Archaeology at Ephrata Cloister

With this year’s field season at Fort Hunter Mansion and Park behind us, we continue our look back at archaeological projects conducted by The State Museum of Pennsylvania over the course of the last half century. This series is intended to dove-tail with the broader celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the construction of the William Penn Memorial Museum building in Harrisburg, which houses The State Museum of Pennsylvania and the executive offices of its parent state agency, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

excavating a post mold feature at Ephrata Cloister (36La981)

A number of posts in this series previously detailed the excavation of stratified prehistoric sites in advance of large, federally funded or permitted development projects, such as Sheep Rock shelter (36Hu1) for the Raystown Reservoir (Army Corps), and 36Da50 in anticipation of the construction of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor (FERC). This week, the focus will be on the decade long historical archaeology project that took place at Ephrata Cloister, an 18^th century religious commune in Lancaster County, now a popular historic site that has been owned by the Commonwealth since 1941.

WPA poster for Ephrata Cloister

The formation of the Ephrata Cloister community was the direct result of a founding policy of William Penn’s nascent colony, that of religious tolerance. Nowhere else in colonial America were the conditions such that a social experiment like that of the Cloister was possible, thanks to Penn. Political and religious upheaval, and the accompanying economic hardships faced by marginalized groups throughout Europe in the late 17^th century, spurred many to seek a new beginning across the Atlantic. Such was the case with Conrad Beissel, a German immigrant who would come to settle in Lancaster County around 1730 seeking a more meaningful spirituality through solitude and piety.

The charismatic Beissel soon found himself the leader of a small, but industrious group of like-minded people that would comprise the Cloister community. While spiritual purity was the primary focus of the cloister’s celibate brothers and sisters, some of the activities they engaged in include agriculture, print making, fraktur art, and among other industries, the construction of large dormitories and prayer houses, some of which survive today and have become icons of this National Historic Landmark.

at left, sisters' dormitory (1743) and right, prayer house (1741)

In the late 1980s site administrators expressed concern that adequate measures had not been implemented to protect the massive wooden structures, some of them at this point approaching 250 years old, from the threat of destruction by fire. Steve Warfel, then Senior Curator of the Section of Archaeology at The State Museum of PA, was contracted to perform an archaeological survey of the proposed fire suppression line across the property in an effort to identify any significant subsurface features relating to the site’s early religious commune activities.

large cellar on Mt. Zion, excavated in 2001

 From that initial scope of work would emerge an annual historical archaeology field school, conducted in the months of June and July, which instructed dozens of college students in the methods of excavation, recordation and artifact identification. Over the course of eleven seasons, hundreds of thousands of artifacts were recovered, and several no longer extant buildings were relocated on the landscape, enhancing and enriching the story of the Cloister (including its time as a hospital during the American Revolution), and sometimes challenging long held assumptions about the behavior of its inhabitants.

reconstructed storage crocks and table wares from the 1995 field season

top row, left to right: medicine vial fragment, english gun flint, two pieces of lead printers type

middle row: musket balls, french and english flint fragments

bottom row: medicine vial fragments

In an important final step after each season, Warfel published his findings in accessible booklets (still available at the Cloister gift shop) detailing the remains of structures discovered and their associated artifacts, in order share insights gathered with parties interested in this special piece of colonial American history.

This week’s post serves as a mere introduction to the Cloister and a number of interesting facets about its members and their interactions with each other and with non-members locally and regionally. Outside of Warfel’s archaeological booklet series, numerous books have been written about Ephrata, If your curiosity has been piqued, please refer to the suggested reading list below to dig a little deeper.

Bach, Jeff. Voices of the turtledoves: the sacred world of Ephrata. Penn State University Press, 2003

Benson, Cynda. Early Illuminated Manuscripts from the Ephrata Cloister. Northampton, Mass.: Smith College Museum of Art, 1995.

Garvan, Beatrice B., and Charles F. Hummel. The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts, 1683-1850. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982.

Lamech and Agrippa. Chronicon Ephratense: A History of the Community of the Seventh Day Baptists at Ephrata. New York: Lenox Hill Publishing, 1972.

Reichmann, Felix, and Eugene E. Doll. Ephrata as Seen by Contemporaries. Allentown: The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1953.

