2025 Public Archeology Lab Days (Oct - Dec)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab since 2015.  The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County -  including artifacts from investigations of sites on County properties, artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County, as well as artifacts recovered around the 1970's before the Port Tobacco Courthouse was reconstructed.  Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Location: Courthouse (2nd floor; use South Wing door) and Burch House (both inside and outside) in Historic Port Tobacco Village  map 

  Note:  Public Archeology Days at Swann Oyster House (10:30am-3pm)
                      SW of Historic Port Tobacco Courthouse
                    Saturday Oct 25 and Sunday Oct 26               
   If you are part of a large group, you need to let us know when you are coming and how many.  

Next dates: 
Note: (We try to post the latest schedule as soon as we get it - may not get until Monday morning. 
            Being in the field depends on the weather - if it's not raining and not too hot.)
Fall School Visits on Mondays scheduled Oct 6, Oct 13, and Oct 20 (make-up day)
  
  Saturday    Oct 25    (10:30am - 3pm) Swann Oyster House in the field
  Sunday       Oct 26    (10:30am - 3pm) Swann Oyster House in the field
  Monday,    Oct  27   (10am - 3pm) Rich Hill in the field

The field was too wet Monday October 13 for us to be in the field at Rich Hill.  So Elsie, Denise, Claudia, Carol, and Linda worked in the lab at Burch House washing artifacts mostly from Elsmere but also from the Swann Site.  We also moved boxes of artifacts from Maxwell Hall to the second floor of the Courthouse.  It turned out to be a short day.  (It was Linda's birthday.)

Monday October 6 two buses from Walter J. Mitchell Elementary School (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) came to Port Tobacco with second graders.  They got the chance to visit the One-Room Schoolhouse, tour Stagg Hall, and be introduced to archaeology.   Today Monday Denise, Linda, Elsie, Claudia, Carol, and Malinda along with Esther worked with the students.  It was a great group of students.  
This spring we provided the Stagg Hall docents with an introduction to archaeology script and archeology activity boxes for the students.  Although the students were coming almost every day for a number of weeks, we only helped on Mondays.  However that prevented us from being in the field.  This fall we need to be in the field and the docents know what to do.  So we have only been able to help on two Mondays.  

2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Sep) -- 2025 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun) -- 2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)  
2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Oct-Dec) --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Sep) 
  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Feb-Jun)
2021 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Mar-Dec)
2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Sep-Dec) --2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jul-Dec)   --2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2015 Public Archaeology Lab Days

 

Returning to Rich Hill - 2025

In 2021 a mid-nineteenth century Corn House was to be moved to Rich Hill, a historic property owned by Charles County, and we had to find an area away from the house where there were no artifacts.  Rich Hill-2021  We found that area and the Corn House was moved.  However, while looking for an area with no artifacts, we also found an area with artifacts - mostly nineteenth century.  This appears to be the location of a cabin. 

In 2025 Esther Read along with CCASM members and other volunteers returned to that site at Rich Hill to learn more about who might have occupied this cabin that was far from the main house but close to an old road.  If none of the artifacts found date after 1865, the cabin could have been a slave cabin.  If a number of artifacts found date after 1865 the cabin could have been used by former enslaved people but may also have previously been a slave cabin.  The Historical Society of Charles County has created a booklet "Say Their Names" with the names of all the known enslaved people associated with Rich Hill.

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Artifacts found

Monday October 20 was a beautiful day to be outdoors.  Linda, Elsie, and Carol joined Esther to open a unit in the area where the artifacts had been found in 2021.  We only removed one level and it did have artifacts - lots of whiteware including some transfer printed,  glass,  American stoneware, bricks, coal, and even a flake.  Remember we were in a plowed field and everything in the plow zone would be mixed up.

Screening and Digging at Rich Hill

2025 ASM Fall Meeting

On Saturday October 14 the Charles County Archaeology Society of Maryland, a Chapter of ASM,  hosted the 2025 Archeological Society of Maryland Fall Meeting at the Maryland Veterans Museum at Patriot Park in Newburg, MD.  And CCASM members stepped up to put together a great meeting.

