REFUSE DISPOSAL PATTERNS

Brunswick Town, NC in the 1700’s

The ‘Brunswick Pattern’ refers to the tendency for entrances and exits of buildings to have concentrations of waste nearby.

The theory is that it was common to dispose of some types of secondary refuse (waste not created where it is disposed) by throwing out of the door to form –

Adjacent Secondary Refuse in close proximity to a structure, as opposed to -

Peripheral Secondary Rufuse which is located further away from living structures and have a higher bone ratio in the refuse.

IMPLEMENTATION

Some key things brought up

Refuse disposed of in the yard will not

remain forever untouched

It will likely accumulate in concentration over

time, but it will also be disturbed, scattered,

looted by people and animals, weather, etc…

LAW –LIKE GENERALIZATION

“On British-American sites of

the 18th century a concentrated

refuse deposit will be found at

the points of entrance and exit in

dwellings, shops, and military

fortifications.”

IMPLEMENTATION

This pattern was so firmly established that it points of entry and exit could be determined at archaeological sites where there was no indication of former structures.

This is a dangerous way to go about utilizing predictive models: stating a broad theory based on the evidence gathered from one site, and then instead of bolstering this theory with evidence from other sources, using the theory to create evidence.

IMPLEMENTATION

Paca House in MD: predictions were made based on the pattern, and excavation held them to be correct

Charles Towne, SC: the model was used to predict where the gateway was, and this was used to infer where the road was. This was not verified! They did not excavate! And yet it is presented as a successful implementation of this rule!!!

Fort Moultrie, SC: initial excavations revealed the moat to the fort (which is awesome), and a large midden concentration suggested the location of the gate Architectural plans were used to verify that it was indeed the location of the gate

BRDP DERIVED FROM EXCAVATIONS

Three Brunswick Excavations:

Nath Moore’s house (1958)

The Hepburn – Reonalds house

(1959)

Public House / Tailor Shop (1960)

THE HEPBURN – REONALDS HOUSE

THE HEPBURN – REONALDS HOUSE

The Brunswick pattern seems to hold for ceramics, but not other artifacts

Ceramic distribution was noted to be heavily concentrated around the NW

corner of the house at the end of the brick patio. There was also a dense

concentration around a sunken public entranceway on the street.

THE HEPBURN – REONALDS HOUSE

Ceramic distribution

THE HEPBURN – REONALDS HOUSE

Nail distribution was similar to ceramics for the NW corner, but

not the sunken entranceway

A note is made concerning the distribution of nails as relating

to the architecture of the structure. One could not make

predictions about where nails might be deposited, as it will

vary from house to house.

Wine bottle and tobacco pipe fragments were found to be

relatively evenly distributed.

There were many more wine bottles atop the burned

fragments of the house, suggesting people tossed their

garbage on it after it burnt down

Other objects, like tailoring implements & bone were more

scarce and evenly distributed.

Bone was pretty rare, but this makes sense, as most

intelligent people don't throw food scraps right outside their

door

THE HEPBURN – REONALDS HOUSE

Wine bottle &

Tobacco Pipe

Fragments

NATH MOORE'S FRONT

Ceramic distribution revealed a

concentration near the east of the back

door and at the south entrance

There is also a high concentration atop the

burned layer, of a style indicative of later on

There is also a concentration in the trench

extending to the street

The trench was likely an excellent place to

chunk ceramics

Wine bottle and pipe fragments are again

relatively uniform

NATE MOORE HOUSE

NATE MOORE HOUSE -

NATE MOORE HOUSE

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP

This is a row style building built against the wall of the lot.

The heaviest concentration was just over the wall. Most of the garbage therefore was chucked over the wall into the adjacent lot.

Heavy concentrations were found in the southeast corner of the newer rooms, implying that waste had been discarded there before the construction of the eastern rooms.

This is the most useful use of this type of

quantitative analysis; using the concentrations and their time periods, the ceramic concentrations helped verify the supposition that the eastern most two rooms had been built as an addition after the other four.

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP

There was also a heavy concentration at the

rear of the fourth room, along with some

cobble stones, suggesting an entrance.

Pin & bead concentration was very dense in

all but room 6, suggesting that room 6

might have been used to sell the items

tailored in the other rooms

The rest of the items were found to be in

highest concentration in the areas

consistent with the ceramics.

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP -CERAMICS

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP – TOBACCO PIPES

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP – WINE BOTTLES

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP- PINS & BEADS

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP-TAILORING ITEMS

PUBLIC HOUSE / TAILOR SHOP- BONE

WHAT IS THE CAROLINA ARTIFACT PATTERN ?

.Basic Premise is:

“…each household in an 18th century British Coloinal

society represents a system within a much larger

system of complex variables, with the larger system

imposing on each household a degree of

uniformity…”pg. 86

The by-products from some of these activities can be seen

archaeologically in a patterned and predictable manner.

Not based on provenience within the site, it is based just on

the count of artifacts in selected groups found in a given site

or evern several sites within a region.

THE IDEA

British colonial behavior should reveal

regularities in patterning in the

archaeological record from these sites

Specialized behavioral activities should

reveal contrasting patterns

These patterns will be recognized through

quantification of the behavioral by-

products which form the archaeological

record.

SITES

British Colonial

ca. 1728- ca. 1830

North and South Carolina

Costal and inland sites

Domestic occupations

Military occupations

Domestic and specialized activities

TAILOR SHOP- PUBLIC HOUSE (S25)

BRUNSWICK TOWN

ca. 1732-1776

6 room row house, public house or inn prior to 1732.

Burned in 1776

Complete excavation -1960

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVffaEfd3

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ARTIFACT CLASSIFICATION

ADJUSTMENTS

CAROLINA ARTIFACT PATTERN

2 ruins

Lower Queen’s

Battery

Structure 11

Slightly different

artifact classes

Minor

adjustments

Excavated 1965-

66 (Jelks)

TESTING THE CAROLINA PATTERN TO SIGNAL

HILL, NEW FOUNDLAND

FRONTIER ARTIFACT PATTERN

ADJUSTMENTS TO FRONTIER PATTERN

COMPARISON OF FRONTIER PATTERN TO THE

CAROLINA ARTIFACT PATTERN

C A R O L I N A P A T T E R N

THE END