The Texas Historical Commission: My internship in the fall of 2009

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1 1 The Texas Historical Commission: My internship in the fall of 2009 By: Kathryn Bonnet Introduction I chose to do an internship because I know that most jobs in archeology require some sort of experience to get a job. Like most people, I would like to get a job as soon as possible after graduation, so I thought it would be wise to check into the program. Plus, most of the work done in archeology is done in the lab. It may not be as exciting as field school in Mexico, but it may be more practical. I chose to do my internship with the Texas Historical Commissions Archeology Lab because they have a strong intern program, have lots of work to be done, and I would be working with artifacts strait from the field and have the opportunity to work in the field should the opportunity arise. I also felt that it would be a good way to meet some of the local archeologist and begin to network. And lastly, I thought that an internship where I would be working with artifacts would be interesting and fun. Some of my duties at the Archaeology Lab Most of my duties in the archeology lab consisted of taking artifacts from archeological sites, organizing them into groups according to site lot number or artifact type, retagging them, re-bagging them, sometimes cleaning them, and making sure they were up to curation standards. This can entail fixing past mistakes like using pencils or sharpies to write the site number and lot number, or sometimes the wrong lot or site number maybe, on the artifact. To fix this I take the sharpie or pencil writing off, then put on a layer of clear coat, rewrite the site and lot numbers, then cover this with another layer of clear coat. Marking artifacts, although sounding

2 easy is a skill that I have learned, takes practice. Also, I would make a detailed inventory list of the artifacts from each site and then put that list into the computer system.

2 2 easy is a skill that I have learned, takes practice. Also, I would make a detailed inventory list of the artifacts from each site and then put that list into the computer system. You can see a photo of this process in figure 1. Figure 1: Some of the artifacts being processed. Lab Environment The environment at the archeology lab can be lonely at times. Sometimes it s just you and the artifacts. Other days it s just you and one other person sitting together for hours; you get to know each other really fast. The people that work in the lab are very friendly and are always helpful when you need something or just have questions. The supervisor of the internship program at the archeology lab is Brad Jones, and he is always willing to explain any procedure or question about artifacts that you have. He understands that interns are not only there to do work but to learn; not just about the job, but also about the artifacts themselves which can help us later in the field. He would also explain different types of site survey procedures. I

3 learned a lot about many aspects of archeology from him, which I feel is very important for a program like this. Figure 2: Brad Jones and I hard at work.

3 3 learned a lot about many aspects of archeology from him, which I feel is very important for a program like this. Figure 2: Brad Jones and I hard at work. The archeology lab is very cold due to artifact storage standards. So, it can be very uncomfortable at times. Some days when it was really cold I would leave the lab and go for a short walk to thaw out. Sometimes while I was there I would wonder Why am I doing this? But then I would see a cool artifact or learn some cool new historical fact and it would make it worth it. I would then understand why I put up with all of the other stuff. I am starting to think a lot of things are like this in the archeology field.

4 4 Fort Davis Family Fort As nothing worthy of notice happened today, it would not be necessary to state any account of it in my journal unless it is that I may know in the future that nothing of importance did happen in Fort Davis on the 22nd of January ~ Samuel Newcomb My first several weeks working in the archeology lab were spent working on the Fort Davis Family Fort Site. Fort Davis Family Fort was established in This family fort is not to be mistaken for the military fort in the west. Over the next two years the fort would be the home to over 120 persons. With the onset of the Civil War the federal troops that once protected the Texas frontier were gone, leaving the civilians on their own to protect themselves. The Comanche, not liking the encroachment onto their land, took this as an opportunity to increase their raids. So, most of the people who chose to remain in the area decided to fort up. In his first diary entry, Sam Newcomb describes Fort Davis as 300 feet by 325 feet with a 25- foot alley running through it from east to west. The fort was then divided into 16 lots; each lot was 75 feet square. A preexisting stone building stood at the southeast corner of the square. The women and children would use this building when the threat of an Indian raid was imminent. The houses in Fort Davis were set along the sides of the large square with one wall of each house as part of the outside stockade. Floors were usually packed dirt. Most of the houses were one-room structures. Some of the nicer houses were two or three rooms with floors made from split logs. We get a picture of Sam Newcomb s house in his diary entry dated January 16, He describes a house with three rooms, two fireplaces, two outside doors, good plank floors with latches on all the doors with good locks on the outside doors; a very nice house for the time! The residents of Fort Davis ate beef, buffalo meat, deer, antelope, prairie chickens, wild turkeys, wild plums, and pecans. They also made butter. A special treat is said to have been roasted and cured buffalo tongue. Flour would be obtained from a town that was a 200 mile round trip. Three men would take a wagon on the

