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A Territorial Period Site in Dubuque
Michael J. Perry
Part
II: Test Excavations and Interpretations
| Two specimens classified as personal
accouterments may represent the archaeological signature of relationships
between the site’s residents and local Meskwaki Indians during the
territorial period. One specimen is a copper or brass thimble that
bears the relief-molded motto “FORGET ME NOT” (Figure 5, E). The
crown of the thimble has been punched from the inside out, producing
a hole about 5 mm in diameter. Similar specimens have been found
at a historic Winnebago burial in Chickasaw County. Presumably the
hole permitted suspension from a cord, producing a decorative ornament
that could be worn or attached to clothing. How the thimble arrived
at the site cannot be inferred, but it was probably flattened sometime
after loss. A small loop of iron wire may represent a second type
of Native American decorative ornament (Figure 5, F). Both of these
specimens originally may have been traded to local Meskwakis by
other Euro-Americans.
Hand forged iron hardware was rare in the 13DB496 collections, with
only four recognizable specimens. The recovered specimens include a
bridle or harness part (Figure 5, O), a rose head bolt, and two barrel
strap fragments. Rose head bolts are large bolts with angular dome-shaped
heads commonly used in wagons and large implements.
Personal accouterments include several ball clay pipe fragments similar
to specimens recovered from the previously excavated shovel tests (Figure
5, P–R). The pipe fragments include plain and decorated bowl and stem
fragments, representing portions of Dublin style pipes, which have the
bowl set at an obtuse angle to the stem. The 13DB496 pipes were produced
from both white and red-buff pastes, with the white specimens probably
representing imported European pipes. The red-buff pipe fragment may
have been produced in America.
The excavations also yielded numerous bone fragments,
but most were small and unidentifiable. Some of the bone fragments exhibited
saw-cut surfaces, cut marks, or charring. A few were identifiable to
element and species. The identifiable elements included cattle vertebrae,
ribs, and metatarsals; pig vertebrae, ulnae, scapula, patella phalanx
and teeth; and chicken long bone. The most common modification type
was saw-cutting, usually appearing on vertebrae and ribs. It is likely
that all the bone fragments represent food consumed at the site with
the saw cut specimens associated with late nineteenth and twentieth
century use of the site, when commercially butchered meat became commonly
available. Specimens with cut marks may represent home-butchered animals
that were consumed during earlier periods. |
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Ceramics and glassware in the kitchen assemblage represent
the majority of the territorial period materials. Both refined wares,
such as whiteware, ironstone, and pearlware, and utilitarian wares like
stoneware, redware, and yellowware were identified (Figures 6 and 7;
see glossary, below). Pre-Civil war ceramics in the test excavations
include hand painted whiteware, (Figure 5 G, N); “old blue” (Figure
2, K), black, light blue, and red transfer printed sherds (Figure 5
J, L); Galena production redware; pearlware (Figure 2, H); shell-edge;
and spatter decorated sherds. Other early ceramics encountered in the
test excavations include sherds of yellowware, mocha-decorated whiteware,
and a distinctive, refined redware known as Jackfield ware. The early
glass artifacts included lead glass or crystal container fragments,
a free-blown clear bottle fragment, and an olive green fragment. Late
nineteenth century ceramics include purple, brown, and green transfer
printed whiteware (Figure 5, I, M), ironstone and porcelain.
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