December 10, 2021

The Discovery of St. Mary's Fort

Dr. Travis Parno
CCASM returned to Zoom for the December 9 meeting.  Travis Parno described the documentary and archaeological history of the search for St. Mary's Fort.  St. Mary's Fort was the palisaded enclosure built by the first English colonists who arrived in Maryland in the spring of 1634 .  It was occupied for about nine years.  Travis took us through how the fort was recently rediscovered using geophysical and archaeological surveys. 

There are years of work ahead as the fort as well as two nearby earlier indigenous sites continue to be investigated.  We are looking forward to learning what stories these excavations and the artifacts recovered from them will tell. 

Current Perception of St. Mary's Fort
Earlier Indigenous Sites Near Fort

Dr. Travis Parno is the Director of Research and Collections, Historic St. Mary's City, and the Director of the People-to-People Project.

We would like to thank James Gibb for hosting the Zoom meeting.  Sorry no photo of the Zoom attendees that included at least two members now residing outside Maryland.

Attendance: 14 people

December 7, 2021

Burch House on 2021 Holiday Tour

Welcome to Burch House
CCASM hosted Burch House on the 2021 Charles County Holiday Tour that was December 4-5 (11am - 4pm).   Eleven other sites also participated in the event.  

Visitors were able to enjoy Christmas decorations from a simpler time, learn about the history and archaeology of Burch House, and see some of the tools archaeologists use.  Children were given activity-to-go bags.  

There were only twenty-six visitors on Saturday and nine visitors on Sunday, but we enjoyed talking with all of them.

Checking out Archaeology
Done at Burch House
Pointing out Ghost Image
of Stairs 
Looking at Artifacts
Recovered at Port Tobacco


Thanks to Elsie, Linda, Peggy, Denise, Claudia, and Carol for volunteering to be at Burch House during the event.  And thanks to Mary for putting together the activity-to-go bags.

November 30, 2021

Decorating for 2021 Holiday Tour

 Monday November 29 all lab work was suspended in order that we could decorate the inside of Burch House for the upcoming Charles County Holiday Tour that will be Dec 4-5.  Elsie was assisted by Peggy and Claudia in decorating the trees and in putting together greenery displays.  Esther dropped by to help.  And Mary came by to collect the supplies for putting together activity-to-go bags.  Everything turned out quite nice.

Crocheted Decorations
Paper Decorations
Elf Misting Greenery

November 12, 2021

The Leedstown Bead Cache: An Archaeological Mystery

Dr. Julia King

At CCASM's November 11 meeting Julie King talked about a bead cache in the Rappahannock River Valley of Virginia that was first reported in 1937.  Hundreds of quartz and glass beads were being plowed out of the ground in a highly localized area near Leedstown.  These European-made beads date to the seventeenth and early eighteenth century.  Julie presented a number of interesting hypotheses related to the beads.  She even followed the trail of beads to Georgia down two different Native American trails. 


Introductory Slide of
Leedstown and Some of the Beads
  
Red, Blue, White,
and Striped Beads

Dr. Julia King is an Anthropology Professor at St. Mary's College of Southern Maryland.

Socially distancing (but still interacting)

We would like to thank the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco for allowing us to use the Port Tobacco Courthouse for the meeting.

Attendance: 15 members

October 25, 2021

2021 ASM Fall Meeting

 

On Saturday October 23 the 2021 Fall Archeology Society of Maryland, Inc Fall Meeting was held virtually.

First was the Annual ASM Business Meeting.  At the meeting Charlie Hall was named as the recipient of the 2021 William B Mayre Award.  (Charlie, congratulations)

The Business Meeting was followed by two interesting talks.

  • Billingsley Site: Results from the 2021 Annual Tyler Bastian Field
    Session in Maryland Archeology

    Zachary Singer, Maryland Historical Trust

  • Frederick M. Stiner Memorial Keynote Lecture
    Overlooked Places: Telling the interconnected history of Maryland
    through recent archaeology in Baltimore

    Adam Fracchia, University of Maryland and Research Associate, SERC

At least three CCASM members "attended" the meeting.

October 18, 2021

2021 Colonial Faire and Fall Festival

Maxwell Hall held its annual Colonial Faire and Fall Festival on October 16 and 17.  Despite predictions that it might rain Saturday afternoon, the rain held off.  We had two really nice days for being outdoors - windy, but nice.  And we were able to talk with quite a few people about archaeology.  (We had to print additional flyers for Sunday.)  There were over 300 people attending the Faire on Saturday and at least that many people on Sunday.  A really nice time.

