Hi. I agree with George et al. regarding the minimal impact of by
plowing. This past Sunday morning attendees at the South Central
Historical Archaeology Conference 13 workshop at Lakeport Plantation,
Chicot County, Arkansas (3CH90), participated in a hundred percent
surface collection at 3CH91, a site right on the Mississippi River
mainline levee that was occupied from about 1810 and no later than
1830, at that time on the bank of the River. This was in the same
50mx75m area as the previous collections, with no spread noticeable
over the last 30 years. First identified by David Kelly in 1981, the
site has now seen three collection efforts, with full recovery of
less than 100 sherds and a few fragments of black glass. We found
about 30 sherds, including most of the common Staffordshire wares and
redware and stoneware (MNI vessels probably 40plus total over the
years) and a calcined blade gunflint.
As for the plowing, furrows are actually 18 inches from top of the
ridge to the bottom of the furrow. This is an important site for
early Anglo Arkansas but we're still just beginning to explore beyond
the Lakeport House and immediate outbuildings.
I have had success elsewhere using disking and raking, but can't do
this for 3CH91 because it has been farmed continuously for 180 years,
mostly and still cotton. But when I get serious about this and other
antebellum sites near Lakeport, we'll go to remote sensing as soon as
possible to pinpoint the pit features. I am lucky the Arkansas
Archeological Survey has Dr. Jami Lockhart and his wonderful toys in-house.
At 12:10 PM 11/23/2011, you wrote:
>Hi Al,
>
>Agreed. It seemed to me that the original question was about
>wanting to know what the plow effect most likely had been.
>
>If I had posted this query, I know that since I do not have this
>type of technology readily available to me, your first answer would
>not have helped.
>
>Kris, in Michigan, may also be trying to get his work completed
>prior to snow. A problem in Southern California I thankfully don't
>need to think of!
>
>Susan
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Tonetti" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 9:50 AM
>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>
>
>>It all depends on what resources you have at your disposal, but if you want
>>to go this route and you don't know when the 80 ac field will be plowed
>>again, see if you can get only the two loci of interest in the field plowed,
>>let them weather (and hope that collectors don't beat you to the site), and
>>do the CSC on a 5- or 10-m grid, again depending on your resources. At some
>>point you'll have to dig to confirm any hypotheses you develop concerning
>>the location of the cabin(s), etc. Geophysics is a good tool to narrow your
>>focus, but it all depends on your resources.
>>
>>Al Tonetti
>>Cultural Resource Specialist
>>ASC Group, Inc.
>>800 Freeway Drive North, Suite 101
>>Columbus, OH 43229
>>[log in to unmask]
>>614-268-2514 x3547
>>http://www.ascgroup.net/
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan
>>Walter
>>Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 12:23 PM
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>
>>I agree, thanks for your reply.
>>
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Branstner, Mark C"
>><[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 9:13 AM
>>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>
>>
>>Susan,
>>
>>That would have been my response as well ... Depending on the timing
>>issues, the cheapest (and as far as I am concerned) the best way to do
>>this is to plow the field after the crops come out, let it weather through
>>a few rains, and then do a gridded, controlled surface collection (10-m
>>grid seems to work pretty well) ... The significant site areas should be
>>readily discernible with very little cost.
>>
>>Mark
>>___________________________________
>>
>>Mark C. Branstner, RPA
>>Historic Archaeologist
>>
>>Illinois State Archaeological Survey
>>Prairie Research Institute
>>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
>>209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
>>23 East Stadium Drive
>>Champaign, IL 61820
>>
>>Phone: 217.244.0892
>>Fax: 217.244.7458
>>Cell: 217.549.6990
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
>>"Memory vectors collective success for any people."
>>--- Randall Robinson.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On 11/23/11 11:04 AM, "Susan Walter" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>>Question: What if this is not affordable?
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: "Al Tonetti" <[log in to unmask]>
>>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:11 PM
>>>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>>
>>>
>>>>Ditch the STPs for a gradiometer survey at the two loci. For e.g., see
>>>>http://www.ovacltd.com/Geophys_Scofield.shtml.
