New Methods -- and forthcoming Records!...

Mended bowl (left), 3D digital scan of same vessel (right).

Computer-assisted vessel reconstruction technology is in the works!

INDE ceramic artifacts are the data set for this research and technological development. Once operational, this new technology will have significant implications for archeological artifact mending, collections management, and site interpretation.Records from this research and development project will be archived as part of the INDE Archaeological Records Collection.

Beyond discovering, preserving, and interpreting American history, Independence Park's archaeologists and archaeological sites have helped to shape the discipline of archaeology. Records in the Park's Archives document the creation and testing of various field and lab methods that have gone on to become a standard part of archaeological practice. This includes the ultrasonic cleaning of artifacts, early application of electrolysis to conserve metals, and various geophysical surveying methods including metal detecting and proton magnetometer prospecting.

As the field of archaeology continues to grow and change the archaeology at INDE continues to contribute new methods. All such developments of course generate a trail of documentation that become part of the archived archaeological records collection.

I blogged previously about the cutting-edge, geospatial survey techniques used at the President's House site in 2007. In that development, Erdman Anthony undertook a 3D laser scanning survey that produced a highly detailed and accurate map of the excavation. By shooting 4,000 laser points a second, the laser technology also created enhanced visuals of the discovered ruins that are useful for interpreting the site.

Now a new project is underway at INDE that will have significant implications for archeological artifact mending, collections management, and site interpretation. It involves the development of computer-assisted vessel reconstructions. Once operational, this technology will allow for more efficient laboratory work and will produce a significant time and money savings. Computers (not just people) will be able to match up the decorative markings on, and the shapes of, ceramic fragments so as to 'piece back together' broken vessels. Such vessel reconstruction is a vital first step in the laboratory processing of artifacts. Speeding up this phase means faster advancement to the analysis phase of study (as artifact identification precedes site analysis). Computer-assisted vessel reconstructions will furthermore allow for remote research capabilities as a collection of ceramics will be able to be studied off-site via digital proxies. Moreover, the digital images created during the reconstruction process will be a useful resource for virtual history presentations.

This particular research and development is part of a three-year effort by researchers from Drexel University. The work is supported by a grant from the Information Integration and Informatics division of the National Science Foundation [NSF no. o803670] entitled, “The 3D Colonial Philadelphia Project—Digital Restoration of Thin-Shell Objects for Historical Archaeological Research and Interpretation”. Principle Investigator Dr. Fernand Cohen (computer vision; Electrical and Computer Engineering) and co-PI's Dr. Ko Nishino and Dr. Ali Shokoufandeh (computer vision; Computer Science), Dr. Patrice Jeppson (archaeologist, Visiting Researcher: Media Arts) and Dr. Glen J. Muschio (anthropologist and media art expert; Media Design) are working with NPS Archeologists Jed Levin, Willie Hoffman, and Deborah Miller.

The project is using the ceramic artifact collection recovered from the National Constitution Center site as a data set. Several Drexel University graduate and undergraduate students are assisting with the research by making 3D scans of mended --and then unmended -- ceramic vessels in the Independence Living History Center Archeology Lab while other students at Drexel are writing computational algorithms for developing the new technology.

Drexel Computer Engineering Graduate student Ezgi Taslidere and Undergraduate, STAR Scholar, student David Myers scan pieces of a pedestaled saucer.

Undergraduate, STAR Scholar Program, student Girish Balakrishnan and Dr. Glen Muschio (Program Director, Digital Media Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design Drexel University) examine the 3D camera images.

Dr. Ali Shokoufandeh and graduate student Patrick Smith photograph decorated ceramic fragments in preparation for testing computational procedures for pattern matching.

Not just new methods but new methodologies....

In assisting the Drexel University grant project, Independence Park, through its archeology program is engaging with community partners. This and other civic engagement activities at INDE are some of the developments transforming archaeology's stewardship and interpretation methodologies. For example, the recent President's House site excavation was undertaken in response to local community group concerns and was conducted in partnership with the City of Philadelphia Office of the Mayor. Likewise the James Dexter site excavation was a project which emerged in consultation with descendant church leaders from the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Mother Bethel). Both these INDE projects have been used as case studies exemplifying the NPS Directive on Civil Engagement and they are considered best examples of Public or Community Archaeology.

This blog project is one small step in developing archaeology's stewardship and interpretation methodologies. It aims to help the INDE Archives make the Archaeological Records Collection more accessible to researchers and the interested public.

Oral History!

Great News! Jackson Ward "Smokey" Moore Jr., has emailed with some recollections about the early use of electrolysis and ultrasonic cleaning methods at INDE...

Smokey is an archaeologist whose work at Independence Park almost four decades ago was the focus of a previous posting. His rememberances clarify and deepen our understanding of the history of archaeological practice in Independence Park, in NPS (the federal agency), in the subdiscipline of historical archaeology, and in archaeology in general.

NPS Public Affairs photo of Jackson Ward 'Smokey' Moore Jr.

in the archeology lab in the Second Bank, circa 1960.

I couldn't be more pleased about this! I had high hopes that this blogging project would operate collaboratively. We have now had instructive commentary and invaluable suggestions from a museum curator, a Pennsylvania-based archaeologist, an archivist from the city, a tour guide specialist, and various members of the interested public -- each of whom has helped to inform this INDE Archives Finding Aid project. Now we are fortunate to hear from someone who helped create the materials that comprise the INDE Archeological Records Collection. He is a wonderful writer to boot!

