Fieldwork Recommencement

We'll be kicking off two more weeks of fieldwork on Monday (April 19th). We will be returning to Davant Park, the area south of Colonial Cemetery where Lincoln St. dead ends into Perry Ln.

We are very excited about this location. Our historic maps indicate that ditchwork connecting two redoubts probably runs through this area. In October 2008, we did ground penetrating radar (GPR) in the southeast quadrant of Colonial Park Cemetery and in Davant Park. Our GPR guru Dan found a large, linear anomaly running northeast/southwest throughout this area. This means that there is some natural or cultural ditch running through this area. Monday we will be digging some test units (1 by 2 meter squares) to see if this ditch is really from the American Revolution.

This is a GPR image of Davant Park. North is up. Each tick mark is one meter. 

(Figure 122 from our technical report)

Another advantage of doing GPR before digging is that we are able to "see" graves. Dan mapped numerous unmarked graves within the walls of the cemetery. Unmarked graves are very common in old graveyards, and the graves frequently extend beyond the marked edges of the cemetery. But surprisingly, there were no graves south of the Colonial Cemetery's brick wall.

Stop by and we'll give you a tour!