The 2012 Archaeological Study of the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison Site By David R. Bush, Ph. D., Heidelberg University This year the archaeological study of the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison site continues with the exploration of Block 8. There are two areas of Block 8 under investigation. This is the third year for [...]

The Fundamentals of Opening a Unit Before excavations begin, a unit must first be surveyed and located. This week, we opened two units above the location of one of the latrines associated with Block 8. We set up a total station (also known as a theodolite and an electronic distance measurer) which is used to [...]

The following were put together by the various grade school and high school teachers participating in the graduate education course at Johnson’s Island.  Groups of three or four students had the assignment to prepare one topic to include on this web site.  Here are their contributions. Screening By: Niki Schiefer, Miranda Hessick and Kendra Foos [...]

Our group, that being group D, and all the others have been mapping all features and artifacts located in-situ in our units and the latrine.  The purpose of mapping both features and artifacts is to record the provenience and context within that unit.  Mapping requires the following tools: a tripod, total station, plumb bob, level, [...]

by Zoe van Buren, Jana Irving, Leslie Salyers, Field School Students             An essential component of any archaeological excavation is the processing of the artifacts. Once a week, our class meets in the archaeological lab at Heidelberg University to sort, clean, and label the materials we have excavated from our units. We begin with a [...]

From the 2010 Archaeological Field School Participants: The Block 8 Latrine is a perfect example of how a new archaeological site is begun. After the latrine was located through soil samples, the site was staked out within an existing grid system and we continued to investigate. Members of the excavation teams worked to clear away [...]

From the 2010 Archaeological Field School: Having arrived and settled in, the Johnson’s Island archaeological field school began on  Monday, June 7th.  We met at the Gilmor Science Building archaeological laboratory where we had a short lecture introducing us to the history and context of the site.  Johnson’s Island was used as the location for [...]

by David Bush, Ph.D. It is my privilege to share one school’s experience at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison.  The Lorain County Early College High School brought four classes to the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison site in April, 2010 through Heidelberg University’s Experiential Learning Program in Historic Archaeology.  Their teacher, Mark Jaworski (Lorain [...]

Investigations at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison Site by Dr. David Bush This year, our investigations are centered on Block 8 within the Prison Compound.  Block 8 was one of the 11 housing blocks used solely for holding the Confederate officers incarcerated at Johnson’s Island.  In addition to the 11 general housing blocks, Block [...]

Very. Small. Rocks. In the beginning, it all looked the same. Bucket after bucket, screen after screen, a seemingly endless supply of very small rocks filled our working days. But as we approached the end of that first week, we began to look into those screens from a new perspective. It was not simply a [...]

Our excitement this week has been narrowly focused on feature 40, the latrine. Although we do find important items in the hospital block, in feature 40 we are presented with a unique opportunity. We know the exact dates that this latrine was in use, affording us a snapshot in time of the everyday life of [...]

Text and photos by the students of the field school Historical archaeology, like archaeology in general, must focus on key aspects of research while maintaining meticulous documentation.  In order to achieve this, multiple levels of technology are required.  Low-tech resources such as trowels and shovels are as important as more sophisticated tools such as digital [...]

Bags unpacked, refrigerators stocked, trowels and plums in hand… The 2009 Heidelberg University Archaeological Field Crew is in the house! Like surfers in search of the perfect wave, we arrived this past week from distant, and not so distant places, from California and Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, drawn here by the perfect dig, a [...]

This year we have a very diverse group of students in the Heidelberg University field school. They come from all ends of the country and have quite a varied background. The first week we worked on the interior of Block 6. We will be continuing this part of the excavation throughout the summer. We have [...]

by the 2008 Heidelberg College Archaeological Field Crew This week marked the end of our time here at Johnson’s Island, and we were very busy both in the latrine and in the hospital. At the end of last week, we spent most of the morning braving the elements while trying to keep the site dry. [...]

This week we continued our excavations in Block 6 and the latrine. Because of rainy weather on Monday, we focused our efforts on the hospital units which are sheltered. We were able to work in both areas on Tuesday. The excavation in the latrine has produced many pieces of glass, ceramic, and bone. We have [...]

This past week we have been rotating between excavating some of the Hospital Block units and the newly opened latrine (Feature 40). As we continued working in Block 6, the Hospital Block, we excavated down to the subsoil, which is much lighter colored soil than that of the plow zone, which is soil that has [...]

We began last week working in Block 6, the prison hospital. Our work was centered in 2 by 2 m units in the middle of the hospital. The hospital had wooden plank floors, so we expected to find only objects that would have fallen through. During excavation and screening, we discovered both historic artifacts–such as [...]

