Most Memorable Find

So many I can not separate them - I am amazed by just about everything
historical archaeologists dig up. If I had to select I
would offer something different. I found in the special collections of the
Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley a hand written (ca.
13 pages) autobiography of a key person in the town where we were
excavating, Silver Reef, Utah Territory (ca. 1876-1896).
He was the newspaper editor, a lawyer, the mining recorder, the post office
master and he ran a general store, all at different
times in the town's history. The "memorable" discovery was that before he
went out West (after the Civil War) he was in
Pennsylvania and he helped to build College Hall at Penn (1870s) where, at
the time of our project, I had one of my offices (American Civilization).
That was  quite a discovery.
                                                         Bob Schuyler

P.S. I am not a "fossil", nor an artifact, nor a Republican. Sister Mary
(a.k.a. Most Reverent Holy Mother), if you do not
stop "kissing up"  to me on HISTARCH you are going to grow prehensile lips.
[P.P.S. Do not answer or comment on this
comment on HISTARCH].


At 08:02 AM 10/13/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>This is a wonderful thread!  What better  way to start what will be a
>slightly dreary morning writing about very rusted, no diagnostics-bearing,
>early 20th century overalls buttons than a trip down memory lane thinking
>about the things that got me into this field in the first place!  Hafta jump
>in here with a couple of neat finds that at the time and place seemed of
>international importance to me.
>
>Most likely the MOST memorable thing I ever found was back on my first
>project when we excavated an Russian contact period Aleut longhouse site on
>Unalaska Island and I found a crushed copper samovar (ugly little thing
>really) sitting upon what was at one time the grass matting of the house
>floor.  I'm not sure what was neatest, the samovar, or the perfectly
>preserved 150-yr old beach grass adhereing to the surface!  That was topped
>shortly afterwards by the find of a hand-carved faceted amber bead about the
>size of a grape at the other end of the longhouse.
>
>Fast-forward a few years to an historic Choctaw townsite excavation in
>southeast Oklahoma.  We were excavating the remains of a Removal Period
>townsite, and were in search of the hotel known to have been in the town.
>1830's ceramics were in abundant supply, and we were definitely excavating
>some type of building, when one of the volunteers turned over a large
>ceramic platter fragment, and on the base it said "hotel".  Now I realize
>that doesn't mean we were sitting in the remains of the hotel, but it sure
>was neat!
>
>Lynita Langley-Ware

Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
33rd & Spruce Streets
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
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