5 5 dangerous Indian plagued journey. This trip would take them 3 to 5 weeks, and the men would take turns making the trip. The residents made their own soap, cloth, candles, and furniture. When someone became ill the Fort Davis residents would send word for the doctor in a nearby town. If they could not get him they would go to Fort Hubbard for Sam Lindsey, who was not a doctor, but had practice in giving medicine. News was slow and not often; they usually gained bits and pieces of news from travelers as they traveled through. One of the most popular visitors to Fort Davis was George Slaughter. George Slaughter was an Indian fighter, soldier, cattleman and Baptist preacher. During the Texas Revolution he carried messages to Sam Houston, and to William Travis at the Alamo. He carried the messages between the leather in the soles of his shoes. When preacher Slaughter came to the Fort a celebration was sure to follow. He would hold church 2 times a day, and people who needed to be married, or have children baptized, would do so at this time, and celebrations would follow. Most people at Fort Davis had never heard preaching before Mr. Slaughter. By May news reached the fort that Lee had surrendered. Families remained at Fort Davis till 1867 when military forts were established again in the area. The Artifacts found at the Fort Davis Family Fort Site 78 percent of the artifacts found at Fort Davis consisted of small remains of everyday household items. They were separated into many categories. I will go over a few of these. Ceramics and glass dominate the largest portion of this group. Ceramics The ceramics are divided into earthenware, stoneware or porcelain. The earthenware s are further divided into refined and unrefined types. Unrefined means that it is a course earthenware due to impurities in the paste it is made from. Then, within the refined earthenware s, there are whitewares and ironstone. The

$6 ironstone is usually thicker and heavier than the whiteware. Porcelain is dense and opaque when held up to light and exhibits conchoidal fracture when broken.$

6 6 ironstone is usually thicker and heavier than the whiteware. Porcelain is dense and opaque when held up to light and exhibits conchoidal fracture when broken. Stonewares are hard, strong ceramics, sometimes coarse grained and usually fired above 1200 degrees. Stoneware was used a lot for household purposes, and was usually covered with a variety of glazes, such as Salt glaze, Alkaline glaze, Natural clay or dark Albany slips, or light Bristol slips. Bottle Glass The term container is a general term for commercially-manufactured bottles and jars. The container glass found at the Fort Davis site is represented by several different types of vessels, including intoxicants, like wine, brandy and ale. Also, medical or extract, snuff, pharmaceutical, and various paneled types that contained medicicines, culinary items, and bitters. The most common types of containers found at the fort Davis site are embossed pieces that probably held bitters, ale, brandy and medicinal or extract liquids. Figure 3: Some of the broken window glass found at Fort Davis Family Fort.

7 Window Glass A total of 190 window glass sherds were recovered during the survey at Fort Davis. You can see a photo of some of the window glass in figure 3.

7 7 Window Glass A total of 190 window glass sherds were recovered during the survey at Fort Davis. You can see a photo of some of the window glass in figure 3. Archeological research on the thickness of window glass indicates that occupation date estimates can be obtained because through time the window glass becomes thicker. There are two different mathematical formulas they can use to determine this, one is called the Orser - Trinkey formula, and the other is the Moir formula. They took samples from the collection of window fragments found at different areas of the Fort Davis site. Using the Orser-Trinkey formula they get the date Using Moir s formula gives us a date of , which supports the occupation time of Fort Davis. Other Items found at the Fort Davis Site Some of the other artifacts found at the Fort Davis site include animal bones, stove parts, pins, lead bullets, gunflints, wagon and carriage parts, some lithics, brick fragments, nails, clay pipe fragments and my favorite piece was a small die made out of bone. You can see this artifact in figure 4. Figure 4: Die made from bone.

