Previous Archaeology
1954 Excavation (Cross-trenching)
The basic layout of the Ravenscroft property was established during a 1954 project designed to locate brick foundations. By digging diagonal trenches across both lots, excavators identified, then completely exposed, the remains of two cellars and a well.
Features found in 1954. The structure on the right was
designated Structure A, and the one on the left Structure B.
The director of the 1954 project was James M. Knight, an architect and archaeologist for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Knight excavated diagonal trenches across both lots and located the remains of two colonial structures, one located on lot 267 and the other located on lot 268. The latter extended beneath Botetourt Street. The foundation uncovered on lot 267 measured 14 feet by 16 feet and consisted of a brick cellar with a corner fireplace and a bulkhead entrance that faced Nicholson Street. Knight believed that this foundation was constructed in the early eighteenth century. Excavation of this building included complete removal of the fill within the cellar and partial excavation around the exterior of the foundation. Knight collected several artifacts from the cellar fill. Although the specific provenience of the artifacts within the cellar was not documented, a report compiled in 1959 and 1962 by archaeology student Robert M. Barrow and archaeologist Audrey Noël Hume provided a description of the artifacts. These artifacts are now stored at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundations Department of Archaeological Research.
Map drawn by James M. Knight of the excavated features.
(Click on image to enlarge)
The finds from this excavation included ceramics, glass, small finds, iron objects and architectural material. The ceramics were comprised of domestic tableware and coarseware, such as German, English and American stoneware, slipware, tin enameled ware, creamware, pearlware, redware and locally-made hand-built pottery. Glass finds included leaded tableware, pharmaceutical and beverage bottles, and a glass bird feeder. Other household items recovered were fragments of cutlery, candlesticks, clay pipes, iron furniture hardware and architectural hardware, and seventeen fragments of ceramic roofing tiles. This building was documented through scaled drawings and photographs.
Features found in the crosstrenching include:
