< Previouscm0025inch30 | Vol 3 | 2018 | River Chroniclesspent much of the 1870s and 1880s moving between Nevada City and Sacramento as the state of his health fluctuated. The Rudolphs appear to have moved to Philadelphia in 1890, where in a cruel twist of fate, Julia died of consumption and was buried next to James’s first wife, Charlotte. The twice-widowed James F. Rudolph moved to Laredo, Texas, in about 1894 and lived as “simply an old man, his labor done,” dying on August 10, 1896.23Claridge & Rudolph’s ownership of Eagle Glass Works was the final chapter of its relatively brief existence. Though largely forgotten in the years following its failure, the survival of bottles produced at the factory, its depiction on the 1849 Sidney map, and—perhaps most importantly—the records of the lawsuit that doomed it have ensured that Eagle did not fade completely into oblivion. There was very little variety in the beer bottles the Eagle Glass Works produced. All of their known bottles are embossed “EAGLE WORKS / PHILADA.” just above the base and the different molds the works used are practically indistinguishable from the example shown here. These beer bottles most frequently appear in shades of green, though blue and dark aqua examples are also known (the complete example shown on the far left is from a private collection). Photograph by Thomas J. Kutys, 2018. This porter-shape bottle, recently recovered during excavations along I-95 in Northern Liberties, features slugged-out strips on its lower half, where “EAGLE WORKS / PHILADA.” was once embossed—indicating that other factories continued to use Eagle’s bottle molds after the 1849 sale. Photograph by Thomas J. Kutys, 2018. This tumbler, blown using an Eagle Glass Works bottle mold and still retaining partial mold seams, was recovered during excavations along I-95 in Fishtown. Unlike the known Eagle Glass Works bottles, which typically feature iron pontil scars on their bases, this tumbler bears a blowpipe (“open”) pontil scar, a result of its end-of-day manufacture. Photograph by Thomas J. Kutys, 2018. This fragment of a porter-shape bottle was recovered during excavations along I-95 in Port Richmond. Though the base shows signs of heavy wear, the “EAGLE WORKS / PHILADA.” embossing is stronger here than on other surviving examples. Only fragments of standard Eagle bottles have been recovered from the project to date, speaking to the short-lived nature of the works and the rarity of its bottles today. Photograph by Thomas J. Kutys, 2018.River Chronicles | Vol 3 | 2018 | 31Plant Use at the Cramp/Bumm Propertyhomegrown HISTORYWhile Philadelphia might be best known for its use of meat—the cheesesteak being an iconic part of the city—plants may play an even larger, if relatively unknown, part in the everyday lives of those who live and work in and around the city. From Fishtown to Phoenixville, craft brewers and distillers vaunt their herb-infused brews, while plant-based remedies can still be bought in Chinatown or Passyunk Square. Gardens and window boxes full of flowers, shrubs, and herbs decorate the houses and yards throughout Rittenhouse Square, Spring Garden, and the Parkway. Recent archaeological work taking place in the I-95 corridor through the Northern Liberties, Kensington-Fishtown, and Port Richmond neighborhoods is revealing plants have always played an important role in the lives of Philadelphians. As food, medicine, or decoration, plants constantly contributed to an ever-evolving cultural and environmental milieu. In daily activities throughout Philadelphia, plants have continuously served as the focus for indigenous peoples, colonists, and immigrant communities. Plants were and are a real part of self-identity. Indeed, the reciprocal relationship between plants and different groups of people has for centuries simultaneously changed the types of plants in the environment, as well as the cultural practices and beliefs surrounding such plants. These interactions, along with the trade networks and markets provided to residents by inhabiting a bustling urban environment, shaped the resources available to Philadelphians and how those plants were used. The resultant nineteenth- and twentieth-century Philadelphian approach to plant use can be seen in the analysis of plant material recovered from a privy at 1018 Palmer Street in the Kensington-Fishtown neighborhood.The history and archaeology of 1018 Palmer Street provides an insightful example of how macrobotanical studies (the study of plant remains) can help us better understand the people of the past and their relationship to plants. The property, also known as the Cramp/Bumm property, was home to three families from the mid-nineteenth century into the early twentieth century: the Cramp family from 1852–1889, the Bumm family from 1889–1914, and the Nickel family from 1915–1920. Daniel KingAlexandra CrowderMatthew Olson2.5 mmBrambles (Rubus L.)Microscopic photographs by Daniel King, 2018.32 | Vol 3 | 2018 | River ChroniclesAll three families left their mark on the property, resulting in a multitude of soil layers that archaeologists uncovered and removed from a privy located at the back of the property behind the former house. Each layer of trash and dirt deposited within the privy contained different amounts and types of seeds and plant parts, which were then analyzed as an entire assemblage.1To recover the