2004 & 2005 Archeological Excavations

In 2004 representative of the Immaculate Conception Church contacted the Arkansas Archeological Survey (AAS). By then, the grotto had been dismantled amid concerns that it was no longer structurally sound. The Deacon indicated that artifacts had been found in the past near the chimney and that the architects working for the church with plans for landscaping the site had recommended that the church contact the AAS before deposits might be disturbed.

In late June of 2004, AAS-Sponsored Research Program personnel along with Jerry Hilliard, the AAS University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (UAF) Station Assistant, met with Deacon Burst about the site. A direct result of that meeting was test excavations conducted in October of 2004--a brief three day excavation in order to assess if there were any intact archeological deposits around the chimney. These units encountered intact deposits dating from the mid- to late-nineteenth century.

In March of 2005 (14th-18th and the 21st-23rd), the UAF Station held a week-long Archeology Month dig at the site to expand excavations and find out more about who lived here. We ultimately completed 6 excavation units, and recovered thousands of artifacts.

The stratigraphy of the site was certainly the product of urban construction, but it was quite helpful in understanding the chronology of the site and site formation processes. Below you see a thick orange clay zone. This is construction fill from the construction of the current St. Anne's Academy in 1905. It is largely sterile clay with a few bricks and other construction debris present. This construction fill also alerts us to the fact that the landform was extensively leveled during the 1905 construction.

Above you can see the contours of the pre-1905 landform after removing the clay fill. Below that clay fill were very compact, burned lenses of ash, charcoal and wall plaster packed full of artifacts dating to latter half of the nineteenth century (see profile below). This seems consistent with historical accounts of the 1875 fire that destroyed what had been Zachary Taylor's residence and the Sisters of Mercy's first convent (Sisters of Mercy 1989:129).

On to Artifacts

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