Baker Library archaeological dig unearths pieces of local history

Posted 07/06/01

Most Dartmouth students seek their history lessons in the stacks of Baker Library. However, a construction crew working on the library's renovations earlier this spring unearthed an opportunity for research under the stacks when they discovered a refuse pit from 150 years ago on the work site.

While preparing for foundation work under Baker Library in April, workers uncovered more than 100 ceramic fragments, bones and other items to the west of the library's old reference room. Construction Project Manager Shawn Donovan contacted the Anthropology Department so College archaeologists could excavate the site.

After first determining that none of the bones were human remains, Assistant Professor Paul Goldstein worked on the three-day excavation project with Professor Deborah Nichols and Kathryn Keith, the McKennan Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow. Students Jackie Lippe '01 and Tyra Olstad '04 assisted as well.

In addition to a large and diverse collection of pottery fragments, the artifacts they gathered included glass from old wine and medicine bottles, a two-tyned iron fork, iron nails and other building materials, a broken human tooth, animal bones and seeds, among other items.

The recovered artifacts, which the archaeologists now guess were discarded as trash in the 1830s, are on display in the fourth floor hallway of Silsby Hall. The seemingly random collection of items could offer a wealth of information about the social, ethnic and economic life of Hanover during that period, according to Goldstein.

"The pit represents a small, but important window on life on the north Green of Hanover in the early days of Dartmouth College," said Goldstein, who described the large bathtub-sized dig site "an inadvertent time capsule for domestic life."

"Any one item by itself might just be interesting old trash, but together, they tell us something about the people who dug the pit and deposited the items there," said Goldstein.

For example, the ceramic fragments are particularly useful in dating the pit because there are many records that document when and where different kinds of pottery were manufactured. Materials and motifs give hints to the ethnic and social background of the people who owned them. Most of the pieces of ceramics gathered under Baker Library appear to be of British manufacture, with the oldest piece dating back to the mid-1700s.

Information obtained by using one class of artifacts can be corroborated by looking at the other artifacts as well. Analyzing the species, age and butchering marks of the animal bones offers insight into the social, economic and ethnic background of inhabitants, while knowing that forks were introduced to American settlers in the mid-1700s can assist with determining the age of the artifacts.

So far, very little follow-up research has been done based on the archaeological finds, although there are plans to create student research opportunities from the artifacts. Goldstein has discovered, however, that the current library site appears to have been the heart of Hanover until approximately 1820.

"The area facing the north side of the Green became the commercial hub of town after Dartmouth Hall was constructed in 1786. Commercial development, spurred by demands of construction workers, began with Richard Lang's general store, which was located on the present-day site of Webster Hall," said Goldstein. Other north Green/College Street businesses included two more general stores, an inn, a bookstore, a tinsmith, a hatter, a watchmaker, a saddler, a tailor and a blacksmith. However, business shifted to the south Green/Main Street area after the Dartmouth Hotel was constructed in 1813.