Local Archaeology News (last updated May 2024)

 Note: Full text of some articles in Southern Maryland Newspapers now require a subscription.

• Equity coalition launches new regional website(Southern Maryland News, May 7, 2024)
  Overview of the May 1 event. Note: CCASM is one of the supporters
  
  
• Unearthing Native American history on an island in Southern Maryland (Washington Post, November 9, 2022)
  Julia King and her team's discoveries of roughly 1,500 pounds of shells and 200 pieces of ceramics bring new and more concrete evidence of the dominance of Native Americans who once lived at St. Clement’s Island and along the surrounding Potomac River shoreline in Southern Maryland.
     
  
• Harriet Tubman’s lost Maryland home found, archaeologists say (Washington Post, April 20, 2021)
  Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben Ross, sheltered her and some of her siblings in a cabin on the Eastern Shore in the 1840s.  Archeologist believe they have discovered the location.
     
  
• Archaeologists find earliest colonial site in Maryland after nearly 90-year search (Washington Post, March 22, 2021)
  Historic St. Mary’s has located the palisade that guarded the state’s first European settlement in 1634.
     
  
• Thousands of artifacts donated to Anne Arundel slowly opening a new window into the past  (Capital Gazeete, Novmeber 27, 2020)
  (Article about doing lab work for Robert Ogle collection.  Talk at CCASM's November meeting was about this collection.)
     
  
• Maryland Archaeologists Unearth Jesuit Plantation’s 18th-Century Slave Quarters  (Smithsonian Magazine, October 28, 2020)
  
  
• CBS This Morning: Saturday segment on Mallows Bay (June 2020)
  
  
• A DNA thread from Md. to Aftrica (Washington Post, March 16, 2019) (Article about DNA being recovered from pipe fragment found on site in Crownsville, MD.  Note: it was used as mouth piece for pipe and was picked up with tweezers. )
  
  
• Henson escaped slavery and headed to Canada (Maryland Independent, March 13, 2019) 
  3 of 3 articles
  
  
• Researchers help restore Henson’s rightful place in history (Maryland Independent, March 6, 2019)  2 of 3 articles
  
  
• Hidden Nanjemoy gravesite to receive documentation, recognition (Maryland Independent, December 27, 2017)  (Several CCASM members volunteered to help)
  
  
• Hoyer visits birthplace of abolitionist (Josiah Henson) (SoMdNews.com, Aug 18, 2017 )
  (Supporters seek to enlist help in preserving historic site)
  
  
• SMCM Prof. of Anthropology Julia King Awarded $240,000 Grant for Native American Study (SoMD.com, Aug 17, 2017)
  
  
• Archaeologist (Dr. Julie King) retraces the steps of an Underground Railroad pioneer (Josiah Henson) (SoMdNews.com, Aug 16, 2017) 
  
  
• At Smithsonian archaeology lab, citizen scientists work to unearth environmental history (Capital Gazette, July 21, 2017) 
  
  
• St. Mary's College discovers links to slavery (Maryland Independent, April 19, 2017) 
  
  
• Archaeologists may have found Indian village (The BayNet, April 16, 2017
  
  
• NOAA releases updated plan for Mallow's Bay ahead of March public comment (SoMdNews.com, January 9, 2017)
  
  
• Archaeologists seek ancient village in bean field (The BayNet, December 14, 2016)
  
  
• Digging Back Into Our History (Bay Weekly, November 3, 2016) [not on-line](Article about archaeology done along Battle Creek in Biscoe Gray Heritage Farm that helps document the early history of native people.  The artifacts indicate people lived there a thousand years. The site is one of six new nominations to the National register of Historic Sites.  This work was done by St Mary's College archaeologists with a National Park Service Underrepresented Community Grant.  )
  
  
• DNA testing links 300-year-old remains of a baby to a Colonial Md. governor (Washington Post, October 17, 2016)
  
  
• Belvoir's Legacy: The highly personal archaeology of enslavement on a tobacco plantation (Archaeology, October 17, 2016)
  
  
• Is the birthplace of ‘Uncle Tom’ in a Maryland hayfield? (Washington Post, June 16, 2016);
  Archaeological dig finds signs of abolistionist's birthplace (Maryland Independent, June 17, 2016)
  
  
• What's digging in Charles County?   (Maryland Independent, May 4, 2016)
  (Article on archaeology and CCASM) click to view article
  
  
• Shipwrecks lie hidden in Southern Maryland waters  (The Enterprise, March 19, 2016)
  Tales from the Deep  (Maryland Independent, March 18, 2016)
  (Articles about Mallows Bay and work being done by the Maritime Institute of Maritime History)
  
  
• Mallows Bay  (February 26, 2016)
  (Yolanda Vazquez speaks with Ken Robinson, a Charles County Commissioner, about marking Mallows Bay as a national marine sanctuary. )
  
  
• Mallows Bay To Receive 'Marine Sanctuary Status' (October 6, 2015)
  
  
• Charles County Preservation Matters Newsletter (September 2015)
  
  
• Chaptico Farm may be site of ancient Indian town (May 27, 2015)
  
  
• Booth escape is news 150 years later (April 22, 2015)
  (Second part of article highlights archaeology event done at Rich Hill by Charles County archaeologist Esther Doyle Read.  CCASM also participated.  Scroll photos to see photo of Steve, one of our members.)
  
