Discoidal from Peck 2

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

Today’s animation is a crude discoidal that was excavated sometime between from March 2 and May 18, 1937, as part of work relief archaeology at the Peck 2 site, a Monongahela village in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Excavators at Peck 2

It is now within the archaeological collections of The State Museum of Pennsylvania (TSMP). It appears to be unfinished and its final form may have been intended to be a chunkey stone, such as this one from the Fort Hill site, another village excavated by work relief archaeologists.

Pottery Fragment with Carbonized Residue from Peck 1

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

 

Today’s animation is a pottery fragment recovered archaeologically from the Peck 1 site, a Monongahela village site located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was excavated by a Work Projects Administration (WPA) crew from October 13, 1936 to January 29, 1937 and under the direction of Edgar E. Augustine.  This artifact is now in the collections of the  Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Scanning at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

This particular sherd was radiocarbon dated as part of an effort to determine the ages of Monongahela villages excavated by the WPA in Somerset County (Means 2005, 2007).  The research potential of museum collections is shown by what we have been able to learn from this otherwise mundane fragment of a ceramic vessel.

Means, Bernard K.

2005 New Dates for New Deal Excavated Monongahela Villages in Somerset County.  Pennsylvania Archaeologist 75 (1):49-61.

2007 Circular Villages of the Monongahela Tradition.  The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Deer vertebra from Peck 1

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

Today’s animation is a deer vertebra recovered archaeologically from the Peck 1 site, a Monongahela village site located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was excavated by a Work Projects Administration Crew from October 13, 1936 to January 29, 1937 and under the direction of Edgar E. Augustine.

This artifact is now in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Natural History where it was 3D scanned.

Shark Vertebra from Jamestown

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

 

Today’s animation is a shark vertebra recovered archaeologically by Jamestown Rediscovery. It was scanned on September 9, 2015  at the Jamestown Rediscovery laboratory. It was scanned and later printed within two weeks of its discovery.

Animated Object: Plaster Architectural Fragment from Rome

by Bernard K. Means, Directory, Virtual Curation Laboratory

This fragment of Roman-era architectural plaster is from a Rome, Italy and was scanned in the Virtual Curation Laboratory.