1. Archaeology and the Duxbury Second Meeting House Site Craig S. Chartier Massachusetts Archaeological Professionals

2. What is Archaeology?

3. Archaeology is this... ...and this...

4. Not this... ...or this

5. Proximity to water Elevation Slope Soils Archaeology Starts with...Prediction

6. Then Testing Strategy

7. Then...Excavation

8. Then.. Washing, cataloging, analyzing, writing, revising, rewriting

9. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

10. GPR Results

11. Test Pit 50 cm (1.5 feet) Square Dug until you stop finding stuff or you find something that needs closer investigation

12. Excavation Unit Often 1 x 1 meter in size excavated in 5 or 10 cm levels

13. Test Trenches

14. Test Trenches 50 cm wide in 1 meter long segments

15. Excavation can start like this... with an anomalous stain...

16. Proceed with test trenching...

17. ...and end with a Revolutionary War cellar hole

18. Or it may start with a bunch of stains...

19. ...and end with New England's longest native American longhouse.

20. Anomalies (soil stains) Native American and European post molds

21. Anomalies (again) A pit, with a pot in the bottom

22. Excavation is always followed by screening

23. Artifacts: Native American A pestle...

24. Artifacts: Native American A pipe, points...

25. Artifacts: Native American ...more points, and drills.

26. Artifacts: Historic Lots of nails

27. Artifacts: Historic Window lead

28. Artifacts: Historic Old Newer Old Pottery

29. Artifacts: Historic Bottles

30. Artifacts: Historic Coins

31. Artifacts: Historic Stuff

32. Meeting Houses Earliest form: 1620-1720 Square (or nearly so) 4-sided roof 2-3 doors Benches for pews Cupola Diamond pane windows

33. Meeting Houses Old Ship Meeting House, Hingham, MA 1681

34. Meeting Houses Second Period 1720-1780 Rectangular Often with attached steeple Barn-like

35. Meeting Houses Pulpit and Broad Alley, Box Pews

36. Second Meeting House Site

37. Second Meeting House Site

38. Duxbury First Meeting House Using the historic references one can surmise the following about the first meeting house: -it was built between 1632 when those living at Duxbury were allowed to gather their own church and 1638 when the first reference to it appears in the historical record -it either initially did not have glass in the windows, but was glassed by 1692, or the glass had fallen into disrepair and was reglassed in that year -it had gutters -it had a pulpit with a door -it had a fence seperating its yard from that of it neighbor Benjamin Prior

39. Duxbury's Second Meeting House Using the historical records, what can be surmised regarding the second meeting house is this: -it was built in 1707 -it initially measured 30 x 40 ' x 17' high and eventually enlarged 14-17' in length -eventually was plastered -it was shingled, at least on the back side -it had a gallery -it had a pulpit -it had a broad alley -it eventually had box pews installed -it had a fence on the outside at least on one side -after 1767 it was used to store the town's powder -it lasted until 1787 and was likely sold off

40. Second Meeting House Site

41. Second Meeting House Site

42. Testing Strategy at the Second Meeting House Site GPR survey to identify potential anomalies such as the foundation trench Cross trenching across the length and breadth of the lot in 50 cm wide by 1 m long segments to identify the locations of the meeting house foundations Excavation of 50 cm square test pits to examine the use of the entire property Excavation of only the topsoil, leaving the subsoil intact for the future Wish List: 17 th century artifacts and/ or features Native American Artifacts and/ or features Meeting house foundation Datable artifacts associated with the foundation to determine if it is the first or second

43. Second Meeting House Site

44. Research Questions -are there prehistoric archaeologcial deposits present within the project area -how does any of the prehistoric material recovered relate to the two know prehistoric sites located within and adjacent to the project area -can the prehistoric assemblage be used to provide a better understanding of the assemblages and archaeology identified at the two previously identified archaeologcial sites -are their architecturally related anomalies and deposits present within the Second Meeting House Site project area -if deposits are present, can they be determined to be related to the 17 th or 18 th century meeting houses believed to stand on or near the project area -can the historic archaeological artifact assemblage be used to provide a better understanding of the nature of the use of the meeting house and its surrounding yard

45. What Now... Dig Dates: October 6-18 How can you help? Preregister for the dig on September 27 at the Dig Training day Follow the preparation work for the dig on plymoutharch.com's Duxbury Dig blog