You are standing in front of a graphic panel and artifact case titled “How Can You Tell How Old a Site Is?” To your left and right are the restrooms. Behind you is a hands-on archaeology dig interactive.

The panel in front of you includes text, three illustrations, a chart, and a graph. The case below it includes text and two groups of artifacts with labels. The main text on the panel reads:

How Can You Tell How Old a Site Is?

Archaeologists have several methods for determining when a site was occupied. One involves measuring clay tobacco pipes.

Archaeologists often find fragments of clay tobacco pipes in this area. These relatively inexpensive and disposable items were manufactured, used, and thrown away in a short period of time.

Between the early 1600s and 1800, fashions changed, and pipe stems gradually grew longer. As pipe stems grew, the bores—or holes—in the pipe stems became narrower.

Thanks to data collected by archaeologists, we can help determine when a site was occupied by measuring the bore diameters of the clay pipes found there.

The secondary text reads:

Changing Fashions
In the early 1600s, tobacco pipe stems were short with wide holes or bores. Over the next 150 years, pipe stems grew longer and the bores became narrower.

Dating Pipe Stems
National Park Service archaeologist Jean Harrington developed the pipe stem dating system in the 1950s after measuring thousands of pipe stems recovered from Jamestown, Virginia, and other colonial sites.

Harrington’s research found that most of the pipe stems from each period shared the same bore diameter.

The accompanying chart shows the most common bore diameter of pipe stems by time period in fractions of an inch. From 1620 to 1650, the most common bore diameter was eight 64ths of an inch. From 1650 to 1680, the most common bore diameter was seven 64ths of an inch. From 1680 to 1710, the most common bore diameter was six 64ths of an inch. From 1710 to 1750, the most common bore diameter was five 64ths of an inch. And from 1750 to 1800, the most common bore diameter was four 64ths of an inch.

The three illustrations on the panel include:

Drawings of three clay pipes with progressively longer stems and smaller bores.

A historic print of a man in 18th-century dress sitting at a table holding a pipe with a glass next to him on the table.

A botanical illustration of a tobacco leaf.

The graph on the panel shows the percentage of pipe stems recovered from Shaw’s Folly with different bore diameters. Sixty-six percent of the pipe stems recovered from Shaw’s Folly had a bore diameter of seven 64ths of an inch. Twenty-four percent of the pipe stems had a bore diameter of six 64ths of an inch. And ten percent of the pipe stems had a bore diameter of eight 64ths of an inch.

The artifact case below includes text and two groups of artifacts with labels. The main text reads:

Can You Date These Artifacts?
SERC’s archaeology team found these clay pipe fragments at the site of Shaw’s Folly, just 500 feet from where you’re standing. Most of the pipe fragments have a bore diameter of seven 64ths of an inch. Using the information above, can you figure out how old these pipes are and when Shaw’s Folly was occupied?

The first group of artifacts are fragments of clay tobacco pipes recovered from Shaw’s Folly

The second group of artifacts are drill bits. The label reads: Archaeologists use drill bits, like these, to measure the bore diameter of pipe stems.