Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Students George Gibson and Lynn Hagerty studying a piece of crockery found in a well and a stratification shown indicating occupation levels. Oneida County history. Preliminary investigations on a strategic plot of groimd, ripped and torn by a bulldozer, showed evidences of an 18th century pioneer dwelling. This evidence places the occupation at a time when there were but seven or eight dwellings of whites between Whitestown and Oswego, and most of them were primitive huts. This we have from the report of a reliable eyewitness who was through the territory at that time. This spot we are investigating was the site of one of these dwellings, erected soon after the Revolution. When the site was first discovered, we gathered every bit of material from the exposed surface. Since the ground was disturbed generally about a foot down from the surface and since there were three components in this general area, we were faced with the problem of classification. We filled wax milk cartons with this material and labeled them "general surface finds." We soon learned to distinguish the difference between the type of artifact we found on one end of the site from those found on the other end where there were two other occupations. In the fringe areas the materials, of course, were mixed. Fortiuiately there were still about fourteen inches of undistmbed soil to be examined in many areas where the bulldozer had just scuffed oft the surface. These areas of undisturbed soil were carefully examined, stratigraphy plotted, photogra|)hed, and the artifacts kejjt separate. Each area was coded and the artifacts labeled with the code mark. This gave us a core of information that we felt was valid in forming preliminary conclusions. The stratigraphy clearly showed that this groinid had never been plowed or in any way disturbed before the bulldozing began. Among the more interesting items found in the inidisturbed stratification were many brass and pewter buttons of varying sizes, both plain and with ornamentation; quantities of koalin pipe bowls and stems with a profusion of identifications as makers' marks and bowl designs; shards of household dishes with the characteristic 18th century blue figures on cream background, some of which we were able to reconstruct in part; several silver and brass coins ranging from the reign of George II through 1796, of British, Spanish, and American origin; iron axes, one a British military broad axe; ironware as crane hooks, hinges, hand forged nails, ox shoes, horse shoes, fragments of iron kettles, knives, bone handled forks with two tines; pewter spoons; glassware with pontil marks; personal ornaments; lead musket balls, giui flints; even a brass bung from a barrel, an exact duplicate of one found at Crown Point; and parts of many other items common to a pioneer household. Of a more general nature we were able to determine the location of the building, once the long concealed well was found. There was no foundation to the house, only a dirt floor. A concentration of brick rubble and charred boards gave us the location of the hearth. Associated with charred boards were many short pointed sticks, the remains of burned saplings, aligned in a row, a foot under the ground and over the rotted and charred boards — dramatic evidence of the conflagration that brought them crashing in flames to the ground to be covered by smouldering debris. Here we have a suggestion of how the dwelling was constructed. Fragments of broken window glass and hand forged nails added to our information. Animal bones scattered through the general debris gave an indication of the diet. Deer bones were prominent as were bones and teeth of other large wild and domestic animals. Salt water clam and oyster shells were abundant EdScreen & AV Guide — October, 1959 537