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 […]