For all of you amateur archaeology fans, here's something fun.
Thingummie Major found this apothecary bottle shard amongst the rocks by our creek. It says in raised lettering "ES Leadbeater and Sons- Wholesale Druggists- Alexandria Virginia- EST 1792"
Leadbeater and Sons closed their shop in 1933, so the bottle has to be at least that old. We'll keep looking for an intact bottle. We find discarded patent medicine bottles rather frequently, some of them in excellent condition. Likely we ought to do some serious, organized excavating along that thar creek. The dwelling site has been continuously occupied, right back to the Catoctin Indians pre-settlement era, or so we've been told, because the creek never runs dry.Interesting. Is there any reason why the medical professions of the ages have favoured that spot, your good selves included?It is quite a salubrious place, I reckon. That's lovely! With hindsight I now realise with my love of Time Team and grubbing around in the dirt, I should have studied to become an archaeologist. I always walk with my eyes trained on the ground hoping to see a Roman coin (I saw one last night, but Jay took a cursory glance and pronounced it a bottletop, non-Roman.) And I pick up pieces of broken pottery in the fields, but so far these have been less Saxon cooking-pot, circa 600 AD and more toilet cistern, circa 60s council house demolition
Do post any more finds! I love them. each with their own little story to tell.Love the idea of that little bit of history in your hand. Not just big history like battles and stuff, but some ordinary person dropping a coin or a bottle on their way somewhere.As part of his studies in 1971 Creature in a very hot July was helping excavate Bainbridge Roman fort, and one day found quite a lot of wot is known as Black Burnished Ware.
Where did you find all that? asked Mr Hartley. O in the 197 (AD) burnt layer replied Creature.
Well, said Mr Hartley, so-and-so is going to love you, because he has just written a book where he says it wasn't produced before 220 AD.
And now the Wiki page about it dates the earliest ware to 120 AD. This the sort of thing Creature found.Midge, you added to the total sum of knowledge that day. I love how that works. Wow! That is quite an accomplishment. Thanks for sharing that moment of glory, MidgeKitty
We pick up ceramic shards all the time, here. The ones that have floral decorations or nice cream glaze are obviously old dishes and readily dated, but the humble brownish ones, we're never sure whether they represent broken bathroom bits or not, in the line that Merry has described .
There's no telling how often we've tossed aside Catoctin tribal urn fragments under the assumption they were 20th century plumbing chunks.
Here's an intact patent med bottle recently found in our evening rambles. "Foley's Honey and Tar" was a cough and cold remedy.
There are two side seams of the flask that end at the neck of the bottle, the neck being seamless blown glass. I think that configuration places the bottle at 1890-1920.
Midge, you added to the total sum of knowledge that day.
each with their own little story to tell.
