Washing the Latest Burch House Artifacts

CCAS volunteered to wash the artifacts obtained from the Burch House excavations done with the GWU students in October.  Washing artifacts is a time to see what was found and also to learn how to identify different types of artifacts.

Joshua, Elsie, Phil, Janice, Phil

 On Sunday November 14 CCAS and ASM members with the help of one other volunteer washed over half of the Burch House artifacts outside in front of the Port Tobacco Courthouse.  Luckily it was a nice day.

Those helping wash were Phil Angel, Carol Cowherd, Joshua Eller, Rich Gorski, Jane Keller, Steve Lohr, Elsie Picyk, Belinda Urquiza, and Janice Hawkins, a journalism student.

Brogan, Elsie, Rich, Barbara

On Sunday November 21 Phil, Carol, Rich, Elsie, and Janice returned to help wash the remaining artifacts.  They were joined by Barbara Kane and her grandson Brogan.  It turned out to be another nice day.

This was CCAS' first time to organize a lab for washing artifacts.  Several CCAS members provided the equipment needed -- wash pans, strainers, tooth brushes, paper clips, and cardboard flats. 


Below are some of the artifacts washed the second Sunday.  You should be able to find old coins, bone buttons, a jaw, a military button, a door knob, and pieces of a plate that mend.  The leaves are recent.  What else do you see?

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Learning About Native American Ceramics, Oysters, Ethics, and Law

One advantage of being in ASM's Certified Archeological Technician (CAT) Program is attending special workshops.  Saturday October 13 the CAT Workshops offered were Identifying Native American Ceramics, What Oysters Tell Us, Archeological Ethics, Archeology and the Law, and Archeology Report Writing. 

Several CCAS members traveled to Derwood, MD, to participate in the workshops.  Dr Jim Gibb, who is also a member of CCAS, conducted the Archeological Ethics Workshop.

At left Dr Bob Wall is explaining how to characterize Native American ceramics.

CCAS is a chapter of the Archeological Society of Maryland (ASM).

Walking the Fields Near Zekiah Swamp

On Saturday November 6 CCAS had an opportunity to walk a soybean field adjoining a creek running into the Zekiah Swamp.  The day turned out to be beautiful.

For us walking the fields involves flagging the location of artifacts followed by recording the location and description of the artifacts at each flagged location.  Artifacts are sometimes retrieved so they can be identified and possibly photographed.  After that the artifacts are returned to the landowner, and a report is written about what was found where.

Josh, Belinda

We found several clusters of artifacts with a lot of fire cracked rocks.  Although we haven't looked at everything yet, we did find at least one archaic point.

The general area was known for having archaic artifacts, and at lunch we saw some of the thousands of artifacts the farmer had collected during his lifetime.

CCAS and ASM members participating included Phil Angle, Carol Cowherd, Josh Eller, Robert Eppley, Jim Gibb, Rich Gorski, Calvin Martin, Robin Martin, Elsie Picyk, and Belinda Urquiza,  Six of those participating are in ASM's Certified Archeological Technician Program.  Joe Gleason, who made arrangements for us to have access to the field, also participated.

We would like to thank Joe Gleason for setting this up.

We also would like to thank Jim Gibb for all the guidance, for providing the Total Station used to determine the location of the flagged artifacts, and for offering to create the map for the report.

Hearing About Forts, Traitor, and Traders in Charles County

Julia King

At the November 3 CCAS meeting, Dr. Julia King topic was "Forts, Traitor, and Traders".  "The Forts and the Traders" refers to closing in on the Zekiah Fort, which was used by the Piscataway Indians in the late 1600s.   Dr. King reviewed the historical records that pointed to certain locations in the Zekiah Swamp where the Zekiah Fort might have been.  Then she showed the results of the shovel test pits done by her and her students from St. Mary's College and how these results might or might not indicate the location of the Fort.

"The Traitor" refers to discovering the site belonging to Maryland Governor Josias Fendall, who was a hero to some and a traitor to others. Again Dr. King indicated how the historical documents pointed to the property belonging to Josias Fendall and subsequently owned by William Digges.  The resulting archaeology done by her and her students this summer indicated they had probably found the site of Josias Fendall's house and later William Digges' house.

Question and Answer Time

Julia King is a Professor of Anthropology at Saint Mary's College of Maryland.  We always enjoys hearing her talk about Charles County archaeology.

Here are some additional pictures taken by JoAnn Queen, a photojournalism student who was at the meeting.