Posted on No Comments on Rain, rain, go away!

Rain, rain, go away!

The rain has really been putting a crimp in our excavation schedule! Yesterday the students were split into two groups, and spent half the day at each activity. One activity was going out to the site with Dr James Conolly and learning about how to map and plan architectural features like walls using tapes and fixed reference points. The other purpose of this exercise was to familiarize everyone with the site and to start thinking about the excavation strategy.

Planning and mapping the visible walls on site using a dumpy level.
Planning and mapping the visible walls on site using a Dumpy level.

The other activity was located at our wet lab in the Archaeology Centre, where the students got a crash course in identifying and understanding historical artifacts by Dr Marit Munson, who teaches the Historic and Ceramics Lab Methods course (ANTH 3152H) for the Anthropology Department. The students got to see the artifacts recovered from our initial identification and sampling of the site last summer in order to better prepare them for the start of excavation.

Crash course intensive on historical artifacts!
Crash course intensive on historical artifacts!

This morning we loaded up the trailer and arrived on site (fondly known as “The Corral”) for 9am. Today’s job was to clear back the surface of the site and begin excavating in the first structure we identified. We are excavating by context, instead of the more familiar 1-metre-square units. That means we are peeling back the layers of the site in the reverse order of how they were formed instead of punching a 1-metre-square hole through part of the site and seeing what is contained in that small window.

We accomplished a lot by 3pm, and found many interesting artifacts, including the Artifact of the Day.

Clearing back Context 1 from the structure. This is mainly the surface weeds, plant debris, and stones and rocks lying over the exposed ground surface.
Clearing back Context 1 from the structure. This is mainly the surface weeds, plant debris, and stones and rocks lying over the exposed ground surface.
Underneath Context 1 is Context 2 (foreground) and Context 3 (behind yellow string). Context 2 and Context 3 are the fill that is inside the structure walls.
Underneath Context 1 is Context 2 (foreground) and Context 3 (behind yellow string). Context 2 and Context 3 are the fill that is inside the structure walls.
As some of the students are digging, others are screening the dirt to recover artifacts.
As some of the students are digging, others are screening the dirt to recover artifacts.
It was a very busy site today!
It was a very busy site today!
Clearing out the upper layer of fill from the structure.
Clearing out the upper layer of fill from the structure.

Tomorrow the rain is supposed to return, but that is fine as Fridays are scheduled lab days in the Archaeology Centre. Tomorrow we will be washing and beginning analysis of the artifacts we recovered today. All in all, today was a very good day!

Posted on 2 Comments on Artifact of the Day for May 4th, 2017 — Nazi party ‘tinnie’

Artifact of the Day for May 4th, 2017 — Nazi party ‘tinnie’

Each day on site we decide upon the Artifact of the Day, which is voted on by the students. Other notable finds that didn’t make the cut were a carved bone knife handle, a porcelain doll’s leg, and a pocket watch case.

Today’s artifact was a bit of a surprise, to say the least. It is what is known as a ‘tinnie’, which is a general term for a commemorative medal, badge, or pin made from a non-precious metal such as tin, aluminum, zinc, or even plastic.

Back side of the badge recovered from the excavation. Front of the badge recovered during excavation.

 

Back side of the badge from a very good condition badge.

 

 

 

Front side of the badge from a very good condition badge.

 

 

These articles were meant to be worn on clothing, and were commonly given away or sold at public events to build and reinforce group cohesiveness. The “golden age” of the tinnie was around the Second World War, and USSR and the Nazi party in particular were the most prolific producers of these items.

This particular example is made from aluminum, and is to commemorate the Tag der Deutschen Seefahrt [Day of German Seafaring], a nautical event which occurred in Hamburg, Germany on May 25-26, 1935.

Poster from the Day of German Seafaring, showing the day badge design and "Hamburg Ruft!" [Hamburg Calls!] underneath.
Poster from the Day of German Seafaring, showing the day badge design and “Hamburg Ruft!” [Hamburg Calls!] underneath.
To contextualise this artifact, and what the symbolism means, we can break it down into elements:

The design features the national emblem of Nazi Germany, the Reichsadler [Imperial Eagle], an eagle holding a wreath with a swastika in the center.

The motto SEEFAHRT IST NOT is really interesting. This concept was first attributed by Plutarch to the Roman military leader Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus). As Plutarch relates, Pompey was in charge of organizing Rome’s supply of grain from other parts of the Empire. During a severe storm, the sailors coming from Africa did not want to set out due to the danger. Pompey then told them “navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse” [to sail is necessary; to live is not necessary].

Johann Kinau published a novel under the pseudonym Gorch Fock in 1913 called “Seefahrt ist Not!”, which can be both translated as “seafaring is necessary” but also ambiguously as “seafaring is hardship”. This novel describes the life of the deep sea fishermen of his home island. Fock died on the cruiser SMS Wiesbaden in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. This motto was then taken by the Nazi party and heavily featured as a propaganda concept.

Johann Kinau was born in the fishing village of Finkenwerder, which is now part of Hamburg, Germany.

The ship depicted is likely the Gorch Fock class Nazi tall ship the Horst Wessel, launched 1936. The eponymous ship for the class, the Gorch Fock was launched 3 May 1933, and was the main training vessel for the German Reichsmarine. It is argued that the ship depicted on the badge can’t be the Gorch Fock, because there is an eagle decoration on the prow that the Horst Wessel had but the Gorch Fock did not.

The Horst Wessel was captured by the United States at the end of Word War II. It is now known as the USCG Eagle, and the US Coast guard trains all their cadets on this ship to this day.

Although I was able to uncover a bit of information about this day badge, these questions now remain: who owned this piece; how did it arrive in Nassau Mills from Germany; and how does it relate to the structure we are excavating?