January Outreach Committee Meeting

At the January 22 CCASM Outreach Committee meeting we concentrated on two upcoming activities - two children's sessions in March at the Potomac and Waldorf West Libraries and the display at the LaPlata Library for the month of April.  Those present included Carol, Elsie, Barbara, Mike, Doug, Sami and Gabi.  Anyone with ideas who would like to help is welcome to participate. 

Brainstorming for children's activity

On-line Outlander Exhibit

In 2015 the MAC Lab created an exhibit that tied 18th-century artifacts recovered by archaeologists in Maryland to scenes from the Starz period drama Outlander that was based on books by Diana Galbaldon.  In 2016 the MAC Lab received an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for the project.

For those of you who haven't seen the exhibit,  check out http://jefpat.org/Outlander/index.html

(At the January 2016 CCASM meeting Sara Rivers-Cofield discussed the creation of the "traveling" exhibit and the various Maryland sites associated with the artifacts in the display.).

Bones for Beginners Workshop I

Jim Gibb

At the January 12 meeting archaeologist Dr. Jim Gibb conducted a hands-on workshop using mammal road kill specimens to review anatomy and point out distinguishing features of mammal bones.  Archaeologists frequently recover bones left over from past meals. They need to be able to identify the animals the bones represent in order to learn about past diets and environments. 

 Jim Gibb Jim is the principal for Gibb Archaeological Consulting and a Smithsonian Research Associate.  In the future he plans to have workshops on bird bones and possibly on fish bones.

Beaver bones

Attendance: 14

Mallows Bay - Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary Status

Good news!  On January 6 NOAA announced the completion and public availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS) and Draft Management Plans (DMP) for both the proposed Mallows Bay - Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary (MPNMS) and the proposed Lake Michigan National Marine Sanctuary in Wisconsin and recommended a preferred alternative for their designation.

Mallow's Bay
Photo courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAA's Mallows Bay - Potomac River webpage  http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/mallows-bay/ has all of the information on the documents, the public meetings, as well as how to submit comments:

The public comment period ends on March 31, 2017, and the Charles County public meeting will be March 7th (6-9pm) at the Charles County Government Building in La Plata.