Artifacts from N8 W10

Hi Fort Friends,

I’m Ariel Armstrong and I am a student at Western Michigan University currently working at the historic site of Fort St Joseph. My unit on site is N8 W10 and recently my unit partner and I finished closing level 3 (25-30 cm bd) on Friday July 25. We have reached the plow zone soil layer and have begun to find many fascinating artifacts! As we get deeper in the plow and to the occupation zone our artifact finds will hopefully continue to become more exciting! 

Some of my favorite artifacts that have been found so far are a tinkling cone, window glass, lead shot, and an apple sized chunk of clinker. I was elated and intrigued when I spotted the tinkling cone at the wet screen. Tinking cones were worn as adornment by the French as well as the Native American groups like the Potawatomi and Miami. They were engineered from scraps of brass from items like copper and brass kettles and then folded into a cone shape. They used leather as an attachment to the clothing by placing the leather through the small opening of the tinkling cone. The kettles and other items were brought over from Europe by the French and traded with people residing across the New France area. Window glass is another artifact found at the site that comes from Europe. Window glass was shipped across the Atlantic and made its way to Fort St. Joseph by canoe in small panes to prevent possible breakage. In the 18th century, it was made of sand, limestone, and soda giving it a blueish or green hue. Lastly, we have found a couple hand-wrought nails, probably made by the blacksmith living there. We could tell that they were hand-wrought by the tapering on all four sides of the nail indicating that they were hand made. There are many more cool artifacts to come from my unit and many others!