HomeMy WebLinkAboutZMA201800014 Study 2019-05-09 Rivanna 410 E.Water St.,Suite 1100
RA S Charlottesville,VA 22902
Archaeological
Tel:434-293-3108 Fax:434-293-3183
X%N1%1.11%al Cal.coin Services, LLC Email: info@rivarch.com
May 9, 2019
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation
Archaeological Monitoring of Construction Activity
The goal of the construction monitoring at Birdwood will be to document, through photographs
and scaled drawings, unanticipated cultural deposits and features that may be encountered as well
as to record areal soil development.As opportunities arise,unprovenienced collections of material
culture will be made from back dirt soils.
Once construction activities have been initiated,a qualified archaeologist will make periodic visits
to the project area for monitoring purposes. Areas where Phase I archaeological investigations
have recovered significant quantities of material culture or identified buried cultural features,will
be considered potentially sensitive areas and will be monitored closely by archaeologists. If
significant cultural features are identified during monitoring of construction activities,
archaeologists will temporarily stop work in the area of interest to expose,clean and document the
feature through photographs and maps.If a cultural feature identified during monitoring is believed
to be significant enough to warrant additional archaeological investigation, the University of
Virginia Foundation project manager will be notified immediately.
All fieldwork will be performed under the direct supervision of an experienced archaeologist
who meets or exceeds the professional qualifications promoted by the U.S. Secretary of the
Interior and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR).
Steve Thompson, PhD,RPA
Principal
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
The Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project
Phase I Archaeological Survey
Management Summary
Rivanna Archaeological Services, LLC
March 20,2019
In February of 2019 Rivanna Archaeological Services performed a Phase I archaeological survey of an
approximately 2.2-acre portion of the historic core of Birdwood,a property owned by the University
of Virginia Foundation located in Albemarle County,Virginia.
Current development plans for the project area call for the rehabilitation of the main residence
including the construction of a new southern porch and new utilities. Additional landscape elements
include the construction of new hard-surfaced walks surrounding the mansion and an oval shaped
path in the south lawn, tent supports in the formal eastern garden, and new road construction and
widening (Figure #1). Areas chosen for Phase I survey were based on the proposed plans for the
mansion and surrounding grounds and included an approximately 1.5 - acre core area immediately
east, west and south of the main residence, and four smaller areas to the north and east totaling
approximately 0.7 acres (Figure #2).
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Figure#1:Map showing current development plans for Birdwood.
1
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
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Figure#2:Birdwood Rehabilitation project area showing red-outlined areas targeted for Phase I survey and
construction monitoring.Blue outline is 11-acre National Register property.
The Birdwood mansion (002-0003), including an 11-acre parcel surrounding the main residence,was
listed on the Virginia Landmark Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.A single
archaeological resource, a low-density sheet midden of nineteenth-century material culture located
west and southwest of the Birdwood mansion(44AB0690) and identified during Phase I investigations
associated with the University of Virginia Indoor Golf Practice Facility,' is known to be present within
and adjacent to the 11-acre National Register listed Birdwood core. Beyond Birdwood proper, only
three previously identified archaeological sites are located within a one-mile radius including a low-
density prehistoric site containing non-diagnostic lithics (44AB0265), a small site containing sparse
nineteenth to twentieth-century domestic material culture (44AB0264), and the remains of an early
twentieth-century springhouse (44AB0419).
The goals of the Phase I archaeological survey were to identify archaeological deposits and features
located within the project area, to collect information on site size and function, date of occupation,
I See Steve Thompson,Phase I Archaeological Survey of the University of Vnginia Indoor Golf Practice Facility,Birdwood Tract,
Albemarle County, Vnginia.Report Submitted to the University of Virginia Foundation.(Charlottesville:Rivanna
Archaeological Services,LLC,2018).
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Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
and preservational integrity, and to make a preliminary assessment of significance and evaluate the
need for additional archaeological investigations. Phase I survey relied on the manual excavation of
systematically placed test pits. Test pits measured approximately 1.25 feet in diameter and were
excavated to culturally sterile subsoil.All soils were screened through 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth to
ensure consistent artifact recognition and recovery. Field forms were completed for each shovel test
pit recording location, depth, stratigraphy and artifact content. Shovel test pits were excavated at 20-
foot intervals within the sensitive 1.5 - acre core area west, east and south of the mansion,and at 40-
foot intervals elsewhere. A total of 166 shovel test pits were excavated during the Phase I survey
(Figure #3).