Sangmeister, Ezechiel. Leben Wandel: Life and Conduct of the Late Brother Ezechiel Sangmeister. Ephrata: Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley, 1979-1985.

Secor, Robert, ed. Pennsylvania 1776. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1975.

Warfel, Stephen G. Historical Archaeology at Ephrata Cloister. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1993-2003.

Weiser, Frederick S., and Howell J. Heaney. The Pennsylvania German Fraktur of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Breinigsville: The Pennsylvania German Society, 1976.

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .

Happy Independence Day

This week we are skipping the letter “O” in honor of our national holiday, Independence Day. Most of us refer to this holiday as merely the 4th of July or the July 4th holiday, advertisements rarely if ever include the words “Independence Day”. Our focus is on picnics and fireworks with little thought given to the sacrifices and events which occurred for us to enjoy our freedoms. Pennsylvania played a pivotal role in the events that led to the creation of the Declaration of Independence and continued to play a major role as the fight for independence evolved.


Pennsylvania was established by William Penn as a safe haven for Quakers fleeing religious oppression in England. The influx of Quakers and other passive religious groups to the colony attributed to the delay in Pennsylvania joining other colonies in revolting against the British Crown. Skirmishes in nearby colonies eventually forced Pennsylvanians to join in the revolution.

This premise of religious freedom was a factor in the establishment of Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster County. The Cloister was a religious commune settled in 1732 under the leadership of Conrad Beissel. This celibate community led a very simple lifestyle, sheltered from much of the turmoil surrounding them. But even the quiet community of the Cloister could not avoid the changes that occurred with the Revolutionary War during the winter of 1777-1778.

The Continental Army was quartered at Valley Forge under George Washington’s command with few provisions during harsh winter conditions. Disease rapidly spread thru the camp and included Typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia. The sickened soldiers were sent from the camp to hospitals established in the surrounding countryside, Ephrata Cloister functioned as one of these hospitals.

Archaeology conducted at the Cloister by former Senior Curator Steve Warfel of the State Museum of Pennsylvania in 2002 & 2003 verified the historic accounts of a Revolutionary War hospital on the grounds. Excavations in search of the foundation of a 1739 Prayer-house on Zion’s Hill, yielded evidence of the occupation of this site by soldiers of the Continental Army. According to historic records, the Prayer-house was destroyed after its conversion into a hospital during the war.

Warfel described the military buttons recovered in his report of excavations Historical Archaeology at Ephrata Cloister; A Report on 2002 & 2003 Investigations. He identified a pewter button as particularly noteworthy, “for it is a regimental button of the Revolutionary War period. Marked “PSR,” the button was made for garments worn by members of the Pennsylvania State Regiment of Foot, an infantry unit (Bower 2000:2). The unit was activated on March 1, 1777 and “officially uniformed in a blue regimental coat with red lining and facing and pewter buttons inscribed PSR”(Gorecki 2003:1). Members of the infantry unit fought at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the fall of 1777. The button implies that one or more members of the regiment were treated at the Continental Army hospital established on Mount Zion “.

The “PSR” button, far left, is one of three regimental buttons recovered from the ground on Mount Zion. A cast pewter button marked with the numeral “11” (above center) was linked to the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment which formed on October 25, 1776 (Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment 2004:1). This unit participated in the Battles of Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown. Thirty-six percent of its men were listed as “sick” by November 1, 1777 – only a month before the Ephrata hospital was opened (Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment 2004:1).”


The third pewter regimental button is marked with the numeral “4” and was recovered from the plow zone soil on the 1738 Brothers' dormitory site during a previous field season. The Fourth Continental Light Dragoons was a mounted unit, raised in January 1777 (Waldo 2003:2). “Most of the men hailed from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland” (Waldo 2003:2). Like the Pennsylvania State Regiment and the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, this unit also participated in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown (Waldo 2003:3-4). These Revolutionary War period regimental buttons are considered rare finds and document the Continental Army’s presence on Zion Hill.

Lead musket balls and shot, English and French gunflints, gun lock parts, a bayonet, hundreds of free-blown glass medicine bottle pieces, regimental and plain buttons, and numerous strike-a-lite flints are byproducts of the Continental Army’s occupation on Zion’s Hill (Warfel 2003).