8 8 My Personal experience with the Fort Davis Site Accompanying all the documentation for the Fort Davis site I found the journals of Samuel Newcomb and his wife Susan. The Newcomb s were citizens of Fort Davis. Their journals are dated from January 1st 1865 to June 6th The journals talk a lot about the everyday life in Fort Davis. Samuel s journal tends to be very dry with the exception every once in a while when he will get philosophical; these times tend to be mostly on or around the beginning of the New Year. Samuel tells a lot about the people coming and going in the fort, some of the military business, and the building going on in Fort Davis, which helped archeologist piece together some of the site layout and dates of when different things were built in the fort. Mostly Samuel tells a lot about the weather in Fort Davis. Susan s journal tends to be a little more personal. She tells of the frustration of waiting for any information to reach the fort, and of the isolation felt there. She also talks about the everyday life of the women of the fort and of missing loved ones who are far away. I spent a lot of my lunch hours reading their journals. After reading the journals I would work with the artifacts envisioning what life must have been like in the fort, living in the Wild West. One day at lunch I read about a wedding that took place in Fort Davis. In it, Samuel tells of the white tableware used in the festivities after the ceremonies. When I went back to my work after lunch I would notice all of the white pieces of ceramic and would have visions of that piece coming from one of the plates used in the wedding. I still wonder if any of the ceramics I touched were used at that wedding. Another time, as I was going through the artifacts, I began to notice that there was a lot of window glass. A few days later I was reading in Samuels s journal and he told of a terrible hail and wind storm that broke out a lot of the windows in the fort. Well, that explained why there was so much window glass to be found. I have learned a lot about Texas during the civil war period through reading these journals. Their journals have made a big impact on me. I feel very fortunate to have been given this site for my first assignment. I have learned a lesson from the Newcomb s. You see, a lot of people would call the work I did in the archeology lab

9 9 mundane, or boring, and I am not lying, sometimes it can be. But, when I would read the journal and then go through the artifacts, I had such profound feelings that are hard to put into words. These pieces are not just glass or ceramic sherds; they are the remnants of people s lives. People who, just like me, had everyday issues. They had joy and sadness, hopes and dreams. These artifacts tell a story, and I feel so lucky to have worked with them and relive the story that lies within them. This is a lesson I hope I never forget. No matter where I go in this field or how bad or boring the work may be, I want to remember that it is not about the artifacts, it is about the lives that the artifacts represent. Some of the other Sites I Worked On One of my favorite things about working in the Archeology lab is that you get the chance sometimes to see some really cool stuff come through. I got the chance to see some amazing lithics from many different sites. You can see a photo of one of these in figure 3. I learned a lot about lithics, and how to identify them. I really liked processing the lithics. It was like a puzzle to be solved. You receive this big bag of rocks and by the end of it you have them separated by type, sometimes time period and location. I also worked on a graveyard site that had many artifacts from early to mid 1800 s graves. I thought this was really interesting. I cataloged many very old coffin nails that day. You can see some of these in figure 3. Also some clothing, a burial shroud, a wedding ring and many pieces of glass from viewing plates that were on the front of the coffins so the loved ones could see the deceased in the coffin before they were buried.

setting. The most valuable thing I learned from my internship is just the familiarity with the different artifacts.

10 10 Figure 3: One of the unique lithics I got to work with, and the coffin nails. Conclusion Looking back now at the semester I spent in the archeology lab, I feel the things I learned there are things you really would not have the opportunity to learn in a traditional class setting. The most valuable thing I learned from my internship is just the familiarity with the different artifacts. I feel I am better prepared, than people who have not had this experience, to work in the field and in the lab. I also learned how to better prepare artifacts in the field for the work to be done later in the lab. I would definitely advise any student wanting to work in the archeology field to do an internship. Even if you think it may be boring, the things you learn are necessary, if you are serious about your career.

Archaeological Resources on Fort Lee

Archaeological Resources on Fort Lee An Introduction A service provided by the Fort Lee Archaeological Curation Facility located in Building 5222 Fort Lee Regional Archaeological Curation Facility (RACF)