Taking it easy while describing
how archaeologists investigate a site
The display
(Note: Trifold secured to canopy leg)

Our youngest visitors
Describing fire-cracked rocks
(Note: Bricks holding objects down.)

Thanks to Denise, Elsie, Linda, Peggy, Carol, and Mary for representing CCASM at the Faire.

October 17, 2021

One-Room Schoolhouses in Maryland

James Gibb
At the October 14 CCASM in-person meeting Jim Gibb described the typical architecture of one-room schoolhouses.  He also explored the variability in their architecture and related how this variability leads to clues to unique local histories as well as conflicts among educational theories that continue to this day.

Dr. James Gibb is sole proprietor of Gibb Archaeological Consulting and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

 

Socially Distancing Attendees

The October CCASM Meeting was held in the Port Tobacco Courthouse in Port Tobacco, MD.  We would like to thank the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco for allowing us to use the Courthouse for the meeting.

Attendance: 10 members

 

October 12, 2021

2021 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Mar-Oct)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab for a number of years.  The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County -  including processing artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County as well as those recovered in the 1970's around the Port Tobacco Courthouse.  Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Starting October 11 and continuing through the remainder of the year CCASM managed a lab for processing artifacts from an ASM project in Carroll County  Dielman Inn Labwork at the request of the Archeology Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM).  CCASM is a chapter of ASM.

Rumford Bottle

October 4's Lab was a little different.  Normally only one or two people sort and bag artifacts from one drying screen.  But today Elsie, Linda, Denise, Peggy, and Carol all worked on the same screen.  We needed to have all the screens ready, i.e. empty, for the lab project that was to start the next week, and we wanted to have time to look for graves on a property in Nanjemoy.  We choose this top part of a bottle with RUMFORD embossed on the shoulder as the artifact of the day.  The Rumford bottle most likely contained baking powder.



We did finish bagging the artifacts in time to look for graves.  Before we could look for the graves we had to find their location based on buildings identified on a plat.  Unfortunately Google Maps was no help.  It was still a nice day to walk.

Looking for Landmarks

White Metal
Decoration

September 27 was another pretty day and Elsie, Linda, Denise, and Carol decided to work outside Burch House.  Elsie dry-brushed some really dirty iron artifacts; Carol and Denise sorted and bagged artifacts; and Linda washed glass artifacts.  There were stove parts, hinges, locks, and other hardware from the Courthouse Site, but we choose this white metal decoration as the artifact of the day.  It only had one hole by which it could be attached to another object.

September 20 was such a pretty day that Elsie, Linda, Denise, Peggy, Ned, and Carol decided to work outside Burch House and to dry brush the numerous metal artifacts that we had brought over from the Courthouse.  Most of the these artifacts were labelled "PT" indicating that they had been recovered from around the Courthouse.  We sorted and bagged the artifacts after we dry brushed them.  Actually the artifacts weren't that dirty.  Since Ned does blacksmithing, he helped us sort nails and also told us how some of the artifacts could have been used.  Although the majority of the artifacts were iron, we chose this small decorative copper alloy object as the artifact of the day.  It looks like it was could be used to pick up something small, but what?  A tag attached to the artifact read PT48.

Update: Sara Rivers-Cofield from the MAC Lab said her best guess is this is a skirt lifter from the late 19th or early 20th century.  The slide is used to close the clip.  She found this pinterst website with a Victorian skirt lifter similar to the one we found.
https://www.pinterest.com.au/elvacawood/victorian-skirt-lifters/

Top view
Side view
Bottom view

Straight-edge Razor
The Lab on September 13 was a little different - no washing or sorting or cataloging - just moving artifacts around.   Ned joined Linda, Denise, Elsie, to take the bagged artifacts to the Courthouse where Carol and Peggy integrated them with the other artifacts that still needed to be catalogued.  Ned, Denise, and Elsie went into the attic to bring down more artifacts and we stabilized the disintegrating bags before they could be processed.  There were lots of glass and metal artifacts from the Courthouse area.  We choose this straight-edge razor with a wooden handle as the artifact of the day.


Esther returned for the first time after her operation and had a "robotic" brace on her left arm.  Since Esther could not do anything strenuous with her left arm, Ned and Elsie went with her to explore a possible cemetery location.  Esther didn't need that much help exploring, but she did need help pounding a stake in the ground.

