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

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NEW CASTLE COURT HOUSE PLAZA NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE 4.0 ARTIFACT ANALYSIS porcelain. The decoration of this vessel, represented by the recovered hollowware foot (Context 64), could not be determined. 4.4 NOTEWORTHY SMALL FINDS 4.4.1 BALL CLAY PIPE BOWL ASSEMBLAGE The Court House excavations yielded a total of 384 fragments of tobacco pipes from all contexts (Table 9). Of this number, 135 (35 percent) were bowl fragments and 249 (65 percent) were stem fragments. Bowl fragments were consistently undecorated or minimally decorated, and no makers’ marks were identified. Pipe stem bore diameters ranged from 4/64ths to 8/64ths to with the most common bore diameter (84 percent) made up of 5/64ths (n=68) and 6/64ths (n=73) (Table 5). Overall, this would provide a general date range for the majority of the pipes as circa 1680 to 1750 (Deetz 1993:4-9; Nöel Hume 1969:296-300). The largest number of number of datable pipe stems were recovered from SU E, (n=117) providing a mean pipe date for this stratigraphic unit of 1718.6. Within Feature 20 the stem and bowl assemblage consisted of 58 fragments (Table 9). The date provided by the tobacco pipes fragments for this feature would suggest feature infill circa 1692. Table 9. Recovered Ball Clay Pipe Fragments and Assigned Dates Stem Bowl Provenience 4/64 5/64 6/64 7/64 8/64 Total Date Fragments Fragments SU A --- --- --- --- --- --- 1 1 --- SU B --- 1 1 1 --- 10 9 22 1696.7 SU C 2 11 13 2 1 9 23 61 1709.7 SU D --- 2 --- --- --- 5 6 13 1730.0 SU E 2 30 17 1 --- 31 36 117 1718.6 SU F --- --- 1 --- --- --- 1 2 1695.0 SU I 1 1 1 --- --- 3 3 9 1733.3 SU J 1 5 3 5 --- 7 11 30 1702.5 SU L --- --- --- --- --- 1 --- 1 --- Feature 8 --- --- --- --- --- --- 1 1 --- Feature 9 --- --- --- --- --- 1 --- 1 --- Feature 20 --- 5 17 7 --- 5 24 58 1692.4 Feature 22 --- 2 2 --- --- 1 2 7 1712.5 Feature 23 --- 1 7 1 --- 6 8 23 1695.6 Feature 25 --- --- --- 1 --- --- --- 1 1665.0 Feature 26 --- 1 --- --- --- --- --- 1 1730.0 Feature 31 --- 1 --- --- --- --- --- 1 1730.0 Feature 37 --- 1 --- 1 --- --- 1 3 1697.5 Feature 48 --- --- 2 1 --- --- 2 5 1685.0 Feature 51 --- --- --- --- --- 1 3 4 --- Miscellaneous --- 7 9 --- --- 1 4 21 --- TOTAL 6 68 73 20 1 81 135 384 68
4.4.2 CORAL NEW CASTLE COURT HOUSE PLAZA NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE 4.0 ARTIFACT ANALYSIS Unexpectedly, a large amount of coral was recovered from Feature 20 (Plate 22), with lesser quantities documented from Feature 23 and SUs B and C. From all contexts, approximately 170 pounds of coral were recovered. Fragments ranged from half dollar to basketball-sized pieces weighing nearly 11 pounds. Three varieties of coral were identified: “brain coral” (diploria strigosa), a bulky and frond-like coral (acropora palmata), and a species called monatstrea annularsi. JMA consulted with Dr. John M. Pandolfi, Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Fossil Corals at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History regarding possible environmental and locational information for the Court House corals. Dr. Pandolfi identified the location of origin as the Caribbean. Dr. Pandolfi explained that it is difficult to determine what environment (barrier or fringing reef) that the coral may have been harvested from. It is equally difficult to determine what islands the corals may have come from. Given New Castle’s strong ties to Dutch-occupied islands, Dr. Pandolfi suggested that the Dutch Antilles islands of Curaco, Aruba, and Bonaire may be possible sources for the Court House corals (John Pandolfi, personal communication, April 12 and 14, 2004). Coral is often reported from archeological excavations at waterfront sites and docks from places such as New York City, and Providence, New Hampshire (Cantwell and Wall 2001:227; Pendery 1980). In these places the coral has been interpreted as a remnant of ships’ ballast, brought from the Caribbean; in New York excavations ballast has also included coralline sand (Cantwell and Wall 2001:234; Geismar 1987:52). However, the presence of the coral in the New Castle Court House deposits is unusual on terrestrial colonial archeological sites in the Middle Atlantic, especially considering the quantity that was found. Previously in New Castle, four fragments of coral (one brain coral and three elkhorn corals) were recovered from Level I of the archeological excavations at Immanuel Church (John Milner Associates, Inc. 1984:180; hereafter JMA). Level I contained artifacts dating from the early eighteenth century until 1860 (JMA 1984:165). One fragment of brain coral was also recovered from a circa 1750 feature in the Area F excavations at Independence Hall in Philadelphia (Juliette Gerhardt, personal communication, August 2004). Coral has also been reported from the excavations at the John Read House in New Castle (Lu Ann De Cunzo, personal communication February 2006). As it was explained in the report of the Immanuel Church investigations, “the presence of the coral in local beach sand cannot be attributed to natural processes of currents, tides, and wave action but probably represents discarded ship’s trash or ballast dumped at or near New Castle before proceeding up the river” (JMA 1984:180). The additional finds of coral at the nearby Court House tends to confirm this earlier conclusion. It is likely that the primary purpose or function of the corals could have been as ships’ ballast, as construction material (a source of lime for mortar), or as a road “cobbling” material. Ultimately, the secondary role of the coral was as backfill for the features on the grounds of the Court House. An example of early eighteenth-century mining of coral and limestone for use as ships’ ballast has been reported as occurring on Water Island located one-half mile south of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands (Anderson 1998). A fragment of coral has also been recovered from the excavation of the Puddle Dock at Strawberry Bank in Providence, New Hampshire. Providence carried on a significant trade with the West Indies from circa 1690 until the trade was disrupted 69
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Report of the Archeological Investi
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NEW CASTLE COURT HOUSE PLAZA NEW CA
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Abstract Acknowledgements List of T
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1.1 BACKGROUND NEW CASTLE COURT HOU
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0 150ft 0 30m Project Location Figu
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Figure 3. Detail, Latrobe’s eleva
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1.4.1 1950’S RESTORATION OF THE C
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Plate 2. Plan view mapping of EU 21
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EU6 MATCH TO FIGURE Fa Post hole Ce
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ARTIFACT INVENTORY NEWCASTLE COURTH
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Wade Catts , RPA Associate/Senior P
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APPENDIX III: RESEARCH DATA FROM DE
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APPENDIX IV: CHRONOLOGY BLOCKHOUSES
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“That his honour would please to
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(who is in pay and is kept for to l
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WADE P. CATTS Associate Principal A
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2000 Conducted historical research
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1986 Soil Chemistry and Historic Ar
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2004-2005 Field Supervisor. Phase I
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