Page 28 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

figure 11
Architectural remains of the southern half of St. John’s Quarter (ca. 1655-1690).
The large postholes are obvious due to the orange color of their fill, which is deeper subsoil that was cut into when they were first dug.
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was found. This consisted of a deeper trench into which split logs or saplings had been set vertically close to each other and soil packed firmly around them (see figure 13). Called a palisade fence, it was stronger and more durable if rot resistant wood such as cedar, chestnut or locust were used. Pal- isade fences continued to be used in later times for military fortifications. One improvement in excavation techniques was to dig down until about two inches above the bottom of the trench. In many cases, the shapes of the individual tim- bers could be observed there, but not higher up in the trench. The final and latest type of fences were post and rail, consisting of posts set every 8 to 10 feet and linked by three or more horizon- tal rails nailed or fitted to the posts.These required less wood and there is some suggestion that they became more common as timber resources were depleted.
A fifth type of fence was also used but it is rarely observed archaeologically. This is the split rail or “worm fence” that consists of split rails laid on top of each other in a zig-zag pattern. Worm fences were almost exclusively used in agricultural contexts to fence in crops. At the time, livestock ran wild and tobacco and corn crops had to be protected from roving animals. The advantage of this fencing type is that it could be easily disman- tled and taken to new fields when the soil became depleted. But being surface laid, later activities
such as plowing obliterates all the clues of these fences’ presence. Study of the fencing at St. John’s showed that once the basic yard forms had been laid out, they remained essentially the same for most of the occupation, despite the fencing itself being replaced several times.This included a south side “front” yard that was kept relatively clean and a northern “rear” yard that was used as a work and dump area. Archaeology had successfully defined the spaces and buildings, but knowing what they were used for required another class of evidence.
All of St. John’s had been plowed for about 200 years from the abandonment of the site ca. 1715 to about 1918. Fortunately, this plowing seems to have been performed only using animals, so the disturbance extended no more than 6 to 8 inches below the surface. Because it was artifact rich, the plowzone soil was dug and screened around the house from the start. But one school of archaeological thought prominent in the 1960s and 1970s was that since the plowing had mixed together artifacts from different periods, they had limited value and the underlying features were what were really important. Hence, a site could be mechanically stripped of the plowzone to speed up the digging. Two areas were stripped with a grader at St. John’s. This uncovered several build- ings, fences and pits. But as the digging contin- ued, we realized that the evidence needed to say what these buildings or yard areas had been used