Friday, July 20, 2012

To everything there is a season…

Ami, Harry, Emily, Brian, Colm, Katie, Marcelle
I think it’s Ecclesiastes that says “To everything there is a season and a time and purpose under heaven.  A time to dig and a time to fill in.”  Okay, maybe that last part isn’t quite right, but it was the theme for the day.   The team take time to take the 2012 official team photo.  I say it each and every year, but what an amazing group of people.  The Partnership Program from UMass and Queen’s must be commended for this sharing that goes on.  The great part is that we shall meet again in Belfast in about a month.  Readers will remember that Hugh Cummiskey’s homestead (Lowell’s first memorable Irishman from the 1820s) was located in Crossan, County Tyrone.  The excavation that was started last summer in N. Ireland will continue again this year.  We’ll keep daily updates going once we build our wee currach and sail our way over, much like Brendan the Navigator did in 9th century.  To be able to make that physical and spiritual connection between Crossan and Lowell is a story waiting to be told.  We know so much more about Hugh than just three years ago when this project began.

My day began with leading a group of teachers from the Tsongas Industrial History Center to the dig site.  Director Sheila Kirschbaum, Ellen and Shelley host teachers from all over the country each summer, telling them the story of Lowell.  Historian Gray Fitzsimons and I gave the Acre walking tour to show the working people’s perspective, focusing on the role immigrants played in the city.  Dr. Colm Donnelly and the team gave the teachers a first-hand account of the work being done on site and what archaeologists do.
Well, well, well.  For the past week I’ve been mentioning, no, consistently dwelling on making guesses as to what could be under that big stone cap discovered last year after ground penetrating radar (GPR) detected an anomaly.  Hearth?  No sign of burn material.  Latrine?  Possibly, but unlikely.  Cistern?  Could be.  Well?  Could be.  And the winner is-----  a well.  Brian removed the small stones.  I asked in anticipation, “What do you see?”   And in the words of the finder of King Tut’s tomb, Lord Carnarvon, he replied, “I see wonderful things!”  And people say archaeologists have no sense of humor.
As usual with archaeologists you can’t get a straight answer as to dates and names, but you can make a few guesses.  The cap on the well is reminiscent to older street caps seen around Lowell.  This well might have been capped when the city was transferring over from wells to public water.  The well itself is lined with stone and brick and no perceivable mortar.  So our good Father McDermott had a well just outside his house.  Seeing that McDermott’s house was moved to this spot in 1840s, it’s possible that this well site predates that.  This could have been the well that supplied water to the shanties in the Paddy Camps.  How many women stood around here and shared the day’s gossip?  How many kids played on this lawn and lost the clay marbles we found?  Maybe some of that redware was from pottery that was dropped when a child was sent to get water for Da after a day’s digging. 
Then the shovels were broken out.  Each of us took our turn to fill in the holes that were opened just days ago.  The well was fitted with a heavy metal cap to ensure safety for many years to come.  But before it was closed, Colm had each of us sign a paper that will last for many years.  It detailed who was there and the years of our dig.  It was enclosed under the cap and the closing began in earnest.  This is the third season, and I always get a sense of a funeral.  This is not an end though.  There is so much work to be done.  Those bags of earth have to be analyzed.  The hundreds of artifacts are measured, recorded, and studied as to their place in the story of the Irish camps.  Friends like Walter, Karen, Grey, and Dick have spent the last year doing research in their areas of expertise.  Now we have a new series of questions to answer.  So it’s not an end, but a beginning.  We say slán abhaile (safe home) to our Irish partners.  See you next month in Crossan.


9 comments:

  1. My son and i stopped by the site on Thursday the 19th , I have always had a passionate interest in my Irish history and heritage and am ecstatic that my son shares this passion also. My family immigrated from Ireland in the early 1800's and settled in Charlestown where most of my family still reside today. My last name is Doherty . Any way ,about 15 years ago i moved to Lowell mainly because of the cheap rents and come to find out i did what my relatives did decades ago ...LOL ...(although i didn't dig canals i did however come to Lowell because of economic reasons....As my son and i watched the team sifting thru the dirt we were greeted so very friendly by a gentleman who is (forgive me if im mistaken) the history/caretaker of St. Patrick's. He introduced my son and i to the WHOLE team and showed us what was found and we actually held the items) I am so grateful to meet someone as passionate about the Irish history here in Lowell as I am !!! I am still gloating about the experience and intend to follow this journey into the past ,THANK YOU again for letting my son and i witness and hold the artifacts ....On friday we went back to see the team open the well they unearthed in which there was fresh water that hadnt seen the light of day 150+ years And as big as i am ,My offer is still open to climb down the well !!!...LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike, it's a blessing to meet folks like you who remember the past and wish to share with their kids. It is an honor to be able to do the work we do. Please keep in touch. Dave
      (Now that they're gone, care to take a dip in the well?)

      Delete
    2. LOL......YOU KNOW IT !!!!...Also some Indiana Jones style Church basement Crypt hunting ?????!!!!!....LOL

      Delete
  2. You write very well dave, and im so excited to have been able to share the experiences this week with the entire team. It truly was a great team. As marcelle katie and i were walking back to our cars after dinner tonight we couldnt stop talking about how much we learned and how much were going to miss our new found friends. A week was not nearly long enough! Cant wait to travel with you and the rest to ireland in a few weeks. Until then stay safe and god bless! -ami

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ami, the 3 of you never stopped for the entire week. I don't know where you got your energy from, but be ready for the mud of Tyrone. Go buy a pair of Wellies, you'll need them. Dave

      Delete
  3. Great to see the picture of the well open! Can't believe it has been a year since we found the first corner of it in the trench! Excellent blog as usual Dave, all the best coming over here and, yes, don't for get your wellies!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kudos Dave!! You are doing great work!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Dave, Colm, Ronan and the team. D. Lynch here. I missed you this year due to other fieldwork obligations out west. I'm just back from walking a 16 hectare magnetometer survey. It looks like the dig went "well", I am glad to see more work at the granite slab GPR anomaly. I hope you are back again in 2013 and we can team up for more geophyz. Please keep in touch. Have a great time at Cummiskey’s homestead in Ireland!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was hoping the old team could reunite again, but maybe that's in the future. Heard great things about all of you. Fond memories.

      Delete