Presentation by Elise Merchant
12/07/09
 Encompasses Unit 5
from 2008 digging
season.
 Geophysical feature, wall
feature found in Unit 5
Unit 6
Hale Ives House
1875 Atlas of the
City of Providence
(JBH 46)
JBH 46
JBH 48
JBH 52
JBH 54
JBH 52
JBH 61
Harris Matrix by Sarah Baker
JBH 46
JBH 48
•Dark grayish brown soil color
•Heavily root content
Find
Date
Wire nail
1877 - present1
Brown glass
Green glass
Curved colorless glass
Fragments of
measuring cup
Plastic beads
Piece of brown rubber
Whiteware
1830s – present2
Creamware
1762 – 18202
Brick fragments
Shell
Piece of plastic coffee
cup lid
1997 – present – TPQ3
Plastic soda bottle cap
gasket
1960s – present4
1 Edwards and Wells p. 61
2 FLMNH, Mean Cereamic Manufacturing Dates.
3 U.S. Patent number 5,613,619
4 Object Bio, Elise Merchant
Find
Date
Pencil fragment
1893 – present1
Whiteware
1830 – present2
Creamware
1762 – 18202
Red-painted creamware
Colorless curved glass
Ridged molded glass
1700s – present3
Shell
JBH 46
JBH 48
Coal
Asphalt with Cobblestone
1871 – present4
Porcelain electrical insulation
1800s5
11.5 cm spike
1798 – 18476
Wire nails
1877 – present6
Cut nails
1791 - 19006
Slate roofing pieces
Red and yellow brick
Mortar
•Declared based on soil color/composition
change: sandy yellowish soil with high gravel
content
1 Elise Merchant, Object Bio
2 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing dates
3 Parks Canada Glass Glossary
4 CNEHA, “Telling Time in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century”
5 Ansel, Evelyn, Object Biography: “Porcelain Fuse”, Final Report 2008
6 Edwards and Wells
 TPQ date: 1893 (pencil fragment)
 Hale Ives House demolished around 19251 by Marsden
Perry
 Gravel path installed most likely during Perry’s occupation
of the Brown House, running apparently through Unit 6 in
the same direction as JBH 48
 Students excavating Unit had actually hypothesized JBH
48 as a path based on consistency of gravel
 Architectural rubble from the demolition of the Hale Ives
House could have been used for “fill” for the path, or could
have just been disturbed by the construction of the path
1 Yellin, Steffi, Final Report 2008
Find
Date
Colorless curved glass
Clear green glass
Pink-tinted glass
Dark green glass
JBH 52
JBH 48
JBH 52
Porcelain bone china
1830 – 19001
Blue-printed whiteware
1840 – 18601
Pearlware with greenish tinged
scallop edge
1802 – 18321
Creamware
1762 – 18201
Small molded button
(potentially metal)



New context designated based on soil color change:
same color as JBH 46 but mottled with yellow-orange
Patch in Southwest corner added after original
designation of JBH 52 based on lack of consistency
with JBH 48 (soil had low gravel content and featured
the same mottling seen on the East side of the unit).
JBH 52 surrounding the contexts in the middle and
having relatively low artifact content could lead to the
hypothesis that this was the “natural” soil, and
contexts JBH 48 and the ones below it were man-made
depositions.
Unidentifiable metal
Cut nails
1791 – 19002
Brick fragments
Shell
1 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates.
2 Edwards and Wells
Find
Date
Mortar
Ridged piece of molded glass
(corresponding to piece found
in JBH 48)
Asphalt with cobblestone
1700s – Present1
JBH 54
1871 –
present2
Unit 5
JBH 48
JBH 52
Small shard of slate
Concrete with gravel
JBH 54
JBH 52
Brick pieces
Whiteware
1830 – present3
5 x 5 thin flat metal piece
Cut nails
1791 – 19004
Cut spike
1798 – 18474
4.5 cm finishing nail
1900 – present4
1 Parks Canada Glass Glossary
2 CNEHA, “Telling Time in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century”
3 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates.
4 Edwards and Wells
•No distinct break with JBH 48
•Still high gravel content, but sandier, denser soil,
more tightly packed around the stones
•No longer high content of architectural rubble
•Same large stones and patches of mortar seen in
Unit 5 begin to appear, especially in North side of
context
Find
Date
Mortar
Bricks
Red Tiles (1 cm thick)
Green glass
Earthenware
JBH 52
JBH 61
JBH 52
1490 – 19001
Flat Iron Pieces
(architectural?)
Cut nails
1791 – 19002
Plastic Report Cover Sliding
Bar
1984 – present3
Slab of marble
•Wall-like feature composed of sizeable rocks
•Same as feature found in Unit 5
1 FLMNH, Mean Ceramic Manufacturing Dates.
2 Edwards and Wells
3 Giblin, et al., March 1986, U.S. patent number 4,575,123
http://static.www.odcdn.com/pictures/us/od/sk/lg/42
9258_sk_lg.jpg
 The path was destroyed during the construction of the
parking lot in the North side of the yard. The exact date for
the construction of the parking lot (and destruction of the
path) is unknown. The most recent proposal plan for the
parking lot dates to 1964, and an undated map found in a
box with a label dating up through 1988 shows the parking
lot in place on the property.1
 Potentially, the destruction of the path and construction of
the parking lot disturbed JBH 61, and the plastic binder clip
was deposited at that time.1
 JBH 48 could be the gravel and rubble remaining from the
path which was not successfully removed from the site
(assuming that the majority of the gravel was removed)
1 Personal Correspondance with Julie Pridham
•JBH 61 is fairly clearly some sort of architectural feature – potentially a
wall or part of a foundation. Given the location of the unit in relation
to what we know about the location of the former Hale Ives House, this
feature was likely associated with that structure.
 JBH 46: Modern topsoil layer
 JBH 48: Archaeological and photographic evidence to
support the hypothesis that the gravel and rubble fill
of JBH 48 is the remnants of a gravel path which ran
through the yard. This path was most likely built by
Marsden Perry, following the demolition of the Hale
Ives House in the 1920s.
 JBH 52: Relatively undisturbed “natural” soil, based on
appearance on both sides of the path/wall contexts
 JBH 54: Potentially bottom layer of path or just soil
layer underlying path
 JBH 61: Wall feature, potentially part of Hale Ives
House – problematic TPQ date, potentially explained
by disturbance during construction of parking lot