pleasure little treasure

a little help? no idea what these are, originally uploaded by ashleyv.

We've begun digging out half the backyard to lay down a flat patio that will have the rest of the yard about 3 feet high behind a retaining wall. Our backyard is that sloped.

We've removed 75% of the crappy grass, laid out posts and string to mark out the area to dig, and got started this weekend. We had dug out about a quarter of the yard about a foot deep when we started coming up with all this broken glass. We figured the frat boys that lived here before us and put down the pavers for the tiny uneven patio that was here had dug a fire pit and thrown in a bunch of beer bottles or something.

Then we dug into really corroded twisted wire attached to a really old light socket. We (I) started to dig more carefully, much to JR's dismay. I came across more antique lightbulbs, and then a whole area of seashells that had apparently been in a glass container that broke in the fire. I dug even more carefully, setting all the broken glass aside. As I kept digging, it started to look like I was digging out parts of an old chandelier, and then I started finding some intact apothecary bottles. And then a perfume bottle badly warped from the fire: close inspection showed it was "Bracelet Eau De Parfum".

By this time, I was flat on my stomach, digging carefully with a golf tee and a small gardening shovel. I started to unearth a metal box, which disintegrated when the tiny shovel slipped on hard soil and hit it. So I was using just a golf tee and my gloved fingers. When the golf tee broke, I started using a long nail I had found.

I unearthed an oval-shaped metal lid with a religious statue on it and an inscription that I made out later to be "O, MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN, PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE". I was digging up jewelry chains, small bones (ick!), all kinds of broken wine bottles... It was fascinating! I even dug up an intact Seagrams bottle that still had some liquid inside! And who knows what else is under there? Careful excavation will re-commence this weekend. I think I've found a new passion - urban archaeology. I've started a backyard archaeology photoset of just a few of the things I've been able to take clear photos of.