Special Publication No. 7

Special Publication No. 7 by Cristin Embree deals with the findings of the 2001 and 2002 TAS youth group excavations at the Williams-Buck Homestead (41WM272). Those investigations focused on an area near a dogtrot structure built by William W. Williams between 1850 and 1851. The primary goal of the work was to determine whether or not the excavation area was the location of a temporary habitation, a possible lean-to structure, built by Williams in 1849. A secondary goal of the excavations was to obtain a sample of historic artifacts from the site. A total of 5,453 artifacts were recovered, dating from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, representing a spectrum of pioneer material culture. Examination of the field notes and artifacts suggest the mounded excavation area likely represents a trash dump or midden deposit created by the Williams and Buck families that resided in the nearby dogtrot from the 1850s into the mid-twentieth century. None of the deposits excavated definitely date to the 1840s or early 1850s. Instead, the archeological materials associated with deposits date from the 1870s into the 1920s, with an intermixing of mid-nineteenth century artifacts that likely represent either heirlooms or curated material.