ARCHAEOLOGISTS are hoping to excavate evidence of day-to-day Bermudian life prior to 1710 at Verdmont Museum and shed some light on the people who lived and worked on the once enormous estate — including slaves. Within the first week of working on a dig at the Smith’s property, a team of 15 has uncovered pottery pieces dating from the 1800s, animal bones and a broken pipe. But the greatest find to date has been a unique cave beneath the outhouse.

Richard Larry, chairman of the Bermuda National Trust Archaeological Committee, is understandably excited about the progress so far, especially since sites available to local archaeologists continue to shrink with time.

Built around 1710, Verdmont is the flagship of all the properties owned by the Bermuda National Trust and was a private residence until it was sold to the Trust in 1951.

As its previous owners never had electricity or any other modern amenities installed, the house remained architecturally unchanged over the years.

However, the estate, which according to early maps used to stretch as far as Flatts, is now confined to the corner of Sayle and Verdmont Roads, which doesn’t leave archaeologists a lot of property to work with.

However, that didn’t deter the enthusiasm of Mr. Larry and his team who picked a spot to the east of the house to dig “test pits”.

He believes this is the most likely area where animals would have been kept and trash would have been buried.

It is also the most likely place slave quarters would have been erected, and it’s evidence of this that the team hopes to uncover by finding post holes.

“Before trash collection they would dig a hole, bury it (the trash) and burn it and that’s what we hope to find . . . some remains of these trash middens around this area, just on the outskirts of where this theoretical building (slave quarters) would have been,” he explained.Midden deposits can contain a variety of archaeological material, including animal bone, shell, botanical material and other artefacts and provide a useful resource for archaeologists who wish to study the diet and habits of those who lived on the property.

As for the slave quarters, Mr. Larry said buildings were alluded to in early inventories of the site and the team hopes to find evidence of the structures which were probably constructed of half, or full, timber.

“We’re hoping to find post holes that will show that servants’ quarters and animal enclosures were built here,” he said.

“We want to look at the social aspects of the site. A lot has been written about the architectural history of the site, but as archaeologists we are more interested in the people who lived and worked here, who don’t necessarily get into the history books.

“We are basically having to go by wills, deeds, inventories and piece together the archival records and supplement that by looking at the archaeological things to get a complete picture of the site.”

Through these archival records, there is evidence that slaves worked on the property and Mr. Larry and his team hope to get more information about the slaves as the dig progresses.

Some 300 metres from the historic house lies the privy, and fellow archaeologist Brent Fortenberry is excited at the prospect of digging down through the various layers inside this structure.

“It’s significant for archaeology because a privy is normally where trash would be tossed, so for us to find the trash lets us piece together the mundane activities of everyday life at Verdmont,” he said.

The fact that the original owners chose to build the privy above a cave makes it a unique outhouse in Bermuda, the archaeologists believe.

The cave extends about ten feet in a westerly direction, five feet in an easterly direction and is estimated to drop down about five or six feet.

There are various archaeological digs under way around the island, including one at the Maritime Museum and another at Port Royal Golf Club where The Grove, one of the oldest buildings on the island, is located.

Dr. John Triggs, from Wilfred Laurier University in Canada, is overseeing this dig, and is also working with the Department of Parks to look at various forts around the island before any renovations are done in the future.