Mark Buchanan
Introduction to Archaeology
ANTH 1030 – 004
Final Presentation
This is going to be about the excavation done at the P3 Lincoln Corner Site
which is located on the west side of 940 East and south of 100 South in Salt Lake
City, Utah. The archaeologist whom was over this excavation is Alan Griffiths.
This is going to cover the results of the excavation and the processes through
which those results were found.
The excavation was performed with an AMS bucket auger. The items
excavated at P3 all are soil samples, which are labeled SU1 through SU6. SU
stands for stratigraphic unit, which are the layers of earth below the surface. The
different stratigraphic units are described by defining their depth, their texture
and their color. The depth is measured using the metric system. The color is
measured using Munsell soil color charts. Stratigraphic units 1-6 are described
below: SU1 has very dark brown (7.5YR2.5/2-3) earth that is damp and is about 8
cm. deep. SU2 has dark grey (7.5YR4/1) earth that is mottled with some white
and a little brown and is somewhat rocky with the largest rock being 4/2.5 cm.
and is 15cm. deep. SU3 has very dark grey (7.5YR3/1) earth that is mottled with
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spots of reddish yellow (7.5YR8-7/6) and damp, which is 22cm. deep. SU4 has
light to strong brown (7.5YR6/4-6) earth that is damp, has Black (7.5YR8/4)
underlying it and is 26 cm. deep. SU5 has very dark grey (7.5YR3/1) mixed with
much pink (7.5YR8/4) soil that is damp, has a sandstone-like chunk that is 5/6 cm
and pink-reddish yellow (7.5YR8/4-6) and is 31 cm. deep. SU6 has dark grey
(7.5YR4/1) and dark brown (7.5YR3/2) soil that is very loose and has many chalklike grains that are sand granules to small pebbles in size with a reddish
earthenware-like fragment, a black core in its crumbled reddish deposit and a
thick light brown organic fragment which is wood-like. The bottom of the core is
too hard to continue with a bucket auger. P3 is 39cm. deep. (See figure 1) All of
the information found at the excavation site was written into the site notebook.
The soil samples were taken to a laboratory to be studied. All information
found in the laboratory was recorded in the laboratory notebook. In the
laboratory the soil samples were examined utilizing a binocular microscope and
measured using a reticle (a ruler-like measuring instrument similar to the
crosshairs on a rifle’s scope), which was attached to the end of the microscope.
Since the particles are so small the measurement that is used when measuring
them is µm or micrometers. A µm is the equivalent to one thousandth of a
millimeter. All of the measurements of length used in the laboratory will use µm.
The particles of interest were counted and sorted by size and stratigraphic unit.
SU2 and SU5 have been chosen to represent the different time periods used here.
SU2 represents the time period before the 1950’s, whereas SU5 represents the
time period after the 1950’s.
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In Figure 2 the number of particles in SU2 and SU5 are compared with each
other while taking into account the sizes of the black particles. The size range
observed on Figure 2 is <1µm to >50µm and the range in the number of black
particles is 1 to 10000 particles. In Figure 2 we see that SU2 has more black
particles in the area of <1 to 2.5-5, whereas SU5 has the most of the larger black
particles 5-10 to >50. With this information we can deduce that in the years
following the 1950’s the black particles were bigger in size than the years prior to
the 1950’s.
Starting in the 1930’s coal furnaces began to be replaced by natural gas
furnaces, and the speed of the change over from coal to natural gas burning
furnaces accelerated after the end of the Second World War. Since coal burning
furnaces give off much more air pollution than natural gas burning furnaces, this
change in the types of furnaces being used virtually eliminated air pollution
caused by residential heating.
Through the evidence provided by the excavation we see that the amount
of pollution after the 1950’s is much lower compared to that of the time period
before the 1950’s.
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Stratigraphic
Unit
Munsell color and other data recorded in site notebook
very dark brown 7.5YR2.5/2-3
damp earth
ca. 8 cm deep – P3.1
dark gray 7.5YR4/1 (mottled with some white & a little light brown)
somewhat rocky: largest 4 by 2.5 cm
ca. 7 cm deep – P3.1
very dark gray 7.5YR3/1 (mottled with spots of reddish yellow 7.5YR8-7/6)
damp earth
ca. 7 cm deep? – P3.2
light to strong brown 7.5YR6/4-6 (black 7.5YR2.5/1 underlying this face)
damp soil
ca. 4 cm deep – P3.2
very dark gray 7.5YR3/1 (mixed with much pink 7.5YR8/4)
damp soil
a sandstone-like chunk, 5 by 6 cm, pink-reddish yellow 7.5YR8/4-6
ca. 5 cm deep – P3.2
dark gray 7.5YR4/1 & dark brown 7.5YR3/2 (variegated colors)
very loose soil
many chalk-like grains: sand to granules to small pebbles in size
reddish earthenware-like fragment with black core in its crumbled reddish
deposit
thick light brown organic fragment, wood-like
bottom of core too hard to continue with bucket auger
ca. 8 cm deep – P3.3
SU1
SU2
SU3
SU4
SU5
SU6
Figure 1(Griffiths)
Opaque Black Particles in an Area Calibrated to
1 mm in the Vertical Dimension and 26.13µm in the
Horizontal Dimension at LC site P3
Number of Particles in
log 10 based scale
10000
1000
1431
1154
82
60
100
14
13
10
SU 2
57
1
1
<1
2
5
SU 5
1
1-2.5 2.5-5 5-10 10-20 20-30 30-50 >50
µm
Figure 2(Griffiths)
Sources sited
Griffiths, Alan, Chron LPC3
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