We've nearly completed the summer and recovered a substantial assemblage of domestic refuse from the last century. While we know the lot was a corner store for this period, the refuse actually appears to be typical of domestic discards: that is, we have not identified unusual percentages of particular artifact types. By week's end we will begin to wrap up the season's excavations and begin the task of analyzing the thousands of objects that have come out of the field school excavations. |
This light blue glass table vessel was once quite stylish and still bears the traces of a gilded decoration. | These artifacts were all found in a deposit that appears to date to the early twentieth century. They include a crushed thimble (bottom left), the finish (i.e., rim) of a stoneware bottle (top left), a stoneware smoking pipe (center), and two fragments of stoneware pipes (right). | Heather Childress' trowel is the blur retrieving this broken bottle from the structure's fill. |
This utensil handle was cleverly bent into a ring to serve as makeshift jewelry. |
What merchants did Ransom Place residents patronize? This vessel, which is a typical size for a pharmaceutical, gives us a hint of at least one local merchant the folks at 800 Camp Street patronized. The bottle is embossed with the identification of an as-yet unknown Indianapolis merchant. |
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The object above is a pliable metal disc roughly 1.5" in diameter impressed with a patriotic motif. It was recovered from deposits that are tentatively dated to about 1910. Let us know if you think you know what it is. Email at paulmull@iupui.edu | ||
Perhaps the only unexpected artifact quantities on site have been the marbles: the site has yielded about 30 marbles like this one. |
A shake of this sealed metal tin still resonates with the contents that remain trapped within.
When the tin was opened in the lab, it turned out to be a cosmetics compact with a small mirror and dried makeup. |
Email
us at paulmull@iupui.edu
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