DelDOT logo
DelDOT Blog



  Category: Archaeology Updates

Delaware Department of Transportation


Facebook  Twitter  Flickr  YouTube  RSS Feed

archaeology-updates

Video-US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: August 16th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

300 and counting. That’s the current number of features recorded at the Houston-LeCompt site. Some features are small, like post holes and post molds showing us fence lines and shallow refuse pits where remains were thrown away out of sight. Other features, though, are quite large and vastly informative. To date, we have found a […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: August 15th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

  Archaeologist Matt Sanna holds a stirrup Giddy-yup! Food consumption and horse riding were the themes this week at the Rumsey/Polk Tenant/ site, and we found food remains and “horsey” items galore.  Several large trash pits dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were excavated this week.  A few pits that would have been used to […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: August 7th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

  Field Crew This week at the Rumsey-Polk site, archaeologists finished  measuring, mapping, describing, drawing and photographing the site’s 530-plus “features” including a possible house, wells, several pits, and over 400 post holes showing house and fence lines. Excavation began on some of the pits with artifacts on the surface and the possible house. Initial […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: August 6th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

Boy, we are having fun now! This week’s activities at the Houston-LeCompt site comprised of creating a full site plan map and beginning feature excavation. The location of each of our 250+ features was captured, through the use of a total station (a digital transit), and the data was then used to draft a field map. […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 30th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

  Feature Mapping This week at the Rumsey-Polk site, archaeologists continued to measure, map, describe, draw and photograph the site’s cellar holes, pits, posts, wooden sills, and remains of former structures made and used by the 18th and 19th-century tenant farmers (photo).  Over 240 of these “features” were meticulously and carefully documented to enable archaeologists […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 30th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

What a difference a week makes! Over the past week at the Houston LeCompt excavation, most of the mechanical stripping has been completed revealing myriad features, and many intriguing artifacts. It looks like the site core contains the main house cellar, at least six possible outbuildings, a potential well, and a historic sheet midden. While […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 23rd, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

This week at the Rumsey-Polk site, archaeologists worked through the heat and rain to document more “features” – cellar holes, pits, posts, and wells made and used by the 18th and 19th-century tenant farmers.  We found one type of feature that is rarely preserved, remains of wooden sills that once supported “earthfast” houses and sheds.  […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 23rd, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

  The last week of work on the Elkins Site saw a gathering of historic preservation specialists from the Delaware Division of Historic and Cultural Affairs, including State Historic Preservation Officer Timothy Slavin.  This meeting enabled the team to share ideas with other specialists and to discuss interpretations and strategies for the site.  Meanwhile, the […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 23rd, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

Crossing plow scars cut through a feature uncovered at the Houston-LeCompt site. At the Houston Le-Compt site we have met the enemy, and the enemy’s name is……plow scar! Work continued for a third week, and we have moved from digging sample units to mechanically stripping the plow zone from the 0.8-acre site core. After the […]


Read More

archaeology-updates

US Route 301 Archaeology Update

Written on: July 17th, 2012 in Archaeology UpdatesUS301

Fieldwork concluded this week on the Elkins site, with work focusing on bisecting the suspected post holes across the site and finishing the larger prominent features.   As could be expected, some of the suspected postholes indeed turned out to be historic posts, while others are now interpreted as “non-cultural” disturbances caused by tree roots or […]


Read More


+