With the advent of the 2015 gardening season, the “Homestead” Archaeological Dig resumes.
Ever since we moved here, we’ve found an amazing array of artifacts from the previous owners. They had a handful of rambunctious kids, so we commonly find toy cowboys and Indians, marbles, even parts of Cooties, although they’re the newer, round-headed smiley face version, not the cool original horse head shaped ones (remember that game, baby boomers?) even homemade pottery shards.
One day, several years after we moved here, I sat for more than an hour on a rock in the dooryard, mending a net. I glanced down between my feet and found a small obsidian arrowhead. I assume the people who built the place knapped it.
As Michelle shifts and sifts all the arable soil in the garden, she unearths an incredible amount of odd objects. A few go into the garbage, but much of it gathers in decorative containers around the property, particularly in the greenhouse.
Sometimes, what we find must have come from someplace else. We once found an engraved copper letter opener on the beach. It appeared to be a promotional item. I transcribed the engraving and emailed the original owners, who had no memory of such an item.
Now that Aly’s graduated and seeking employment in the field of archaeology (see Aly Graduates!), we commonly joke that if she came back home she’d find a lifetime of employment without leaving our land.