The Fall Meeting started with the Annual Archeological Society of Maryland(ASM) Business Meeting.  In addition to learning what ASM has been doing these past twelve months there were also reports highlighting what four of the seven chapters have been doing.

Gary Grant from the Western Maryland Chapter was awarded the 2025 William B. Mayre Award.  The William B. Marye Award honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to Maryland archeology.  Gary was presented the award earlier when he was volunteering for the PaleoDigger Project at the Barton Ste.

Two members - Julia Berg and Danielle Knight - were recognized for completing the Certified Archeological Technician (CAT) Program.  Julia was presented her certificate at the meeting. 

And there was one other Special Recognition -  the Patricia Seitz Teacher of the Year Award.  Sarah Mason and Julie Berg received the award.  Just one of their projects this year was a multi-day archaeology workshop designed by and for Maryland K-12 educators.  

At any ASM Meeting it's always fun to catch up with others from around the state and hear what they are doing.  But the highlight of the meetings are the talks.

• 
  2025 Frederick M Stiner Memorial Address
  The Plantation of Michael Swift on the Patuxent River: 
  Ground-truthing the Teague’s Point Site, Charles County, Maryland
      Dr. Matthew D. McKnight, Chief Archaeologist for Maryland Historical Trust
   
  
  
• ASM Ethics and Conduct in Action
  Moderator: Valerie Hall, ASM President     
  Panelists: Brent Chippendale, Jim Gibb, and Julia Berg  (ASM Ethics Committee Members)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Westwood: An Ancient Native American Site on the Banks of a Relict Creek    
  James G Gibb, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  From Slave Labor to Free Labor:
  The Archaeology of Post-Emancipation Charles County      
      Julia A King, St. Mary's College of Maryland
  
  
   
  
  
• 
  An Archaeological Retrospective: A View From 47 years
  
      Esther Doyle Read, County Archaeologist, Charles County

The Museum was open, and attendees were able to tour the various rooms.  One of the Museum Ambassadors for the Day gave us a interesting history of the Museum as well as his involvement.

Here are the nine of the twelve CCASM members at the meeting.

Denise, Carol, Evie, Claudia, Peggy, Jim, Elsie, Ned, Linda
(not pictured - Doug, Mike, Charlotte)

Attendance: 41

2025 Public Archeology Lab Days (July- Sept)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab since 2015.  The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County -  including artifacts from investigations of sites on County properties, artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County, as well as artifacts recovered around the 1970's before the Port Tobacco Courthouse was reconstructed.  Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Here is what we were doing during the third quarter of 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday September 29 Claudia, Linda, Evie, Carol, and Malinda worked in the lab at Burch House processing artifacts recovered from Elsmere.  We bagged the dry artifacts that the school children had washed (four times) and started to wash the other artifacts.  So far there are twenty-nine bags (one per STP).  Meanwhile Elsie, Denise, and Kathy were in the field at the Swann Site opening up a new unit to the northwest of the current units.  Esther got to show Joel Binkley, Charles County Planning Supervisor, all  that we have been doing in Port Tobacco, and we got to tell him what repairs are needed on Burch House.

Monday September 22 Linda, Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Ned, Kathy, and Malinda along with Esther worked with second graders to introduce them to archaeology.   There was one group in the morning and another in the afternoon.  Both groups were from Billingsley Elementary School. 
 
On week days in the Fall 2025 (Sept 15 - Oct 22) and in the Spring 2026 (Mar 2 - Apr 13) second graders from the various Charles County Schools are coming  to visit the One-room School House and Stagg Hall but also to get an introduction to archaeology.  Each group tends to include  around twenty children.  We have only been helping on Mondays, our regular lab day, when we are not scheduled to be in the field.  Esther has provided the activities and the script for docents at Stagg Hall to provide the archaeology introduction on the other days.

Monday August 11 Claudia, Linda, Peggy, and Carol were at Burch House and finished the sorting and bagging of all the remaining Swann Site artifacts recovered to date.  Denise, Malinda, and Kathy were in the field.  The base of two Swann Site units were troweled to better see any features.  This did produce five additional artifacts.

