Field Work 2018

Purpose of the work

In the fall of 2018, the Muhlenberg Field Archaeology class studied the Blue Mountain land that was used for charcoal and iron production. The class conducted some surveys and a small excavation of a colliers hut, utilizing several different methods including examination of LiDAR maps, pedestrian survey, shovel test pits, and metal detecting.

Possible charcoal pits were identified using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) (Carter and Backenstoss 2017, Carter 2019a, 2019b). On LiDAR data, the charcoal pits appear as flattened ovals on sloped terrain due to the clearing and leveling of the site in order to make charcoal.

The purpose of this research was to introduce students to survey methods and orient them to the landscape. The second was to investigate the three collier’s huts on the side of the mountain through excavation. Through the field work, four new collier’s huts were identified in the field and three more potential ones were noted. The confirmed identification of four more collier’s huts however, increases the total confirmed huts to eleven.