Smokey has given his permission for this correspondence to be treated as oral history so it too will be preserved as part of the INDE archaeological records collection. The following are excerpts from his correspondence (edited to the topic of archeological lab methods).

Jackson Ward "Smokey" Moore writing to V-I-P Patrice L. Jeppson on Aug. 7th, 2009:

The letter about my magic machine from San Francisco was probably from Paul J.F. Schumacher. He was referring to the electrolysis set up. I introduced it to INDE but it wasn't my idea. At Fort Fredericka NM Joel and I had a lab assistant named Bob Taylor. We had been cleaning iron artifacts by heating them in a pot-bellied stove, dunking them and pounding the crusts off, followed by brass and/or steel brushing. Then we would coat them oil to minimize rusting. After Joel left, I got down a copy of Plenderlieth's volume on museum object treatment. I saw a very complex arrangement of electrical equipment that Plenderlieth used for metal objects. Shaking my head I showed it to Bob. Bob was an island man, part of Cap'n Taylor's clan [deleted bio data] whose background was shrimpboating. After about 15 minutes he turned me and exclaimed "Hell, Cap'n, that ain't nothin but a gussied up batt'ry charger!". He also believed that sodium hydroxide was "plain ole lye." I got the stuff and we used a small aquarium tank to clamp the anodes to. It worked beautifully! I sent one of those [NPS] forms to credit Bob. I think Stan South was fielding those then. A downside-- I'm not sure I didn't uffer some detriment from the gas that the process gave off. [sic ;) ? ]

The Ultrasonic Cleaner was Bruce's [B.B. Powell] introduction. It was great for encrusted button and ceramics and other materials. It worked on small metallic objects too. We had to pare down our expectations for many metal objects though: the transducers sometimes broke! It's hard to recapture exact scenes so I don't remember how well we coped with continuing to use process. Maybe Bruce remembers.

NPS Archeologist Paul Schumacher, circa 1955 (top), NPS Archeologist B. Bruce Powell, circa middle 1960's (bottom).

On August 13th, Smokey added:
...My discussion of the ultrasonic device [in the last email communication excerpted above] was in terms of the circumstances that then prevailed. Our appliance was quite small; I would guess about 8"x11" at most. (Bruce may remember it differently). I haven't kept up those babies. I have seen the ones jewelers use to clean diamond rings, and my Braun 7800 electric razor's head cleaner is a mini ultrason. When I saw the illustration in your blog of the ultrasons used today, I realized that the puny tasks we required then would be pieces of cake. now.

Could they have invented it?

"None of our employees have experienced any effects on their hearing from using the ultrasonic cleaner." (INDE Superintendent D.C. Kurjack, writing to the Regional Superintendent in September, 1961).

A wonderful discovery! While inventorying a file of History Office correspondence I came across a 1961 letter from the Park Superintendent that reports on "an ultrasonic cleaning device in use for cleaning archeological artifacts" (above right, click to enlarge). I wondered: Could it be that archaeologists working at INDE came up with this artifact processing method? Today it is common to find ultrasonic cleaners in archaeology labs. For example, the Independence Living History Center Archeology Lab down the street uses one for the first step in the washing of (suitable) artifacts. An ultrasonic cleaner loosens dirt caked onto artifacts minimizing the abrasion from brushes or picks.

The correspondence in this folder is not in chronological order and an earlier letter, dated 1960, is a request from a west coast archaeologist asking "Would [INDE] be kind enough to have Smokey [archaeologist Jackson Ward Moore, Jr.] clean these nails [from a Glacier Bay Cemetery] by his "magic process"..." (emphasis mine). I can check with Smokey and see if this reference is to the ultrasonic cleaning idea. If so, it would be the earliest date recorded for this method among these papers.

Further on in the file I came across a letter and its response relating to archaeologists at Mesa Verde National Park who sent a ceramic sample to INDE for a test cleaning. This correspondence too made me think the idea of ultrasonic cleaning originated at INDE. Then I found the clincher, a letter from an employee at Circo Ultrasonic Corporation (in New Jersey) asking how their device -- a Model PG 60 generator and 60 T transducerized tank of 1-gallon capacity -- had fared when put to this "unusual" task. The response from archaeologist B. B. Powell describes the INDE experiments trying different cleaning agents and the "excellent" results". Also described are the various applications experimented with (the processing of different categories of artifacts -- shell, ceramic, metal, etc.). The artifacts are mentioned as coming from the site of Franklin Court. I have posted some abtracts of that letter below (click to enlarge):

Lastly, I found something that makes it clear that this was indeed a new idea for archaeology!

In the file was an NPS Suggestion Form (10-63, 1955, 99219) with delightful 1950's-era graphics. This form, filled out with a date of October 1960, is a formal suggestion for the use of ultrasonic cleaning in archaeology laboratory work based on experiments done at Independence National Historical Park (click to enlarge):

This folder of History Office correspondence in the INDE Archives documents the administration of park archaeology circa, 1955-1975. As such, it contains artifacts of the archaeological process. In this case, among other insights, these two-dimensional artifacts document some important (forgotten) history about the field of archaeology. Specifically, these archived documents record the investigation of a new method for archaeological laboratory work that has since become a standard of practice. This advancement in the field of archaeology comes courtesy of INDE archeologists working on historical period sites.

The above referenced materials all come from Folder 1, of a box still being processed at the INDE Archives that is entitled "History Office Correspondence Related to Archeology".