Medicine Bottle
On August 30 Linda, Mary, Peggy, Denise and Carol sorted and bagged the artifacts that had been washed the previous week.  Most of the artifacts were labeled "PT" which means they had been recovered from the Courthouse area.  We choose this fragment of a small bottle with a patent finish as the artifact of the day.  Patent and proprietary medicine bottles were made with this type of finish from about 1850 until after the turn of the century.  
Stove part

At the August 23 Lab Linda and Peggy washed artifacts, Carol and Denise sorted and bagged artifacts, and Elsie worked outdoors brushing dirt off iron artifacts.  The artifact of the day was one of those iron artifacts.  It looks like it could have been used to adjust the air flow for a cast iron stove - maybe a potbelly stove.  Interestingly most of the artifacts we are currently processing were excavated ca 1968 in the area underneath the current reconstructed Port Tobacco Courthouse. 

Fork with Antler Handle
On August 16 we returned to wearing face masks inside Burch House.  Mary and Elsie started cataloging groups of ceramic sherds that had once been part of the same vessel.  The sherds had been recovered at Port Tobacco ca 2008.  Linda, Peggy, Denise, and Carol continued to sort and bag artifacts recovered at Port Tobacco ca 1970, and chose this artifact of the day--a two-tined fork with an antler handle.

Metal Objects
On August 9 Denise, Linda, Peggy, Carol, and Elsie started bagging and washing Port Tobacco artifacts brought down from the attic last week.  (Elsie and Esther also worked on a process for cataloging the vesselized artifacts recovered from the ca 2008 Port Tobacco Excavations.)  There were many candidates for artifact of the day, but we chose a bag of interesting metal objects (starting from the upper left in the photo) - a glass and metal drawer pull, the top of a kerosene lamp, a copper spoon with a hole in it, an Indian Head penny, a printing block, and a decorative copper alloy buckle fragment.   We were intrigued by the partial printing block and used a mirror to try to read it.  Here is the "mirror" image and what we think it would print.  It would be interesting to see all the text.

Mirror image of Printing Block
Using mirror to try to read Printing Block

/ ??ael  Out.
/Girl—-It’s so odd  about
/ Now, my fiance’s fad is
/antiquities.
/ looking  at her)—-So  I
/--Up to-Date



Decorative Bracket
On August 2 work resumed on the Port Tobacco artifacts.  Linda, Carol, Elsie, and Mary were joined by Daphne, a Charles County intern.  This was Daphne's last day, and she was shadowing Esther to see what an archaeologist did.  More artifacts were brought down from the really hot attic.  There were a number of interesting metal artifacts brought down, and we chose this decorative bracket(?) as the artifact of the day. 
Mary and Daphne stabilized the artifact bags retrieved from the attic so they could be taken to Burch House where the artifacts will be washed.  The latest batch of artifacts processed at Burch House were sorted by Linda and Carol in preparation for cataloging.  Elsie and Esther put negatives that had been retrieved from the shed at Stagg Hall into polypropylene bags.  So quite a variety of activities.

Mammal Distal Phalanges
On July 26 Mary, Denise, Linda, Peggy, and Carol moved equipment used in the recent excavations back to the old garage at Stagg Hall while Elsie talked with a woman and her children who had dropped by to see what archaeologists do.  Then we all worked on sorting and bagging the remainder of the artifacts retrieved from Rich Hill.  This mammal distal phalanges bone was selected as the artifact of the day.  It could have connected with the phalanges ("short") bone selected as the artifact of the day on July 12.  These bones may have been from a pig.


At the July 19 lab Mary, Linda, and Carol were joined by Peggy to wash the artifacts recovered from the four Rich Hill excavation units.  They were quite dirty (dried mud) and quickly muddied the washing water.  Our artifact for the day is this chamber pot rim.  When it was found in one of the STPs, it was not removed until the feature containing it could be removed.  It was this rim that led to the excavation of the four units.  The "feature" did not turn out to be a post mold nor a midden.  Although this was not a midden, these four units contained small refined earthenware fragments, a few nails, a copper alloy button, and brick fragments as well as fire cracked rocks.  One thought is that trash ended up in this area near the sunken road when wagons turned around.  Just a thought. 
Chamber Pot Rim


Mammal Short Bone
For the first part of the lab on July 12 Elsie, Mary, Linda, and Melissa hosed off the mud from the equipment used at Rich Hill.  Then we returned to normal lab activities.  Melissa and Carol sorted and bagged the previously washed artifacts recovered from the Rich Hill STPs.  Mary, Linda, and Elsie washed the artifacts from the excavations dug this past weekend at Rich Hill.  We chose this mammal short bone that was found in a Rich Hill STP as the artifact of the day.  It was about seven centimeters long (forgot to include ruler in the photo).

