Julie,
> Has anyone else had
> experience excavating schoolhouse sites and/or could
> you provide me with any
> references?
Jim Gibb and I have worked on several schoolhouse
sites, mainly in Maryland and Michigan. I am currently
writing a report on an 1857-1953 schoolhouse site and
in the early staged of the excavation of an 1852-1953
site. Both of these Michigan sites had the extant
schoolhouses removed for preservation before
excavation.
I can provide you with a very long bibliography but I
am afraid most of the references are difficult to
obtain and/or have little useful content when it comes
to applying their results to your site.
Of the excavated schoolhouse sites represented in this
bibliography, the Freeman School is geographically the
closest to your site. Unfortunately location is where
the comparison ends as the Freeman school is a 19th
century schoolhouse that is still standing in its
original location and has undergone significant
restoraton work.
Schoen, C. M.
1986 Excavations at the Freeman School (25GA90)
Homestead National Monument of America. Report
prepared for the National Park Service, Midwest
Archeological Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Schoen, C. M. and P. A. Bleed
1986 An Archeological Survey of the Homestead National
Monument of America. Report prepared for the National
Park Service, Midwest Archeological Center, Lincoln,
Nebraska.
Alternatively the Oella School that Jim and I
excavated is a turn of the century schoolhouse that
was demolished. This school was located near
Baltimore, MD.
Gibb, J. G. and A. M. Beisaw
2000 Phase II Archaeological Site Examination of the
Oella School (18BA475), Oella, Baltimore County,
Maryland. Andrew Garte & Associates, Shady Side,
Maryland. Submitted to The Oella Company, Ellicott
City, MD.
> direction on the archaeological
> testing of early 20th century schoolhouses.
Some very general insights:
1. Standard interval testing of the schoolyard is
unlikely to provide data that can be statistically
analyzed.
2. A 20th century schoolhouse is likely to have been
built on or near the site of an earlier schoolhouse.
3. School related artifact density tends to be highest
in the area of (and within) the building foundation.
This area is also the most disturbed from building
renovation, restoration, demolition, and/or removal.
The issues related to the excavation of schoolhouses
(and similar sites) will be addressed in the SHA03
conference session: Fewer Possessions Than
Regulations: The Archaeology of Institutional Life,
scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Feel free to contact me with specific questions.
-April
____________________________
April M. Beisaw, RPA
Zooarchaeology & Taphonomy Consulting
http://www.taphonomy.com
__________________________________________________
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