Mystery Vessel
Late last week, the archaeologist uncovered 2 vessel pieces in the presbytery area. To date, this has been the largest artifact uncovered in our dig.
September 23, 2006
The archaeologist working on the feature continued to slowly, carefully, uncover the pieces.
Before long, other pieces of the same vessel began to emerge from the dirt.
Once all the pieces of the vessel were uncovered, the reconstruction began.
It is uncetain the origin and time period of the piece, though the vessel is believed to be of French design. The archaeology team will return the artifact to their lab for further analysis.
September 19, 2006
Presbytery kitchen chimney
The kitchen chimney has provided a wealth of artifacts ranging from burned animal bones to fragments of French diningware.
Post holes
Here is a picture of the post hole impressions in the presbytery wall trench. You will notice there are 2 posts fairly close together in the center and on the right side of the photograph.
Presbytery Wall Trench
Here is a photograph of one of the presybytery wall trenches. If you look closely, you will notice the impression of a vertical post towards the upper right corner of the picture just below the spade.
September 16, 2006
CLOSED ON SUNDAY
Due to a scheduling conflict. the excavation will be CLOSED on Sunday September 17, 2006. But operations will resume on Wednesday September 20.
Hope to see you at the park!
September 14, 2006
Exciting Day
Thursday afternoon brought a flurry of activity at the excavation site. The archaeologists were busily sweeping away excess dirt and misting the site down with water. Why the sudden fuss? The Archaeological Research Center staff and volunteers were preparing for a press conference that would announce that enough funding was obtained by the Old St. Ferdinand Dig Committee to extend the Church excavation for an additional 2 weeks. Channels 2, 4, 5, 11, Florissant City Cable and a reporter from the Florissant Independent News were covering the conference and Florissant's Chief of Police, the Health Department, Parks Department, Street Department, City Clerk, Community Development, Director of Finance, and Councilman Tom Schneider were present when when Mayor Lowery made the announcement.
The mayor turned the podium over to Committee Chairperson Gretchen Crank and Principal Archaeological Investigator Joe Harl. Joe led the press on a tour of the presbytery, pointing out the kitchen, chimney area, bedroom quarters and the building's wall trenches and post holes. In his characteristic easygoing manner, Joe discussed how the artifacts were shedding light on French Colonial culture. The French selectively adapted certain British and American Indian traditions and the remaining artifacts are telling us what these settlers found interesting and important.
It was exciting to see the press and City employees mingling together to learn about and see the first excavation of a Colonial French site in the St. Louis area. And it has been especially exciting to know that we can now continue the excavation for another two weeks.
Visit us at Spanish Land Grant park, located on St. Ferdinand and St. Denis streets and take a peek into the past. Walk around the presybytery grounds, look at previously discovered artifacts and chat with the archaeologists about life on the frontier. The excavation site is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from the hours of 9am -5pm.
For directions to the park, or additional information on our St. Ferdinand Church dig, please contact
Gretchen Crank (314)838-5085
gcrank@1789stferdinand.org
or
Mound City Archaeological Society at moundcity@missouriarchaeology.org
Be sure to check the blog often. Photographs of an interesting discovery will be posted soon!
September 10, 2006
Recap of Wednesday and Thursday's events
Wednesday’s goal was to uncover the presbytery and potential Church sites and the City of Florissant lent a hand, or rather a backhoe to assist the archaeologists in their endeavor. City employee Kevin Green artfully peeled back the grass and layers of dirt with the backhoe and by the end of the day, both areas were exposed. This saved our archaeologists’ at least three days worth of work.
On Thursday and Friday, the bake area of the Presbytery revealed several pieces of French ceramics including coarse earthenware with a green lead glaze and French faience with a tin glaze. According to ARC archaeologist Joe Harl, the French knew the health hazards of the metals but the settlers enjoyed the expensive appearance the tin and lead glazes gave to the dishes. However, the British creamwares became popular after 1762 and were widely used by the end of the century. The appearance of the French ceramics was unusual because up to this point in the excavations the majority of the vessels have been of British make. Several pipe bowls and stems, animal bones and teeth, charcoal remnants and limestone fragments were also found around the cook area during the first 2 days of the excavation.