>>>>
>>>>Al Tonetti
>>>>Cultural Resource Specialist
>>>>ASC Group, Inc.
>>>>800 Freeway Drive North, Suite 101
>>>>Columbus, OH 43229
>>>>[log in to unmask]
>>>>614-268-2514 x3547
>>>>http://www.ascgroup.net/
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>>>>Marty
>>>>Pickands
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:29 PM
>>>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>>>
>>>>Hello, Kris-
>>>>
>>>>I have no experience on settler's cabins in Michigan, only in upstate
>>>>New
>>>>York. However, as you are probably aware, many New Yorkers moved on to
>>>>settle in Michigan. The sites I have seen or worked on dated to the
>>>>early
>>>>19th c. In each case they were located on the highest spot in the area,
>>>>or
>>>>the edge of a drop off, for drainage. Each was surrounded by a thin
>>>>sheet
>>>>refuse deposit with very little glass or metal. The structure was
>>>>represented by a fieldstone footing only two or thee courses deep with
>>>>a
>>>>pit
>>>>cellar 4-5 feet deep in the middle. These were storage spaces under a
>>>>wooden
>>>>floor. Of course, not all cabins had those, but only dirt floors. All
>>>>were
>>>>next to a road, and many had been replaced by a more formal house
>>>>nearby.
>>>>
>>>>There was very little metal. Often these cabins, in our area, had bark
>>>>or
>>>>plank roofs held in place by poles and stones. Most were built by
>>>>immigrants
>>>>from New England after the revolution. One exception was a Prussian
>>>>traditional two-room log house with a formal stone footing, that was
>>>>later
>>>>was moved to a full foundation with a stone-floored cellar and acquired
>>>>clapboard siding, plastered walls and a frame addition, as often
>>>>happened.
>>>>A
>>>>number of these in New York and Pennsylvania are still not only
>>>>standing
>>>>but
>>>>lived in- the owners sometimes unaware that they are living in a log
>>>>house.
>>>>These houses were different from "settler's cabins" even when built by
>>>>settlers, in that they were built to be permanent. Settler's cabins were
>>>>meant to be temporary shelters.
>>>>
>>>>I'd bet on the rise as the house site. The brick is a good sign. The
>>>>metal
>>>>detector would probably not show anything there except an occasional
>>>>button
>>>>or dropped personal item. The other location may be a shed or small barn
>>>>related to it. You might try close interval STPs on that area and the
>>>>one
>>>>where you had the metal hits. Alternatively narrow slit trenches can be
>>>>dug
>>>>with minimal effort into the subsoil to detect soil discolorations that
>>>>STPs
>>>>may miss. They cover more area and do not take a lot more time than
>>>>close
>>>>interval STPs.
>>>>
>>>>Marty Pickands
>>>>New York State Museum
>>>>>>>Kris Oswald 11/21/11 7:47 AM >>>
>>>>Morning to all
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I have just begun site testing(stp work) of a Pioneer cabin site in
>>>>Michigan and have a couple questions if I may, the wheat field that it
>>>>is located in is approx 80 acre's and has not been dragged/ plowed or
>>>>tilled in many years and the wheat for winter is resting a foot high. A
>>>>metal detector survey of the site was done a couple of years back with
>>>>some good results but conflicts with the Families story on where the
>>>>cabin was located.I have brick fragments on the highest elevation as
>>>>well at the lower section closest to original road bed where most of the
>>>>personal artifacts have been recovered. I am looking for any resource
>>>>materials on Michigan Pioneer Cabin Excavation. the concentration
>>>>level's of material from the STP's are light at best, is it possible
>>>>that the only remains of the site are articulated across the field?. I
>>>>feel that until the soil has been turned to expose more surface
>>>>artifact my STP work will take forever. Any thoughts on this? I value
>>>>your opinions
>>>>P.S. not sure when the field will be worked again
>>>>
>>>>Thanks in Advance
>>>>
>>>>Kris Oswald
>>>>Linden Mi
>>>>WILLIAMS INTERNATIONAL A COMPANY WITH A VISION
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