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Figure#3:Birdwood Rehabilitation project area showing location of shovel test pits.
Soils within the project area were quite variable in color,texture, and depth and were dependent upon
location. For much of the core area south of the mansion three strata were identified including an
approximately 0.4 to 0.7-foot thick brown silty loam and root mass, an approximately 0.3 to 0.6-foot
thick underlying light red-brown sandy silt interpreted as a leached eluvium, and subsoil occurring at
between 0.9 and 1.15 feet below grade. Towards the extreme southern end of the core area soils
appeared to be truncated,possibly due to road construction,widening or surfacing in this area,with
sterile red clay subsoil occurring at between 0.5 and 0.7 feet below grade.
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Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
West of the line of hickory trees southwest of the mansion, deeper and more complex soils were
identified. Disturbed strata in the form of redeposited subsoil and heavily mottled fill soils were
identified within the southern half of this area. A mottled red-brown sandy loam, approximately 0.6
to 0.7 feet thick and interpreted as a potential plowzone,was also identified overlying a red clay subsoil
at approximately 0.9— 1.5 feet below grade.Towards the north end of this area, and particularly west
of the southwest outbuilding,numerous test pits contained concentrations of brick bats and rock with
an overlying dark red-brown loamy midden of varying thickness containing many artifacts.
Modern disturbances, in particular trenches and fill deposits associated with the construction of a
sanitary drain field,were identified in numerous test pits in the extreme southwest portion of the core
area particularly in lines B and C.
East of the core area, and in the proposed new parking lot, soils were also variable. Closer to the
entrance road and the northeast and southeast outbuildings, soils possessed a 0.7 to 0.8 foot red-
brown silty loam topsoil underlain by a paler red-brown sandy silty leached eluvium. Subsoil occurred
at a depth of between 1.1 and 1.25 feet below grade. Significant quantities of artifacts were found in
line P adjacent to and east of the entrance road. Further east and surrounding the northeast corner of
the formal garden, soils were shallower with evidence for a thin plowzone and a truncated subsoil
identified at between 0.5—0.7 feet below grade.
North of the mansion and in the area where a new road connecting Birdwood Drive with Boar's Head
Drive will be constructed, soils were also shallow and less well-developed with a potentially deflated
red-brown loamy plowzone. Subsoil was identified at between 0.4 to 0.8 feet below grade.No material
culture was recovered from this area.
A total of 1184 artifacts were recovered from the Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation project area
reflecting a nineteenth to early twentieth-century domestic assemblage including significant quantities
of architectural materials (brick,pane glass, nails) and tableware ceramics and glass, heavily weighted
to the second half of the nineteenth century. As anticipated, the predominant quantity of material
culture was recovered from within approximately 60 - feet of the Birdwood mansion' with artifact
density falling off steeply to the south (Figure #5). Of note, an 1849 U.S. gold dollar coin was
recovered from test pit E15 (Figure #4).
Figure#4: 1849 U.S.gold dollar
recovered from test pit E15.
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2 The original core of Birdwood is believed to have been built by William Garth ca. 1832.No evidence of an earlier
residential structure within the project area is known.
4
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
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Figure#5:Distribution of all artifacts recovered from the Birdwood Rehabilitation Phase I archaeological
survey.Darker colors represent greater numbers of artifacts recovered from each shovel test pit.
Four potentially significant cultural features associated with the nineteenth to early twentieth-century
use and occupation of Birdwood were identified during Phase I fieldwork (Figure #10). Feature 1, a
network of brick paved walks limited portions of which were exposed at ground surface,was identified
adjacent to the eastern,western and southern facades of the Birdwood mansion.The paths connected
the mansion with its surrounding outbuildings. The predominant paving pattern was a running bond
laid perpendicular to the direction of the walk with border bricks laid on their side. One section of
paving possessed a herringbone pattern. All of the brick-surfaced paths were dry-laid and most were
identified only 2—4 inches below grade (Figures #6 and #7).
Feature 2, a broad stone-surfaced area, was identified between the northwest outbuilding and the
mansion. The stone surfacing, first identified in shovel test pit G15 (Figure #8), was composed of
medium sized tabular stones placed in soil identified at approximately 1.0 feet below grade. Probing
of adjacent soils in all directions indicated that this feature possessed a formal northern edge equivalent
with the northern facade of the northwest outbuilding, and extended to the eastern façade of the
northwest outbuilding, to approximately 20 feet west of the west facade of the mansion, and
approximately 10 feet to the south.The apparent east-west orientation and limited extent of the stone
surfacing suggests it may represent a formal path linking the northwest outbuilding with the mansion.