This iron brazier recovered from the excavations on Zion’s Hill likely served as a small camp stove for soldiers of the Continental Army.  This is a unique artifact and the only example in our collections. Recent conservation treatment will help insure its preservation for future researchers. 

          

The freedoms we enjoy today are the results of years of struggle in formation of a new government, a military force and a financial system.  The signing on the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia was only one step towards building a new nation, years of conflict and sacrifice followed this momentous event.  Pennsylvania is known as the “birthplace of liberty”, let us recognize and celebrate this on Independence Day 2011!                                                                                                                    

 
Reference:

2005
Warfel, Stephen G.
Historical Archaeology at Ephrata Cloister A Report on 2002 & 2003 Investigations Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .

H is for hoe, hasp, hatchet, hunters, hematite, helgramite points, Huron, Heritage and the list goes on, but this week...

H is for Historical Archaeology.


Archaeology is the study of past human behavior through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains or objects.

A basic division in the study of past human behavior is the difference between historic and prehistoric archaeology. Historical archaeologist study the remains of cultures for which a written record exists, while prehistoric archaeologists examine cultures for which we have no written record.

                          

Archaeology is a scientific process of careful excavation and recovery of the archaeological record. This record may be represented in multiple ways to include, soil changes, structural remains, or material remains. These material remains or objects recovered are referred to as artifacts.

Redware pottery fragments recovered from Ephrata Cloister. Located in Lancaster County, this historic porperty was an 18th century religious communal society founded in 1735 by Conrad Beissel. Members were expected to take vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience, and personal possessions were not permitted. These bottom of these redware vessels were scratched with initials, indicating individual possession was practiced by some members against communal rules.

The analysis of artifacts recovered from archaeological sites enable archaeologists to create a picture of every day life for cultures and peoples that history often ignores in the historic record. Frequently there is a difference between what is written and what people actually do in their daily lives. You might know who your great grandparents were, but do you know what they did with their garbage, how they planted their garden, what dishes they ate from, if they took in boarders or had servants, how they celebrated their culture and heritage? Perhaps you have a family history that identifies certain aspects of their lives, but often these documents are biased by the writers’ personal beliefs. Archaeology has the unique task of providing a more objective account of our past and providing a more complete picture of our cultural heritage.

                             Overview of excavation block prior to excavation of hearth feature at Fort Hunter

In our own excavations conducted at Fort Hunter the analysis of dietary waste from a hearth feature that we interpret as a bake oven has provided a clearer picture of the diet of soldiers at this provincial fort. Examination of the faunal remains reveals that the meats consumed were from cow, pig, sheep, horse, deer, turtle and fish. Beef represented the greatest percentage of consumed meats, while small game such as turkey or rabbit are absent from the record. Historic documents of the period list provisions for the troops, but it does not indicate how the meats were to be preserved or prepared for transport across the rough terrain. Analysis of the faunal remains from Fort Hunter indicated that the beef was likely salted and cured prior to transport, based on the low number of butchered bones recovered. It also indicates that soldiers were not hunting wild game in the woods surrounding the fort to supplement their meager rations. Bones demonstrated spiral fracturing commonly seen in bones cracked to extract the marrow. Marrow was likely consumed and the bones then boiled for soups. All of this paints a dismal picture of the diet of these soldiers and a more complete story of their daily life.


When we examine our past, we are looking at our cultural heritage. Our cultural heritage is important to most of us as it helps to define our values and identifies who we are. Recent archaeological investigations at historic sites have provided additional information on the heritage of pioneers, immigrants, slaves and Native Americans. Children who are not well represented in the historic record are now documented thru the artifacts recovered at these sites. All of these groups are underrepresented in the historic record and archaeology can provide a picture of everyday life for them.

                                         Children are often not included in the historic record. These artifacts represent the cultural material from working class families at Eckley Miner's village in Luzerne County. 

                                          Clockwise from top;clay marbles, plastic game piece, ceramic doll parts, army jeep  

 We all benefit from examining our past and preserving our material culture for future generations. This focus on human behavior and artifacts is what differentiates archaeology from history. History examines the events, but it does not make the connection to a person or event through personal objects. By examining our cultural heritage, we can better understand changes in society and hopefully develop better plans for dealing with cultural change in the future. In closing, H is for historical archaeology but more importantly H is for heritage and the preservation of our culture.

For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .