Recording the Feature
Archaeologists
excavate not only to find artifacts,
but also to identify their context, since where the artifact is found
can
be even more important than what the artifact is. For instance, a teacup
found in Privy 507 is just a cup for drinking tea. But when you find
it with other pieces of a matching gilded tea set, fancy dinner plates
and cut crystal goblets, you may be able to identify a household in
which ‘keeping up with the Jones' was of great importance.
To preserve information on an artifact's context,
and the processes by which an archaeological feature
was created, archaeologists go to great lengths to record the feature's
stratigraphy.
Archaeological features are recorded using black and white and color
photographs before, during and after excavation. Excavators are videotaped
discussing the feature they are working on, and pointing out unusual
points about its construction or stratigraphy. Detailed drawings are
made of the feature both from the plan view (i.e. from above) and the
section view (i.e. from the side).
In addition, archaeologists try to observe
the feature closely as they excavate it, making notes on Context sheets
about the textures or colors of soils, types of artifacts found, excavation
techniques used, and samples taken so as to help the researcher back
in the lab understand the feature.
Working
down through the layers of Privy 507, the archaeologist takes notes
and makes observations that reveal the privy’s lifetime of use. It had
been built into the sand dunes bordering San Francisco Bay, and lined
with redwood boards to stop the sand caving in. During its lifetime
of use as a latrine, the privy accumulated “night soils” or primary
privy fill that would have been regularly mucked out and hauled away
for uses such as fertilizer. The privy
was abandoned and filled in about 1871. Once the privy had been abandoned
as a latrine it began to be used as a dumping area for household refuse.
Context 651 at the bottom of the privy consisted of the remaining primary
privy fill mixed in with dense quantities of household refuse. Sand
and silt then crept in to form several layers, before Context 668, which
contained large numbers of artifacts was created. The artifacts in this
context were found in distinct concentrations: perhaps they had been
carted out from the house in bucket loads and poured into the now-disused
privy. Other layers of silty sand mixed with artifacts accumulated on
top of Context 668, gradually filling the privy hole. A brick footing
was cut into the upper layers of Privy 507, possibly as part of the
outbuilding shown on the 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Over time
buildings were removed, the land was leveled and covered with gravel
and asphalt, and the area of Privy 507 was transformed
into a parking lot.
As they are pulled out of the earth, the artifacts themselves give the archaeologist a snapshot of Privy 507’s users. The manufacturing methods of the bottles indicate that they were dumped into the privy sometime in the 1870s. Delicate gilded and hand-painted porcelain cups suggest that the privy’s users may have been well off. Butchered bones indicate a diet rich in beef, pork, fish, and mutton. Once back in the lab, research and analysis combined with the archaeologist’s field notes will refine these first impressions into a more substantial, detailed portrait of the users of Privy 507.
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