A renovation project on one of the University of Georgia's oldest buildings has turned into an archaeological treasure hunt, and after weeks of digging, the treasure pile just keeps growing.

Another relic from UGA's past turned up in New College's historic North Campus building days ago: a ticket to a long-ago UGA baseball game, buried in the dirt.

Though some of the letters are missing from the faded piece of paper, enough remained to see clearly the 50-cent ticket was issued by the UGA Athletic Association's Baseball Department.

Campus Architect Danny Sniff hopes retired UGA tennis coach and media relations director Dan Magill or someone else familiar with Bulldog athletic history will be able to help date the ticket.

The excavators also have found a brick floor no one knew existed buried 7 feet below New College's present ground level, and the remains of what might be a garden wall outside of the building facing Herty Field.

Another building might have stood on the site before the original New College was built in 1819, said Janine Duncan, the campus planning coordinator for UGA's Physical Plant.

While removing the interior in preparation for new walls and floors, workers also uncovered massive beams that date back nearly two centuries to 1832, when a new New College was completed to replace one that burned.

The real treasure so far is a small bowl, nearly intact and very rare, that dates back 500 years or so, said UGA archaeologist Erv Garrison.

He has been given charge of the growing hoard of artifacts workers are digging out.

It's a mystery why an unusual Lamar-era piece of pottery was buried in the rubble of the original building, which burned in 1830. That period of Indian culture in Georgia lasted from about 1350 to 1600, long before UGA's first classes in 1801.

The bowl might have been a professor's find on display in the building, Mr. Garrison speculated.

Workers keep finding bits and pieces of pottery, old glass, hand-forged nails and other items.