This week’s post was prepared by Eva Miller, a first-year graduate student in the Applied Archaeology program.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Highway Archaeological Survey Team (PHAST) is a joint program run by IUP and PennDOT. It gives students an opportunity to participate in archaeological survey work over the summer, gaining hands-on experience with all tasks involved with an archaeological project. This summer we were able to work on projects from the initial scoping field view

L to R: Brenden Patterson, Eva Miller, Heidi Hepburn, and Emily Briggs.

to see the proposed project area to all the way through the phase I fieldwork, lab work, and final reports.

This summer’s PHAST team were all archaeology grad students here at IUP. We worked on several projects over the summer, with a focus on areas that would be impacted by bridge replacements and improvements. In order to survey these areas for archaeological resources, we would first measure out our project area, working based on the highway department plans. Then shovel test pits (STPs) were placed at 15 or 7.5 meter intervals in a grid. For some of the projects, judgmental STPs were also excavated. STPs are the most common archaeological survey method and allow larger areas to be covered by sampling with less disturbance to potential sites than opening full excavation units. Each STP is 57 centimeters in diameter and is dug in 10 centimeter levels following the natural stratigraphy, or variation, of the soils. The soil removed from STPs is then worked through a 1/4-inch screen in order to catch artifacts. This allows archaeologists to control for the context of any artifacts they find. It shows where they came from on the site horizontally, since you know where on the grid the STP is, and vertically, since you know how deep each artifact was. Knowing the context lets archaeologists place a find in both space and time making it clearer how different artifacts at a potential site relate to one another.

The first project we worked on was for a bridge crossing over Runaway Run. Although no sites were found in the area to be impacted by the construction, we did come across several interesting artifacts. The Pittsburgh, Summerville, and Clarion Railroad ran through the area starting in 1901, and continued operations there until that spur line, then a part of the Lake Erie, Franklin, and Clarion Railroad, closed in January 1993. Several artifacts likely related to the railroad were found during the excavations (see image below).

This convex piece of rigid red glass is likely from a Fresnel lens. These lenses were used on railroad signals since their early days (red was the first color signal railroads adopted).

Another project PHAST worked on last summer was a survey for a bridge replacement over Dillie Run. Historic maps and aerial photos of the area had shown an early 20th century four square farmhouse on the edge of the project area, and potentially some smaller outbuildings within it. In order to get a better idea of where to look for those we had the opportunity to conduct a geomorphological and geophysical survey with expert geologist Dr. Frank Vento. This involved running a variety of tests to get a look under the ground before deciding where to dig. We took soil cores and ran conductivity and magnetometer tests as well as ground penetrating radar (GPR). GPR sends a signal down into the earth which is reflected back at varying frequencies depending on what it encounters. This can give archaeologists an idea of what lies beneath a field, and how deep they should be looking. We used the results of these tests to influence where we dug STPs, adding several judgmental ones to our 7.5 grid pattern in order to place them over anomalies highlighted by the tests (see image below).

Emily and Frank running the GPR. it was pushed back and forth across one quadrant of the project area at 0.5 meter intervals as indicated by the green flags seen here.

One of the highlights of the summer for PHAST was the opportunity to help with the ongoing work at the Friendly Fire site. During the French and Indian War, a young George Washington spent time at Fort Ligonier here in PA. In November of 1758 he was sent out with some of his Virginian soldiers to assist Colonel Mercer, who had left earlier that day to pursue French and Native American forces along the Forbes Road roughly two miles from the fort. It was extremely foggy, and Washington chose to approach the battlefield from the north rather than use the Forbes Road. When they rounded a bend they saw a group of men emerging through the fog at the base of the hill. Some of the troops responded to their sudden appearance by opening fire, and the others returned a volley. During the chaos of the fighting George Washington realized that both sides involved were Virginians, not the French and Native Americans. He rode down the line of troops demanding a cease fire until the fighting stopped. Several men were killed, and more were wounded, during the skirmish. The incident stayed with Washington for the rest of his life.

Although it was known to have occurred along the Forbes Road near Fort Ligonier, the exact location of the battlefield was unknown until recently. Dr. Jonathan Burns has been leading an effort to locate the site archaeologically for several years now, and was able to formally[HSM4] announce the discovery this year. Members of the PHAST program have worked at the site the last few summers, alongside a number of veteran volunteers as part of the Veterans Archaeology Program who are lending their expertise on battlefields to our understanding of this nationally significant site. The site has been surveyed with metal detectors, both formally working along a grid, as well as informally. Lead shot, buttons, and musket parts have all been located by the metal detecting and their locations meticulously mapped in, which helps to add to our understanding of how people were positioned during the fighting. One of the other goals of the work is to identify the location of the burials. Human remains detection dogs along with GPR is being used to help locate them. The GPR is also identifying Historic-Era farmstead-related disturbances that took place after the battle.

The PHAST team here at IUP had the opportunity to gain lots of valuable experience this summer, and to contribute to interesting and necessary projects. The program is a wonderful opportunity for students to work in the field. We look forward to next summer!

Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences at IUP