Volunteering on Native American Site in St Mary's County

Screening soil from STPs

During the weekdays of December 5-16 several ASM members as well as at least one CCASM member took advantage of the opportunity to work on an important Native American site on Lower Brambly (St. Mary's County).  In addition to documenting this large shell midden, this work is to determine if the site could be Secomocomoco - a Native American town mapped by John Smith in 1608.
 
It's always good to be in the field and to get a feel for the land.  Shovel test pits (STPs) were dug to augment information gathered about the site by Dr. King and her students in 2015 .  And there were a number of helpful St Mary's College of Maryland staff and students to work with the volunteers.  The weather was not that cooperative.  Once the temperature dropped below freezing, work moved to St Mary's College where artifacts recovered from the STPs could be processed.    

Scott Strickland is the Field Supervisor, and Dr. Julie King is in charge of the project.  After remote sensing is completed next year there should be additional opportunities to volunteer.

For more information about the work being done here, check out this BayNet article--
Archaeologists seek ancient village in bean field 
 
Note that one of the sponsors of the project is the Archeological Society of Maryland (ASM), and CCASM is a chapter of ASM.