Once again we began our investigations at the Johnson’s Island Military Prison Site at the end of March with the Experiential Learning Program in Historic Archaeology through Heidelberg College. This is the third year we have been working on the Prison Hospital-Block 6. Our work is centered slightly to the east and north of the [...]

We have been working quite hard this summer to investigate Feature 41, the prison hospital latrine from 1863, and have taken many interesting things out. I wanted to share with you these new discoveries at Johnson’s Island. We have found so much eggshell that I can’t even imagine how many eggs it must represent. I [...]

Over the last week, we began excavating the third level of the hospital latrine, bringing the latrine down to about 12 cm below the plow zone (actually to 61-64 cm below temporary datum!). At this depth, we are finally breaking through the clay that was placed on top of the waste to seal it. We [...]

Over the past two weeks, we’ve been alternating between opening up the hospital latrine and finishing the units inside Block 6. We’ve mapped and excavated a number of potential postholes and wall supports inside the hospital area. Completion of the four units there has exposed more details of the floor plan as well as a [...]

We are now investigating Feature 41 (F.41), the 1863 latrine from Block 6 at the site, and I thought I would give you some background on the excavation of it. As you can see from the plan map, we found three latrines in 1995 and 1996, all inside of the original wall for the prison. [...]

For the first week of excavating in the prison hospital, we divided into two teams of four working in two 2 m2 units excavating the plow zone, the upper level of soil, disturbed by plowing but still containing artifacts. Our most common finds included nineteenth-century ceramics and glass, cut nails, brick, and flint pieces (from [...]

We have started another field season at the Johnson’s Island Civil War Prison site and are hopeful to gather quite a bit of information about the hospital. Our goals this year are two-fold. First, we want to continue our exploration of the actual building site for the hospital. Second, we want to open up one [...]

To date, we have excavated 14 two-meter squares at the Prison Hospital, Block 6. We have discovered several postholes and one large feature with brick and mortar, possibly the foundation area to the chimney on the southern side of the block. The postholes on the eastern side appear to represent 8″ square support posts just [...]

The Heidelberg College Field School is now over, but we had a wonderful time exploring the prison hospital over the past few weeks. I still have several weeks of research yet ahead of me, so I am not done updating everyone on our experiences. Today, I will share a few of our findings that have [...]

This update is being provided by the students of Heidelberg College’s Archaeological Field School 2006.–Dr. Dave Bush In the past two weeks, we have recovered numerous artifacts that merit further attention. However, our efforts were hampered by several days of flooding in the excavation units. The deeper units were filled with several centimeters of water [...]

This update is being provided by the students of Heidelberg College’s Archaeological Field School 2006. I hope that you appreciate their perspective in what in most cases is their first experience in archaeological fieldwork. I have enjoyed these students the first week and look forward to a great summer with them.–Dr. Dave Bush This is [...]

It has been another two weeks since our last update. In that time, we have continued to excavate at the location of the southern end of Block 6, the Johnson’s Island Civil War Military Prison site’s Prisoner Hospital. We have continued to discover hundreds of artifacts related to the medical treatment of the prisoner. The [...]

Excavations at the Prison Hospital (Block 6) of the Johnson’s Island Civil War Military Prison site have been ongoing since March 28. The Experiential Learning Program in Historic Archaeology through Heidelberg College has provided the student power that has resulted in the excavation of four 2 by 2 meter squares. Thus far we have had [...]

The investigations of the prison hospital (Block 6) are a continuation of work began in 1990. I first explored the hospital’s latrines as part of a larger exploration of latrines from several different locations within the prison compound. This research, which focused on Blocks 1, 6, and 8, demonstrated that each localized use resulted in [...]

The field season is winding down, but we still have many questions about the area in which we have been working. We have now mapped in all the exposed features, giving us some details about the ground disturbances. The pictures to the left are of us conducting the mapping. The exposure of a trench running [...]

Our field investigations have continued with various groups participating in the study of Block 4. We have now opened 16 two-meter units and have eight of them down to subsoil. Participating with us were students from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Future Scientists Program and the Field School from Heidelberg College. Several features have [...]

The weather has been more cooperative the past two weeks. The site is finally starting to dry out, and this has allowed us to work on all the units. Let’s hope we won’t be suffering from much more rain this year! Since the last field report, we have had fourteen new classes at the site. [...]

Thousands of artifacts have been recovered so far this spring. We have had 25 classes participate in our Experiential Learning Program, giving more than 500 students the opportunity to help discover the history of Block 4 at the Johnson’s Island Prison Compound. Students excavate Unit B Screening for artifacts Our findings have included over 200 [...]

Our interactive dig’s first report from the field! Map shows Block 4, the area where we are working this year. The grade- and high- school students in our Experiential Learning Program use the letter designations on the two-meter units to keep track of the ones they are investigating. It’s the third year we’ve been excavating [...]