Step 3: Excavation
The Cellar Floors: The Floors
The Wells: Feature 1 | Feature 2 | Feature 3
The Trash Pit: Feature 4More About Step 3:
Archaeology:" A Step-by-Step Process
A Pictorial Guide to Site Selection and Background ResearchThe cellar of the Apothecary shop consisted of packed earth, with areas of wooden planking. A one-meter and five half-meter square test pits were excavated in the dirt floor. More than 2,000 artifacts were recovered. At 105 South Fairfax Street there were over 1,000 fragments of window glass and numerous nails, screws, wires, nuts and bolts, and general structure debris which one would expect in a cellar. Other artifacts included an eyedropper, two marbles, buttons, a brush handle, part of a hacksaw, corks, two pills and some crystalline chemical substances. In addition, over 200 animal bone fragments were found along with numerous fragments of bottle glass and ceramic sherds.
Feature 1, a well excavated by Alexandria Archaeology in 1982, is located in the center of the basement of the older portion of the shop at 107 South Fairfax Street. It remained open almost to its original depth of about 10 feet, with only 1 foot of fill at the bottom.
Feature 2 was located near the front wall of 105 South Fairfax Street basement. This brick-lined shaft was completely filled in with soil and artifacts. Excavation was halted after the surface was cleared because the soil contained quantities of unidentified chemicals which were potentially hazardous.
The Well: Feature 3
The brick-lined shaft known as Feature 3 is situated underneath the rear basement foundation at 105 South Fairfax Street. A brick arch spanned the opening. About one-third of the shaft extends beyond the building wall and has a brick, chimney-like downspout. The feature was not lined with plaster as are cisterns. Thus, it probably is a well which had its water supply supplemented by the collection of rainwater. Feature 3 was excavated to a depth of two meters (six feet), and a probe showed that the fill continued for at least another meter. Excavation was halted when odorous chemical substances were encountered in the feature. The lowest levels excavated contained artifacts discarded in the 1880s.
Many products were bottled at the Leadbeater drug warehouse and marked with paper labels, hundreds of which remain in drawers on the upper floors of the shop. Others from the 1880s were embossed with the name of the product or manufacturer. Some of the more interesting bottle labels read: "Gargling Oil" (apparently a liniment for horses), "Witch Cream" (witch hazel?) and "Lubin Parfumeur Paris."
Feature 4 was a trash pit probably associated with a building that stood on the site before the brick structures were built in 1774. It was located under the foundation. Feature 4 was fairly shallow and not lined with brick as were the other features.
Follow The Five Steps Through A Case Study:
