April Beisaw Awarded Gordon R Wiley Prize

If you volunteered at Port Tobacco during 2008 or 2009, you will remember April Beisaw.  She was the co-director of the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project and of the ASM field sessions in Port Tobacco in 2008 and 2009.  

Well, Dr. April M. Beisaw has been awarded the 2011 Gordon R. Willey Prize presented by The Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association.  The award is in recognition of the exceptional work in her publication “Memory, Identity, and NAGPRA in the Northeastern United States”,  American Anthropologist, vol. 112, no. 2 (2010).

The Gordon R. Willey Prize recognizes the best archaeology paper published in the American Anthropologist over a period of three years.  April will receive the award at the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Montreal, Canada, November 6 -11, 2011.

April is currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.

April, Congratulations!

Washing Artifacts at Port Tobacco Market Day

CCASM participated in the 2nd Annual Market Day at Port Tobacco on Saturday May 14.  Our major activity was washing artifacts excavated April 30 at the Burch House (see posting Excavating at Burch House).

CCASM regulars that helped wash were Phil Angle, Carol Cowherd, Joshus Eller,  Jim Gibb, Rich Gorksi, and Steve Lohr.  We also had help from a number of other volunteers, some of which can be seen in the photos. Despite the rain we had an enjoyable day washing artifacts and meeting others interested in archeology.

Due to the weather, the Port Tobacco Display could not be used.  We did have several waterproof pages with diagnostic information, but the main attraction was the artifacts being washed.

2010 Watson Surface Collection Report

Last November members of CCASM and ASM walked two fields near the Zekiah Swamp (see posting Walking Fields Near Zekiah Swamp).  The report indicating what we found has finally been completed.

To download the report  (4.9 MB download)

• either select "Research by CCASM Members" in the right column of this blog
  and click on "Watson Surface Collection Report - 2010".
  (Good to know for future reference.)
  
 
• or just click here for report

May 7 Garage Sale to Benefit CCASM

The Garage Sale was a success.  Jane Keller organized the Garage Sale that was held May 7, and the proceeds were donated to Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc. (CCASM).

We would like to thank Jane for all her fund-raising efforts.  Also we want to thank all the CCASM members as well as all of Jane's neighbors who donated the money from their sale items to CCASM.

Identifying Machine-Made Bottles

Alyssa Marizan

At the May 4 CCASM meeting Alyssa Marizan gave an overview of the things to look for when trying to identify and date machine-made bottles.  She also brought a number of bottles so we could see the different types.  For those wanting to learn more Alyssa recommended www.sha.org.

Alyssa works with Gibb Archaeological Consulting.

At the meeting CCASM recognized Jane Keller, our outgoing treasurer who is leaving the area.  Jane has been a great asset to us, and we will miss her.  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of her opening her gift.)

May was also CCASM"s annual business meeting.

Some machine-made bottles

 

The winners of the raffle for the classic ASM t-shirts were Gary Frick and Barbara Rowe.

Attendance: 20