Report of the Archaeological Investigations of the New Castle Court ...

NEW CASTLE COURT HOUSE PLAZA
NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE
2.0 FIELD INVESTIGATIONS
extending from the eastern edge of the north-south transect, continuing across the façade of the
1765/1802 wing, and terminating against the stone retaining wall. The alignment of these units
consisted of six full 5-x-5-ft. units and one partial unit of 1.7-x-5-ft. On the opposite end of the
plaza, a line of units began at the western edge of the north-south transect, extended across the
façade of the 1845 wing, and terminated against the retaining wall. The alignment of these units
consisted of five full 5-x-5-ft. units and one 4-x-5-ft. unit.
These east-west and north-south transects formed a ‘T-shaped’ configuration with the head of the
“T” abutting the circa 1732 block. The alignment of the units effectively sectioned the plaza area
and provided a complete stratigraphic profile of this portion of the site. Due to the limited space
between the façade of the circa 1732 block and the retaining wall, and because of possible
subsurface remains, no east-west profiles were planned for this area.
Six additional units were excavated within the east plaza that were not part of the original scope,
but were supplemented during fieldwork to further explore and document a feature beneath the
plaza fill in this section of the plaza. These additional units combined with the original east-west
transect effectively blocked out the central portion of the plaza fronting the 1765/1802 addition.
The total amount of test units excavated during this project amounted to twenty-two full 5-x-5-ft.
units, one enlarged 5-x-5.7-ft. unit, and three partial units of varying dimensions.
Unit excavation was by stratigraphic layer, or natural level, with undisturbed subsoil (B-horizon)
exposed in many of the hand-excavated units. Proposal guidelines stipulated that excavation
depth would fully extend to this lower horizon within the north-south orientated transects while
the remainder of the units should stay within the ten-inch (.85 ft.) limit of excavation, a depth
stipulated by the renovation requirements. During the course of the fieldwork it became apparent
that plaza fill deposits far exceeded the renovation cut-off depth in the majority of the sampled
areas and in order to map the underlying features, excavation depth was extended in the majority
of the units (Plates 1 and 2). Depth of deposits within the western section of the circa 1820 plaza
remained within the restoration excavation limit, while fill deposits approximately 2 ft. in depth
were identified within the remainder of the tested areas.
Once the fill deposits were adequately sampled and removed, the remainder of the fieldwork
focused on feature identification. Feature excavation was never intended to be a significant part
of the archaeological work. In fact, excavated features were largely limited to those that would be
potentially impacted by the proposed drain alignments and to other unique features; those deemed
to be potentially important to the history of New Castle that could aid in our understanding of the
early Court House and the landform that it occupies.
Excavated soils were screened to recover a sample of the artifacts present within these foundation
fill layers. The recovery of these materials should provide chronological control that could further
our understanding of the plaza’s construction and any subsequent changes that it underwent. Once
screened, the backfill was transported by wheelbarrow to the west side of the Court House and
deposited within a designated area enclosed by safety fence. All fieldwork conformed to the
guidelines established in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for
Archaeological Documentation (48FR 44734-37) and the DE SHPO’s Guidelines for
Architectural and Archaeological Survey.
The yardscape adjacent to and in front of the Court House has been sealed for a long period of
time and may potentially provide important landscape/yardscape data; thus the collection of
environmental samples from areas where this data is preserved was strongly advocated. Since this
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