Phase III Excavations:

 

Phase III excavations began 9 September 2006 and were completed 30 June 2007. The stratified random sampling strategy used during Phases I and II was abandoned during Phase III. Instead, block excavations were employed. Two 20x20-foot blocks were laid out, with additional units placed judgmentally to explore proximate areas. These blocks represent a 64-percent sample of the common yard area behind the houses at 1403 Richland and 1904 Marion Streets. One of the inherent difficulties of urban archaeology results from long-term, intensive land use within small, bounded spaces. This land use pattern results in a multitude of intrusive architectural and non-architectural features associated with each occupation era. With randomly distributed excavation units, like those of Phases I and II, the difficulty lays, literally, in connecting the dots. Block excavations were used in the common yard area to reveal patterning not visible utilizing the methods employed in Phase I and II excavations, most notably, horizontal patterning related to structures and day-to-day activities.

During Phases I and II, all strata were excavated, screened, and artifacts provenienced accordingly, including the upper-most stratum (Level 1) representing post-1970 disturbance. Although spatially out of context, artifacts from Level 1 were initially saved to facilitate the analysis of commodity flows—an analysis that can be preformed adequately at an urban block scale. The need for this data from Level 1, however, disappeared after discovery of a large, very well preserved trash deposit containing nearly one-thousand artifacts associated with the lunch counter at 1401 Richland Street. Consequently, recovery of Level 1 data, which was very time consuming, was abandoned during Phase III. Utilizing the stratigraphic information generated from the 2005 shovel test survey, Level 1 soils were mechanically removed and discarded using a backhoe to reveal undisturbed strata. The exposed stratum (Levels 2 and 3, depending on yard area) represents the Jim Crow occupation era and is the primary data from the common yard area used in the study.

-Jakob D. Crockett