The presbytery was most likely built before the church in hopes to gain an edge over the competing communities of St. Louis, St. Charles, Portage de Sioux and beyond. Unfortunately St. Ferdinand Church did have a difficult time securing a permanent priest with most only staying a year or two before moving on. The presbytery probably stood vacant for long periods of time though the quantity of artifacts uncovered over the last 2 years suggests that the building may have been occupied for quite some time as well. Visiting dignitaries from nearby communities could have used the presbytery. American Indian delegations or individuals looking for a priest to return to the their tribe, or seeking trade relations with the French could have used the building as well.
Around 1820 the presbytery was rented out to the American Settlers that began to trickle into Florissant and was used as a place of residence until the early 1840s. The property was then used as a burial ground in the 1850s.
A special thanks goes out to Joe Harl, who has been the principal investigator of this excavation. Reading his 2005 report and pestered him with questions helped to write this entry. Thank you Joe, your patience and enthusiasm is appreciated!
As you can imagine, the costs to fund this dig are expensive and the Old St. Ferdinand Archaeological Dig Committee has been busy raising money to offset the costs. We are hoping to extend the excavation an additional two weeks, but we cannot achieve this goal without your help. Donations are tax deductible and checks can be made out to Historic Florissant Inc.
Our address is
Historic Florissant Inc
PO Box 2211
Florissant MO 63032.
Remember that our excavation site is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday 9am –5pm. Spanish Land Grant park is located at the intersection of St. Ferdinand and St. Denis streets.
September 07, 2006
Synopsis
Wednesday marked the beginning of a 2-week long archaeological dig in Spanish Land Grant Park in Florissant MO. This is the last of a series of excavations that began in May 2004 and the main purpose of this dig is to find the original St. Ferdinand Church constructed in 1789. Besides finding the location of the church, many have been curious to the method of the building’s construction. Was the church made of logs placed in a horizontal fashion in Anglo tradition, or was the church created in the French colonial style with the trees cut, fitted and placed in a vertical fashion?
During that first dig, The Archaeological Research Center (ARC) and volunteers from the Old St. Ferdinand Archaeological Dig Committee and Mound City Archaeological Society set to digging in the southeast corner of the park and uncovered what appeared to be a burial ground instead of the anticipated remnants of the church. Out of respect for the dead, the coffins were left untouched and our professionals set off to excavate another portion on the southwest corner of the park. The dig ended with a cliffhanger when a series of postholes were discovered on that corner of the lot. Could this at last be the very church everyone was hoping to find? Or was this the remnants of a rectory? The question would remain unanswered until the next excavation event, but everyone knew for certain that the building was indeed constructed in the French vertical style.
During a week-long excavation in October 2004 and another six week excavation that began in May 2005, the southwest corner of the park revealed the remains of the church presbytery, an outside bake oven and an exciting array of English dinnerware, tea cups, saucers, wine bottles, buttons, pipe stems and surprisingly, Indian artifacts that included brass tinklers, gunflint and a black bear tooth.
During the last excavation, the ARC returned to explore the southeast portion of the park and found the impression of another vertical post. Have we finally discovered the original St. Ferdinand Church?
We invite you to visit Spanish Land Grant Park, located on St. Ferdinand and St. Denis streets. The excavation site is on the southeast corner of the park and there will be an information table with artifacts to inspect and knowledgeable professionals to chat with while you witness the first excavation of a French Colonial site in the St. Louis area.
For information on the dig or directions to the park, please email
Gretchen Crank at gcrank@1789stferdinand.org
or
Mound City Archaeological Society at moundcity@missouriarchaeology.org
