Ransom and Sarah Williams Farmstead

In most historic site investigations, the spatial analysis of the recovered artifacts is an important step in interpreting what the features represent and the activities that occurred in different parts of the site. For the Williams farmstead, we compared the artifacts by analysis units to investigate many different questions. We also looked carefully at the distributions of various kinds of artifacts across the house excavation block. By clicking on the graph at left and the links to the map below, you can view the various distributional patterns we discovered.

Explore the artifact distribution graphs

Artifact Distributions within the House Block

The horizontal distributions of various types of artifacts recovered from the house complex were examined to help interpret the Williams house and the activities that once occurred in and around the house. To facilitate this, we used the master artifact database to create a single layered PDF file that includes one map for all excavated artifacts, five separate maps for the main functiosnal groups, and more than thirty separate maps for various subgroups and specific artifact types. For example, we could look at the distribution of Clothing/Adornment artifacts (n=638), then focus in on the subgroup called "clothing fasteners" and look at the distribution maps for "buttons" (n=440) or "buckles" and "other fasteners" (n=46). These various data sets allowed archeologists to examine the spatial patterns of material culture at many different levels. In the graphic above, we look at distribution by the five main functional groups plus distribution of cut vs wire nails.