The fact that it underlies the brick paved paths in the area suggests that it also predates them.
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Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
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Figure#6:Feature 1 historic brick paths(pink shading),and concrete paths and drainage features
(yellow shading)surrounding the mansion.A buried cistern(blue shading)is located off the east
façade of the mansion.
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South and west of the southwest outbuilding a deep and artifact-rich midden deposit was identified in
an approximately 20 by 80-foot area in test pits D9 through D13, and E9 through E13. In addition,
significant concentrations of stone and/or brick bats, possibly representing a formal hard surfacing,
were identified in shovel test pits E7 (Figure #9),E10 and E12.Taken together, the midden and areas
of stone and brick concentrations overlapping with one another are designated feature 3.
Figure#9:Shovel test pit E7 . .Y r'� r_ .
showing concentration of stone �.s4.g+3 ` t �. • r
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7
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
South of and adjacent to the southeast outbuilding a deep and artifact-rich midden deposit, feature 4,
was identified in four adjacent test pits, M9 — M11, and N9. The midden was characterized by rich,
organic soils extending to depths of 1.3 to 1.8 feet below grade. In test pit M9 a potential dug feature
was identified, while in test pit N9 a possible post-hole feature in line with the east façade of the
southeast outbuildings was also identified. A total of 146 artifacts were recovered from these four test
pits (avg. = 36.5 artifacts per hole).
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Figure#10:Birdwood Rehabilitation project area showing location of potentially significant cultural features
identified during Phase I shovel testing.
In summary, Phase I shovel testing within the approximately 2.2-acre Birdwood Mansion
Rehabilitation project area identified four areas containing potentially significant cultural features that
will require sensitivity during future planning and construction phases: feature 1 a network of brick
paved paths located between 3 and 5 inches below grade and running east, west and south of the
mansion;feature 2 a broad area of stone surfacing located 1.0 foot below grade between the northwest
outbuilding and the mansion; feature 3 an area composed of artifact rich soils and isolated portions
of brick and stone concentrations; and feature 4 an artifact rich midden deposit with potential dug
features located south of the southeast outbuilding(Figure#10).
Based on initial communication of the findings of the Phase I survey with the University of Virginia
Foundation on March 5, 2019, it was determined that only feature 3 located west and south of the
southwest outbuilding may potentially be impacted by proposed future development. In this location
8
Birdwood Mansion Rehabilitation Project University of Virginia Foundation
a service road is proposed to be constructed linking the parking area north of the indoor golf facility
with the mansion. It is anticipated that construction of the road corridor will adversely impact any
cultural features located within its path. Because of the anticipated impact, it is recommended that
additional limited large unit excavation take place in this area prior to construction. The goal of the
large unit excavation would be to define,identify and determine the significance of the artifact-bearing
midden and isolated portions of hard surfacing south and west of the southwest outbuilding.
The new brick pathways proposed to be built in the yard areas to the east, west and south of the
mansion are anticipated to be shallow constructions extending no greater than 8 — 12 inches below
grade. Because of the low impact, no additional archaeological investigations are warranted in the
locations of the new brick pathways.It is recommended however that if construction of the new brick
pathways have the potential to impact soils below 12 inches,that additional large excavation units be
placed in the location of the feature 1 stone surfacing located between the northwest outbuilding and
the mansion to document and further identify the function and age of this broad area of paving.
Based on communication from the University of Virginia Foundation, it is believed that the historic
cistern located between the mansion and the northeast outbuilding may need to be partially
demolished to enable the construction of a pedestrian friendly corridor linking the new parking area
with the eastern entrance to the main residence. If the cistern is partially demolished, it is
recommended that archaeologists be present to document the historic structure and any associated
features with photographs and maps.
Upon the initiation of construction activities anticipated in the Fall of 2019, RAS will visit the site
periodically to monitor excavation for the southern porch, new road construction and widening, and
all new buried utilities.The goal of archaeological monitoring will be to document any cultural features
or deposits that may be discovered during the construction process. Following the end of the
monitoring phase and processing of all material culture recovered from the field, work on the
production of a final technical report will begin.All material culture recovered from the current survey
is considered property of the University of Virginia Foundation and will be returned at the project's
completion along with hard and electronic copies of the final report.
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