Universal York

I stopped by the site of the Camp Security archaeology dig yesterday and took a few photos.

There have been some small Revolutionary War period artifacts found so far: brass and tombac buttons, a lead musket ball, a British copper coin and a Spanish coin (widely used in Europe and America).

I was especially interested in the holes. That is how we will find the exact location of the stockade that we know from documentary evidence was somewhere on the original 280 acre property.

Archaeologist Steve Warfel and field assistant Amanda Snyder showed me how they determined some kind of past disturbance by the color of the soil. While I was there Snyder was working on a hole that showed distinct disturbance of the subsoil. Warfel cautioned that disturbance can be from natural causes, such a long ago tree roots or an animal burrow. On the other hand, the discoloration of the soil can show where there were post holes. indicating the stockade location. They will expand that excavation to determine what may have been the cause.

Volunteers were digging other exploratory holes, calling Warfel’s attention to anything different. Others were carefully screening the soil taken out of each hole to make sure no small item might have been missed.

The dig will be going on for a couple more weeks, so there is plenty of time to further explore this area of the site. It was flagged by a remote sensing survey two years ago as an area of interest. As Warfel points out, even if little is found and the stockade not located this year, the land is now preserved, thanks to a combination of private and public donations and the cooperation of Springettsbury Township, now the owner of the preserved site. Who knows what exploration in the years to come might uncover.

Warfel and the Friends of Camp Security ask that if anyone has knowledge of anything found at the site over the years, to please share that information, as it could give invaluable evidence on where to keep looking. It is stressed that you would not be asked to return anything found when the site was private property, nor would your ownership be made public. Just call Friends of Camp Security at 717-755-4367 and leave a message so that the call can be returned.

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