plant remains from the privy, archaeologists used standard macrobotanical recovery methods. The process begins by first collecting soil samples during the excavation. The amount of soil and the location from which it is collected is dependent upon a number of factors, including the modern environment of the site, practicality of obtaining reliable samples, and overall aim of the investigation. A variety of techniques are then utilized to process the soil sample so macrobotanicals can be collected. The most commonly utilized processing technique employed during the I-95 project is flotation using water and a modified barrel apparatus. The barrel apparatus is filled with water, which is gently agitated. The soil sample is deposited into the barrel and organic material generally floats to the top, while non-organic material, such as rocks, metal, ceramic, and glass, sinks. The floating organic material (called the light fraction) and non-organic material that does not float (called the heavy fraction) are then separately collected and dried. The dried fractions are scanned under a low-powered microscope to recover cultural and botanical material. Archaeologists then compare what they see under the microscope to specimens from comparative collections and reference guides in order to make accurate identifications. Although it is not always possible to identify specimens to a specific species level, most can be identified to the genus level and sorted into plant families. This process was utilized to identify seeds and plant parts recovered from the 10 samples collected from the privy at 1018 Palmer Street.ResultsOver 128,000 seeds were identified from the privy soil samples, representing 51 distinct plants. The table lists all the different species of plants identified from the soil samples, organized by how the site’s residents likely used them. It is a long and diverse list, but what does it tell us about the people who used to live on the 1.67 mm2.5 mmElderberry (Sambucus canadensis)Fig (Ficus carica)River Chronicles | Vol 3 | 2018 | 33property? The first thing that stands out is the assortment of plants (mostly native, others naturalized) available to and possibly used by the families of 1018 Palmer Street. The plants were categorized into their potential uses and applications using historical documents, ethnographic accounts, and modern-day information. A number of the plants recovered from the privy could have been used for multiple purposes. Food RelatedBased on the results, several types of berries, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and herbs seem to have been readily accessible for consumption. Brambles (Rubus sp.) such as blackberries and raspberries are commonly found at historic sites and had a variety of uses. The berries were collected to be eaten whole, used as pastry fillings, or preserved as fruit spreads (jam, jelly, marmalade, etc.). Early recipes called for using raspberries to make raspberry cream and blackberries for wine and liquor.2 While the plants naturally grow wild in eastern North America, they would have also been available for purchase in Philadelphia’s urban marketplace. Nineteenth-century urban residents with time, space, and money may have also cultivated their own bushes.3 Some of the food-related plants, such as figs, are indicative of possible trade networks. Fig trees prefer warmer climates and commercially available figs were likely imported from the southern Mid-Atlantic and overseas. Smyrna, Turkey, is listed as a major source for imported figs during the nineteenth century. The plant could also be grown locally, but needed artificial assistance to produce ripe fruit. Figs were sold and eaten fresh as well as dried.4 MedicinalA number of plants in the assemblage had medicinal uses. In addition to being eaten and used for making and flavoring wines, syrups, and candies, elderberry (Sambucus sp.) was used in numerous medicinal remedies. The plant was used in the nineteenth century as a diaphoretic, diuretic, and cathartic, as well as to treat dropsy, burns, and skin diseases. Medicines utilized almost all parts of the plant, including the leaves, bark, branches, and flowers.5 Similar to the elderberry plant, herbs were commonly used medicinally to treat any sort of ailment, injury, or perceived sickness. Some of these herbs could be purchased in local markets, but they were often also grown in kitchen and dooryard gardens. One of the most illustrative examples of a homegrown medicinal herb is catnip (Nepeta cataria). In addition to attracting cats, catnip has a long history of medicinal use. The herb was administered in various forms, including tea, juice, oil, infusion, and poultice—as well as for chewing and smoking. Catnip played a large role in women’s health and was known as “an excellent woman’s medicine,” according to John Hill’s 1754 The Family Herbal.6 Women were often in charge of growing and maintaining kitchen gardens, suggesting that women may have grown the herb as a way to promote their personal health and well-being.7 Ornamental/DecorativeThe assemblage also contains evidence of decorative garden plants. Of note were the forget-me-not (Myosotis sp.) seeds and eggplant (Solanum melongena) seeds. The forget-me-not plant is native to Europe and western Asia but was introduced to America via European expansion and settlement. The flower was often included