  
• Mallows Bay Marine Sanctuary Nomination Accepted (February 4, 2015)
  (Mallows Bay in Nanjemoy is one step closer to nomination as a National Marine Sanctuary by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. )
  
  
• Celebrating, Honoring Area Connections to Piscataway Tribe (October 30, 2014)
  (College of Southern Maryland Diversity Institute Hosts Events at La Plata Campus during Native American Heritage Month )
  
  
• On the hunt for history   (October 3, 2014)
  (Archaeology done by Julia King in Charles County, by JPPM Public Archaeology in Calvert County, and underwater on the Wicomico by MHT)
  shorter version - Southern Maryland digs the past (October 3, 2014)
  
  
• Students believe ‘CC’ ring belonged to Calvert   (August 20, 2014)
  (Artifact found during summer dig at Zekiah Fort)
  (Archaeology associated with slave graveyard at Serenity Farm in Benedict.) )
  
  
• What Archaeology Can Tell Us About The War of 1812  (WYPR August 1, 2014)
  (Listen to interview with Julie Schablitsky and Michael Lucas, co-editors of the new book "Archaeology of the War of 1812." )
  
  
• Zekiah Fort dig adds to Piscataway story (July 4, 2014)
  
  
• Foundation of colonial ‘palace’ located under farm field (May 30, 2014)
  (Geoarchaeology reveals outline of Notley Hall on Wicomico River)
  
  
• Putting a Face to the unknown (May 28, 2014)   and
  Baltimore County forensic artist helps give a face to African slave history (May 31, 2014)
  (Archaeology associated with slave graveyard at Serenity Farm in Benedict.)
  
  
• Rich Hill, Lincoln assassination heritage site, will be preserved (April 16, 2014)
  
  
• Vestiges of earlier America, tobacco barns hold allure for preservationists (January 29, 2014)
  (Tobacco barns in Maryland highlighting one in Port Tobacco.  Also has video.)
  
  
•  Ancient American Indian artifacts uncovered at Dunkirk Park & Ride (November 15, 2013)


•  A Maryland Hills Prehistoric Secret (October 15, 2013)
  (New York Times article on Pig's Point in Anne Arundel County)


• 1662 St. Francis Xavier chapel found (July 3, 2013)
  (James Gibb, a CCASM member, was the principal investigator, and several CCASM members have worked on the site.)


•  Erosion uncovers history, but bedevils region’s homeowners (May 17, 2013)


• Scorpion Project Scuttled (March 6, 2013)


• Officials Scramble to Preserve 1600s Site in Charles County (March 22, 2013)
  Also indicates Charles County Commissioners purchased the Zekiah Fort property  in December


• Charles County Planning Board waits to hear more on historic ruins (February 29, 2013) 
  Remains of Charles Calvert's summer home, His Lordship's Favor, lies in parcel.


• In Search of the Elusive British Encampment at Benedict (December 2012)
  


• Video: War of 1812 Encampment Site - Serenity Farm (May 2012)
  Video about history but SHA is sponsoring archaeology investigations relating to area.
  
  
• Team drawing nearer to 1662 chapel in Compton (April 4, 2012)
  Search continues for original St. Francis Xavier Church. (CCASM members have been volunteering at the site.)
  
  
• Radar used to find Point Lookout burial pit (Mar 30, 2012)
  James Gibb and Peter Quantock used GPR to map 100 x 50 foot area near memorial for Civil War prison camp.
  
  
• Archaeological finds boost profile of Anne Arundel's Pig Point Site (Aug 14, 2011)
  
  
• Maddox cornfield likely site of colonial governor’s home (June 8, 2011)
  Dr. Julie King and students dig for evidence at Notley Hall. Notley Hall is located directly across Wicomico River from Charles County. (CCASM volunteers helped wash the artifacts.)
  
  
• CSM Friday Lectures Celebrate Maryland Archeology  (March 13, 2011)
  
  
• Preview World Trade Center Ship and MAC Lab CSPAN program (YouTube) (October 1, 2010)
   
• Patuxent River shipwreck could yield the USS Scorpion from the War of 1812  (August 4, 2010)
     For more information go to the blog  Search for USS Scorpion
   
• Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory conserving the ship found at ground zero   (Aug 3, 2010)
• Home of former Maryland Gov. Josias Fendall located in Charles County   (July 30, 2010)