ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF 36LU314, PARDEESVILLE, PENNYSYLVANIA

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dc.contributor.authorBetsinger, Michael Paul
dc.contributor.authorShackel, Paul A.
dc.contributor.authorRoller, Michael
dc.date.accessioned2022-01-06T00:39:38Z
dc.date.available2022-01-06T00:39:38Z
dc.date.issued2021-07
dc.description.abstractThe 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.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/ia2w-vocv
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/28271
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtCollege of Behavioral & Social Sciencesen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtAnthropologyen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, MD)en_us
dc.subjectArchaeologyen_US
dc.subjectAnthracite Coal Regionen_US
dc.subjectPennsylvaniaen_US
dc.titleARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF 36LU314, PARDEESVILLE, PENNYSYLVANIAen_US
dc.typeTechnical Reporten_US

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