in colonial dooryard gardens, as the flowers were held in high aesthetic esteem and were also attributed with medicinal properties. The petals were brewed in teas, while the plant was used to help treat eye conditions and stop external bleeding.8 Forget-me-nots were often used in nineteenth-century gardens as well, and seeds for the plant were sold in catalogs.9 Today, the eggplant is largely cultivated for the fruit it produces, but historically it was also used for decorative purposes. After being introduced to Europe from its native India, the eggplant, a known member of the nightshade family, was used for ornamental purposes as well as a source of food. Not everyone adopted the eggplant into their cuisines right away, but the plant was documented as being grown in the United States by Thomas Jefferson as early as 1810.10 Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century seed catalogs list the plant as both a vegetable and an ornamental annual, with white and scarlet ornamental varietals grown in pots.11WeedsWhile the seeds recovered from the privy are generally indicative of humans interacting with the environment, not all of the identified plants were purposely cultivated or used. Some of the recovered seeds were likely natural seed rain, meaning they ended up in the privy through natural causes (wind, carried in on clothing, etc.) and not because humans used them. Most of these seeds are likely weeds that would have grown in the cleared area surrounding the privy. The weed assemblage suggests that various types of grasses were present in the vicinity of the Cramp/Bumm property, including bristlegrass, crabgrass, and goosegrass. Additional weedy plants 34 | Vol 3 | 2018 | River Chroniclesidentified in the assemblage included goosefoot, pondweed, and smartweed, among others.Discussion and ConclusionThe botanical data suggest that the residents of the Cramp/Bumm property had access to a wide variety of plants, as would be expected in a late-nineteenth-century urban household. The seeds recovered from the privy included plants that may have been used for medicine, decor, food, and flavoring. Many of those plants may have been grown in a garden on the property, perhaps one influenced by or mirrored off of earlier dooryard gardens. Other plants may have been bought at local markets or foraged in the surrounding countryside. Whether bought, grown, or foraged, the plants would have been used differently to address a variety of issues in the lives of the people living here. Weed plant seeds identified in the samples suggest that weeds were just as persistent in the historical environment as they continue to be today. Weeds would have quickly colonized empty lots and abandoned yards, and the plants may have continued to grow in the backlot of 1018 Palmer Street after its construction. Weeding a garden would have been a constant struggle for the site’s residents, just as it has been for people before them, and certainly as it is for those who have come after. The current archaeological work taking place near the Delaware River waterfront in Philadelphia demonstrates that plants have been a fundamental part of Philadelphia throughout the city’s history. By excavating and analyzing plant material recovered from the privy at the Plant Species Seeds Recovered from 1018 Palmer Street River Chronicles | Vol 3 | 2018 | 35Cramp/Bumm property, archaeologists have uncovered another small yet important piece of information that adds to understanding the story of the site’s residents, their neighborhood, and the city of Philadelphia itself during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The plant material recovered from the Cramp/Bumm privy is part of a larger history of cultural practices and beliefs that has constantly changed as indigenous peoples, colonists, and immigrant communities continuously interacted with plants. All of those interactions involving plants, as well as the trade networks and markets used to facilitate such interactions, provided residents of a bustling urban environment the medium through which they could shape a significant part of their own cultural identity. Many Philadelphians proudly claim the Italian meat market or cheesesteak as their own. Many more self-identify with the near endless plants grown and used around the city. Whether it is a run through Fairmount Park, a small herb garden outside their kitchen window, a traditional cure for their headache, or that ever-important ingredient in their cooking and brewing, all Philadelphians interact with plants on a daily basis, just as they did throughout the course of the city’s history. Soil samples from this brick privy on the Cramp/Bumm property at 1018 Palmer Street yielded over 128,000 identifiable seeds. AECOM project photograph, 2009.36 | Vol 3 | 2018 | River ChroniclesOn March 15, 2017, while excavating brick shaft features near the Callowhill Bus Center between Second Street and North Front Street in Philadelphia, AECOM archaeologists made a surprising discovery. Near the bottom of a late-eighteenth-century double-coursed brick cistern that spanned 11 feet across, they found a rare Native American artifact of spectacular form resting upright against the inner sidewall. This object, a so-called “knobbed adze,” is a pecked, ground, and polished stone tool type only known from the Koens Crispin Phase of the Late Archaic