Monday August 4 was a short day in the Lab.  After Denise, Claudia, and Carol finished sorting and bagging the artifacts from the four trays of artifacts recovered from the same Swann Site provenience, we all decided to stop for the day.  Another tray had a small number of artifacts from several Swann Site provieneces that Malinda bagged and sorted, and Linda washed most of the remaining artifacts - not that much left.

Monday July 28 was another day in the lab at Burch House.  Everyone (Elsie, Denise, Claudia, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol) worked on sorting artifacts from four trays of artifacts recovered from the same provenience.  The tray highlighted last week was just one of those trays.  So each person worked on a different type of artifact - glass or ceramics or lithics or nails or brick or ...  We almost got everything sorted and bagged, and we plan to finish up next week. 

Tray of washed Swann Site artifacts

 
Monday July 21 we had seven people working at Burch House on Swann Site artifacts either washing or sorting and bagging.  It's been a while since we've had that many.  Jack joined Elsie, Denise, Linda, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol as we worked on the artifacts.  Since it's was Jack's first time, Linda gave him a tour of Burch House and worked with him as he washed Swann Site artifacts.  We decided to choose that tray of washed artifacts as the "artifact' of the day.  The tray includes a wide variety of artifacts - fragments of bricks, oyster shells, ceramics (decorated and plain), bottle glass, window glass, a tooth. and even a tobacco pipe stem.  If you blow up the image, you may see more.

Pipe Bowl Fragment

Monday July 14 we were back in the Lab at Burch House.  Denise, Claudia, and later Linda continued to wash, sort, and bag artifacts recovered from the Swann Site.  Linda also spent time straightening up Burch House, and Denise inventoried remaining artifact bags. Carol sorted and bagged artifacts from BF1-1-4.  It is from these artifacts that we selected an artifact of the day.  The artifact of the day is a fragment of a tobacco pipe bowl with a partial maker's mark that is somewhat distinctive - a "D" inside what appears to be a heart with additional geometric symbols (diamond circle, bar, possibly a stylized Fleur-di-lei) under the initial.  There isn't enough to identify the maker but there was a mid-eighteenth century London pipe maker whose makers mark was a TD inside a circle or heart.  Interestingly there are several seventeenth maker marks with initials and a stylized Fleur-di-lei inside a heart.  Maybe someone else will be able to identify the maker. 

2025 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun) -- 2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)  
2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Oct-Dec) --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Sep) 
  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Feb-Jun)
2021 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Mar-Dec)
2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Sep-Dec) --2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jul-Dec)   --2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2015 Public Archaeology Lab Days

2025 MHT Archaeology Workshop

The 34th Annual Maryland Historical Trust Workshop in Archeology was held in Crownsville, MD, on Saturday September 20, and as its name implies this year there were a number of workshops. 

The keynote speaker was Cassandra Michaud who is the Cultural Resources Stewardship Supervisor for Montgomery County.  The talk was entitled "Public Interpretation & the Evolution of the Montgomery County Parks Archaeology Program".

Since this was a Workshop in Archaeology, the keynote address was followed by talks, some of which had hands on activities.  Since many were held concurrently, it was often a hard choice on which one to attend.

• Not Another Sandbox Dig!
  Excavation Experiences Using 3D Printed Models 
  Rachel Aluine     
  
• Artifact Recovery: Preservation Practices in the Field and Lab
  Nichole Daub
• Identifying Stone Tool Functions through Microscopic Use-Wear Analysis
               Katherine Sterner  
  
• Adventures with Blue Painter's Tape:  A Vesselization Workshop
               Julie Mankin   
• Flotation and Fraction Separation of Soil Samples
   Alex Glass
• Illustrating History - The Basis of Artifact Illustration
               Tyler Ball
• What's That Rock?  Toolstone Identification
               Zachary Singer
• Meet Your County Archaeologist 
               Beau Lockard (Frederick County)
              Esther Doyle Read (Charles County
              Chris Sperling (Calvert County)
              Jennifer Stabler and Amelia Chisolm (Prince George's County)
              Lauren Schiszik (Baltimore)   
• CAT Workshop — Basic Lab Procedures - Parts I and II
  Rebecca Morehouse
  
  

 

CCASM members attending included Elsie, Carol, Ned, Peggy, and Patricia 

CCASM is a chapter of ASM.

Click for program and more details about talks