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Community Corner

Munroe Tavern Dig Comes to a Fruitful End

July marks the end of the archaeological dig at Munroe Tavern.

A month-long archaeological dig at Munroe Tavern is coming to an end, and members of the Fiske Center's dig team say they are happy with the results as their collection of artifacts and pile of excavated dirt grows.

For the Lexington Historical Society, the next phase of the project is the construction of a new two-story ell which will begin Sept. 1. This new addition will contain a floor of offices, an educational welcome center and new climate-controlled exhibit — features to help to preserve the site.

With few digging days left this week, the team, led by Christa Beranek, will finish its work by taking data and artifacts back to a lab at UMass Boston's Fiske Center to wash, catalog, analyze and archive their findings.

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"This may be our last digging day, we may get rained out towards the end of the week," said Christa Beranek, on Wednesday.

However, even during the project's final days the site is still full of activity with members screening, profiling soil and discovering all they can.

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"Since our second week we've found five buttons, some leather shoes, and much more redware and ceramics," said Beranek.

Although buttons are a common find, Beranek said finding five that are identical is rare, and indicates they were most likely part of a shirt that had been buried there at one time.

"We even found traces of linen on them," she said.

Noticeable expansion of the dig has led to deeper holes, more sections, and even what the team calls a shovel test pit far off to the left of the tavern on the edge of it's garden.

"Heavy erosion in 1998 may have caused displacement of an artifact deposit," said Bernaek.

Beranek says small test trenches are used to screen for artifacts quickly without having to set up a major site. Some small ceramic pieces, hardware, and even a cup handle were found there.

"That's decent, certainly more than you would expect to find in a shovel test pit," says Beranek.

Much of the month's finds came from the team's target depth, which dates the pieces around the 1770s.

"The artifacts will tell us a lot about the tavern period and help the Historical Society," said Beranek. "The collection of items around the well is most exciting."

Beranek also said that the various old plumbing systems, several of which were unearthed, are also interesting to the team — and to the residents and visitors who viewed the site.

"We've seen and talked to about 20 to 30 people a day," said Beranek. "Some of them came in large groups such as the Boy Scout troop and various summer programs."

She says the team was happy to share the experience with visitors, and was pleased to be able to dig as deep as members wanted. Beranek will be onsite during the construction process starting in September.

"We have got some pretty good coverage of the area and found some good representation of the tavern era," said Beranek.

 

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