoal/organic) feature is found near the erratic between L1, L2, & L3. L4 is large piece that appeared to originate from the erratic. Other items found included what appears to be pieces of small angular stones and smooth stones that seemed to have been “worked” by water.

In October I dug down to a different depth in each section just to simply investigate what was in the sand. In fact, most of what I dug down through was sand with various small “stones” scattered throughout. So, I concentrated on section AA.

In section AAB1 I excavated down another cm to 14 cm and found small lithics. Most of them are very angular but they did not appear to be worked. I did the same depth of excavation in AAB2 and found what appears to be earthenware.

I decided to take of AA down to 17 cm. In section AAA1 the dark burned/charcoal stained area continues with small and medium size lithics. Some were angular and others seemed more like cobbles. We see the continuation of the stain into section AAA2 and further evidence of earthenware. Various small stones were also found along with rough lithic pieces around 3 to 4 cm in length to about 1 to 2 cm wide but only about 1 to 1 ? cm thick. Because of the various lithic objects and in particular the feature in AAA2 in the 8 cm through 17 cm depth, it was decided to excavate further. Note the major lithic pieces were found during this process, L1-L4 on the photograph. 

L1, L2, and L3 are in a semi-circle with L1 & L2 are placed in such a way that they’re stacked overlapping each other. L3 is still fairly unexposed but nevertheless can be seen approximately in the same circular line as L1 & L2. From the top it appears the L1 & L2 are part of the same lithic however it does appear that it was broken so it could be set in the way it’s shown in the photo. L3 is still partially buried but you can see how it generally lines up with the other two. 

L4 appears as though it was originally part the erratic and cleaved over time due to frost weathering. It has the same approximate shape as a section of the missing part of the erratic. The top of L4 was about 7 cm below the surface overall and approximately 29 cm long.

Also during this excavation, as with others, there are a number of specimens that I collect and will evaluate at a later date with the advice of experts in the needed fields One specimen found in the feature of section AAA2 at the 24 cm level has an appearance of being shaped but is layered as though it is a type of sandstone. However, one geologist who looked at a photo said it appeared to have either hornblende or biotite in it which would possibly make it non-sedimentary. Again, more investigation into the items found during the non-digging months.

At the November visit to the Roberts Road site I again excavate down in each of the sections to a different depth. Section AB was 13 cm in depth and was approximately 54 cm X 94 cm. Other than cleaning up the level. Section AA was further dug with AAB1 & AAB2 excavated down to 18 cm with small stones found that are both smooth and broken/angular.

Section AAA1 And AAA2 were both excavated down to different depths eventually. AAA1 was brought down to the level of AAA2. During this process a number of lithic pieces were found in this area which were similar to what was found in other sections. There were features found on the wall of AAA1. They were triangular in shape and looked as though they could have been pieces of split wood. The features are about 4.5 cm in height and 3 cm across and were found 9 cm below the surface of the dig. More investigation of these features will be needed at a later date. 

Section AAA2 was excavated further down to 29 cm. At this time L4 and L1 were removed. L1 is definitely a part of L2 and appears to be the same material of L4 (more investigation needs to be done). L4 was also gently put into the space on the erratic and fit perfectly

Upon removing L4 another lithic (L5) was found that appears to be laying on L3. A decision will have to be made if this test pit is going to be opened to a trench along the erratic. The dark charcoal/organic stain is even more noticeable as you go deeper and can be readily seen. L2 is excavated on either side of it and there is a definite difference in the color of the soil from one side to the other. 

In excavating down fewer rounded/cobbled type stones were found but there were more angular stones found, but at this point, without further examination, they do not look worked. I also took samples of the soil at this depth and plant material for dating.

In planning for the next round of digging at the site I have done some ad hoc investigation. I tested the depth of L2 that was still buried and it stills need to be excavated another 5 cm to 6 cm to remove it. Further, there is the feature that seems to be between the erratic and L2/L3 and the triangular features in the wall of AAA1. So, there will be continue investigation into Test Pit A in Spring 2018.

During the Summer of 2018 I would like to open up two more test pits. Test Pit C would be in the “barnyard” near the ramp to the 2nd story of the hay-barn. The location of Test Pit B will be somewhere around the house. There are a number of possible sites. These includes inside the basement at one of the corners, or in the middle of the basement. However, the spot that I think I will pick is in the back of the house where there is an extra room and then what looks like another structure that was attached to the larger house. A 2 m X 6 m trench in that area would capture a great deal of information about the site.

What is really needed is a geophysical survey or ground penetrating radar survey of the area to see what the plan of the yard was like. Naturally there was out buildings, wells, and other facilities that would be needed in the 1830’s – 1840’s farm.

During the non-digging season, I’ll be taking a closer look at the specimens I’ve collected. Although I have given them a cursory inspection a more in-depth analysis is necessary. These specimens include lithic samples and organic samples. The organic samples include both wood, sand samples of the dark feature.

The Roberts Road dig site is closed for 2017 but I’ll keep you posted on what I find about the specimens.