ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF 36LU314, PARDEESVILLE, PENNYSYLVANIA
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF 36LU314, PARDEESVILLE, PENNYSYLVANIA
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Date
2021-07
Authors
Betsinger, Michael Paul
Shackel, Paul A.
Roller, Michael
Advisor
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Abstract
The University of Maryland, College Park Department of Anthropology held an archaeological
field school in the summer of 2013 at 36LU314 under the direction of Dr. Paul A. Shackel and Dr.
Michael P. Roller. The excavations are part of an extensive research project examining themes of
industrial and post-industrial life in the region, examining themes of immigration, race, community
health, and political power. The project included substantial community involvement including
ethnographic and oral history collections along with excavations at over six sites in the region
across a decade of work. 36LU314 is located on two lots along Church Street in the company patch
town of Pardeesville, formerly Lattimer 2, located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The objective
of the field school was to identify any archaeological deposits at the site and answer research
questions regarding the lives of the workers and their families. The field school investigations
included historical research, site mapping, pedestrian survey, shovel test pits, and test units.
In total, the 23 shovel test pits (STPs) and 13 Test Units (TUs) excavated at 36LU314 yielded
6,612 artifacts. 36LU314 encompasses a total area of 0.13 acres, or about 5200 square ft, and is
privately own. Archaeological investigations of the site have revealed an assemblage belonging to
a single-family dwelling that varied in size and occupants throughout the late-nineteenth to the
early twentieth century. A total of 24 features were revealed at the site, 23 of which were
discovered in test units consisting mostly of architectural or structural features related to the site’s
occupation.
Historic documents reveal that the earliest structure at the site, a long barracks-like building, dates
to about 1885. By 1900, the occupants added two additions to the front of the structure, one of
which was separate from the main structure. Between 1900 and 1941, residents continued to make
several additions to the front and back of the house. Following this, the structure saw a dramatic
transformation in the 1940s in which two households formed a narrow alleyway. Likely, the
original 1885 structure was heavily altered, demolished, or burned sometime after 1900 and was
replaced with two structures, though the archeological record adds some ambiguity to this
transformation. The earliest identified owner of the property appears on a real estate map from the
1940s as occupied by “D. Simone” and his family. Following this, a deed indicates that the house
was purchased by Michael and Eleanor Diblasi from the Hazle Realty Company in 1959.
An analysis of the artifacts and features uncovered during the field school falls relatively within
the entirety of the site’s occupation from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. The
numerous archaeological features identified were mostly related to structural changes occurring at
the site both directly to the primary dwelling as well as occurring outside of the dwelling such as
improvements to the rear property, installation of utility lines, and the privy. Most of the artifacts
recovered from the site come from the southern portion of the site or the rear of the dwelling,
largely concentrated around the privy. The ceramic vessels identified occupied wide time ranges
with an average manufacturing date a few decades before the first structure appears at the site in
1885. Contrasting this, are the dateable glass vessels, although low in comparison to the overall
glass vessel count, have a more concrete range with a mean manufacturing date around the mid-
twentieth century. This conflict in dating in combination with an extensive history of disturbances
to the site caused by structural changes indicates that the vast majority of the artifacts recovered
from the site date to mid-twentieth occupations.