period (circa 2500–1800 B.C.).1 The adze is made of an igneous material similar to basalt, diabase, or hornblend lamprophyre. It is 168 millimeters long, 62 millimeters wide, 26 millimeters thick, and weighs 566 grams. It is finely made, though the “bit” was not sharpened to a functional edge.These artifact types are extremely rare and have only been documented archaeologically at Native American sites on the Inner Coastal Plain of New Jersey and principally associated with site settings along the Rancocas Creek drainage system. They do not seem to occur anywhere else in the Eastern Woodlands.2 At the type site (Koens Crispin) located in Medford, New Jersey, and the Savich Farm Site in Marlton, New Jersey, knobbed adzes were found as grave offerings in cremation burials.3 The highly crafted finish, material grade, and unfinished functional bit suggest this object was once part and parcel of a Native American ritual cache that was long since disturbed by “early” Philadelphia occupations.Given that this knobbed adze may have been manufactured as a funerary object, it is tempting to note that at least one Native American burial is reported to have been found very near this artifact’s findspot (or place of the artifact’s discovery). In his Annals of Philadelphia, chronicler John Fanning Watson reports that an “Indian grave” and skeletal remains were uncovered during the construction of a firehouse on Race Street, between Front and Second Streets.4 In 1815, the Vigilant Hose Company, an early volunteer firefighting organization in the city, established their new engine house at what was then 33 Race Street.5 If that was the site of the Native American burial Watson recorded, its location was not more than a few hundred feet away from where this artifact was recovered.A Rare and Unexpected Find A Knobbed Adze002inchcm5Jack Cresson“Knobbed adze” from the Koens Crispin Phase of the Late Archaic period (circa 2500–1800 B.C.) discovered in Northern Liberties.River Chronicles | Vol 3 | 2018 | 37findingQUEENSWAREThe early years of the nineteenth century proved to be a difficult period for American port cities whose economies depended on trade with Europe and her Caribbean colonies. Disruptions in commerce between the United States and Europe, particularly with Great Britain, were caused largely by British sailors boarding and seizing American ships—eventually resulting in the War of 1812. Thomas Jefferson pushed through Congress the Non-Importation Act of 1806 and the Embargo Act of 1807, forbidding American ships from leaving American waters and severely disrupting commerce. Conditions did not improve to any great extent after repeal of the Embargo Act in 1809, and the British Navy’s blockade of East Coast ports during the War of 1812 worsened the scarcity of imported goods.1 By early 1814, the blockade extended into New England and was not removed until peace was declared in 1815.The events of 1806 to 1815 encouraged the growth of American industries by curtailing the availability of English products. Various groups of craftsmen-entrepreneurs, including potters, attempted to manufacture merchandise that would fit the demands of local consumers who were accustomed to English goods.2Buy American!Print shows the USS Chesapeake, on the left, approaching HMS Shannon, during the War of 1812. The Chesapeake is flying a flag that states “Free Trade and Sailors Rights.” Print by Robert Dodd (1748–1815). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C., digital ID ppmsca 35279, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.35279.38 | Vol 3 | 2018 | River ChroniclesRebecca L. WhiteGeorge CressThomas J. KutysMeta JanowitzQUEENSWAREThis is one of the more common questions archaeologists hear, on excavation sites and elsewhere. While the answer is usually “No,” there are occasions when we might reply, “It depends on what you mean by gold.” This is the story of the discovery of shiny yellow artifacts found during the archaeological excavations along I-95. These broken fragments of pottery may not look like much to the untrained eye, but they are examples of Philadelphia queensware and represent a valuable link to the city’s manufacturing history. This article explores three of the larger potteries established in the city and showcases some of the queensware recovered from recent excavations along I-95. Unless otherwise noted, all of the ceramics illustrated here come from this project.While the name “Philadelphia queensware” suggests royal associations, it is unlikely that any of these vessels ever graced the tables of monarchs. The origin of the word “queensware” is connected to the famous eighteenth-century English potter Josiah Wedgwood. In 1765, Wedgwood received what might be considered a celebrity endorsement from Queen Charlotte for a set of teaware produced at his pottery.1 Subsequently, Wedgwood was “appointed Potter to Her Majesty” and “permitted to call his cream coloured earthenware ‘Queen’s ware.’”2 Over time, the word “queensware” was used in advertising and accepted by the public as another name for the “hard cream-colored earthenware”3 produced by many potteries and commonly called creamware. Philadelphia queensware was the name given to the ceramics made by potters in this city using local raw materials. “Hey, did you find any gold?”Photograph by Chester Cunanan, 2018.River Chronicles | Vol 3 | 2018 | 39Next >