October Outreach Committee Meeting

CCASM has formed an Outreach Committee to revise or develop archaeological displays and activities for upcoming public events.  

At the October 23 meeting Doug, Elsie, Gabi, and Carol reviewed changes made to two of the displays, and came up with some additional suggestions.  Also Sami sent information on a number of activities to be used with children, and Barbara indicated that she had the broken pottery for the mending activity.  So things are coming together. 

Anyone with ideas who would like to help is welcome to participate.  The priority for our next meeting if the display at the LaPlata Library for Archaeology Month (April 2017).

Forgot to take any pictures.  Just imagine four people sitting around a table moving pictures of artifacts around on a house layout.

2016 ASM Fall Meeting

On Saturday October 22 the Monocacy Chapter of ASM in conjunction with the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society hosted the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM) 2016 Fall Meeting at the Harriet Chapel in Thurmont, MD.

The CCASM members attending were Belinda, Carol, and Jim.  And Esther Read, the Charles County Archaeologist, was also there.  Carol gave the CCASM chapter report during the business meeting.  Jim, the outgoing ASM Treasurer, also was one of the speakers.

It's always fun to catch up with others from around the state and hear what they are doing.  But the highlight of the meeting was the talks.  Below is the list.  If you get a chance to hear them at some other venue, you should try to go.  You won't be disappointed.

• Clear as Mud: Underwater Archaeology in Maryland,  Susan Langley, MHT Underwater Archaeology Program
   
• Soft as Clay - a Comparison of Prehistoric Pottery Resources throughout the Upper Bay,  Dan Coates- ASNV President
     
• Where Water Once Flowed: Terminal Archaic Sites on Relict Stream Channels,  Jocelyn Lee, Citizen Scientist, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
   
• ASM Field Schools (2014-2015) at the Shaw’s Folly, Java Farm, and Contees Wharf Slave Sites,  James G. Gibb, Research Associate, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
   
• A Reanalysis of Human Remains from the Cemetery at Catoctin Furnance,  Douglas Owsley and Katie Barca, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
     
• Bone Identification Workshop for Avocational and Professional Archaeologists,  David Hunt, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
   
• Academic Research Informing Heritage Tourism,  Elizabeth A. Comer, EAC/Archaeology, Inc.
   
• A Forest for the Trees: Remote Sensing Applications and Historic Production at Cunningham Falls State Park,  Robert Wanner, EAC/Archaeology, Inc.
   
• The African American Cemetery at Catoctin Furnace: Bridging the Past and the Future,  Jane I. Seiter, EAC/Archaeology, Inc. and Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory
   
  
• Technological Toolkit: Using XRF Analysis to Better Understand 19th Century Iron
  Making and Its Implications for the Labor Force,  Joseph E. Clemens, EAC/Archaeology, Inc.

Also congratulations to Wayne Clark, the 2016 William B Mayre Award Winner.

The Monocacy Chapter and the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society did a great job!

2016 Preservation Matters Newsletter

Charles County Planning and Growth Management has just published the 2016 Preservation Matters Newsletter, an annual publication celebrating Charles County's Historic places.

 Click to see newsletter

To entice you to look at the newsletter, here is a list of the articles included in the newsletter.  You will find references to archaeology as well as to CCASM members in several of the articles.

• Documenting a Community's Recent Past: The Pomonkey Historic District Recognized by Debra McClane
  
  
• Beneath the Shady Oak: The Burying Ground -- A look at private cemeteries by Franklin A Robinson
  
  
• From Ship Ballast to Gun Flint: Colonial-Era Flint Technology on the Patuxent Frontier by Aaron Levinthal
  
  
• Beautiful Bones: Rich Hill Revealed by Cathy Thompson
  
  
• 2016 Preservation Awards Event
   
  
• News from the County Archaeologist by Esther Doyle Read

Bones for Beginners

James Gibb

At the CCASM October 13 meeting Dr. James Gibb presented the first of a series of talks on identifying animal bones.  This talk highlighted why we study the animal bones found on archaeological sites and used the bones found on two sites at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) to indicate provide an example of how we study bones.  Jim is the principal for Gibb Archaeological Consulting and a Smithsonian Research Associate.

Future talks will include hands-on workshops.  In preparation Jim suggested some readings -

• The Big Oyster, Mark Kulansky (2006) - more fun to read
• The Oyster, William K Brooks (1896, republished 1996)
• Identifying and Interpreting Animal Bones, April Beisaw (2013)

Attendance: 17