Hosing Off Mud
Washing Artifacts

On June 28 Elsie, Denise, Mary, and Carol were joined in the lab by Melissa, a new volunteer.  We were able to wash all the artifacts that had been recovered from Rich Hill the past weekend (June 26-27).  So several of us got to spend three days doing archaeology.  Initially we had chosen a thick dark bluish green piece of glass as the artifact of the day.  It was unusual, but also hard for a photograph to capture the color.   Instead we chose a nineteenth century copper alloy button with the word "gilt" embossed on it.  One of the volunteers on Saturday brought his metal detector and recovered (and documented the location of) this button in the area of the STPs.  [also check out  In the field at Rich Hill]

Button-Obverse
Button-Reverse

At the June 14 Archaeology Lab Denise, Mary, Linda, and Carol sorted and bagged the Port Tobacco artifacts that were in the drying screens.   And we chose this unusual artifact of the day.   It's this neck and finish from a wine bottle, probably eighteenth century.  Although the interior and exterior are an opaque cream colored glass, there is an olive green glass layer in the middle.  The neck is also slightly deformed indicating it may have been near a fire.  It would be interesting to know the conditions causing the surfaces of the glass to become opaque.
Wine Bottle Neck
Wine Bottle Neck
June 7 we must have been recovering from Market Day the previous Saturday, because we forgot to choose an artifact of the day.  Denise, Julie, Elsie, Linda, and Carol were at the lab continuing their activities from previous labs.  And a lunchtime we confirmed various volunteering commitments for CCASM.
Alkaline Glazed
Stoneware

The May 24 Lab had lots of volunteers - Denise, Mary, Julie, Peggy, Linda, Elsie, and Carol.  Denise and Julie bagged the washed (now dry) artifacts from Rich Hill.  Mary and Elsie continued inventorying the Port Tobacco artifacts retrieved 2007-9.  Linda, Peggy, and Carol returned to the Courthouse to continue cataloging the Port Tobacco artifacts retrieved ca 1970.  We finally finished cataloging the ceramics retrieved from the BF1 North-South Trench.  We started cataloging them before the shutdown.  The artifact of the day is this alkaline glazed stoneware pottery rim sherd that came from the BF1 North-South Trench.


May 17 was a great day to wash artifacts outdoors behind Burch House.  Peggy joined Julie, Denise, Linda, Mary, and Carol to wash the the artifacts that had been retrieved from the ten STPs dug at Rich Hill the past Saturday.  We were able to complete washing all the artifacts so Esther could report the findings to the Historic Preservation Commission that evening.  Around lunch we had three visitors that led to some interesting conversations.
  
Washing Artifacts
Visitors

Townsend Rim Sherd
But the artifact of the day for May 17 did not come from Rich Hill.  It had been washed last week and was from Port Tobacco.  We even know the unit and level from which it was retrieved.  The artifact is this Late Woodland Townsend Corded pottery rim sherd.


Parian Porcelain Fragment

 On May 10 Linda and Carol worked on artifacts at the Courthouse while Denise and Elsie washed artifacts at Burch House.  Denise and Elsie chose the base of this ceramic figure as the artifact of the day.  All that can be made out is what looks like part of a basket .  The original bag indicated it was a Parian porcelain figure. 

Jasperware Rim

We had planned to be in the field at Rich Hill on May 3.  But there was a little rain early on, and the forecast indicated the chance for rain was 50+%.  So the field work was postponed.  After a discussion of upcoming events and what we planned to do, we stopped for lunch and returned to the lab in the afternoon.  Denise and Carol continued cataloguing in the Courthouse.  Elsie, Mary, and Esther continued working in the Burch House Attic.  Once again Julie who was washing artifacts at Burch House came up with the artifact of the day - this jasperware rim. 
Thanks to Julie for the photo.

Historic Port Tobacco Village is opening up in May, and tours will start April 29.  So on April 26 Elsie, Linda, Mary, Denise, and Carol helped get Burch House ready for tours.  This also included setting up the Archaeology Lab displays in the back room.  We forgot all about taking photos.

Button Covers - Top
Button Covers - Reverse
On April 19 Elsie, Denise, Julie, Carol, and Esther once again were in the Archaeology Lab in Port Tobacco.  We continued with activities in both the Courthouse and Burch House.  Denise and Esther brought down additional artifacts from the Courthouse attic.  So there will be plenty of artifacts to wash at Burch House next week.  Toward the end of the day Denise and Carol were able to start cataloging artifacts again.  And they chose these artifacts of the day -- copper alloy button covers.
 
glass vial base
On March 29 after several months of being away, we returned to the Public Archaeology Lab.  Although we had been together in the field on several days this year, this was the first time in the lab.   Elsie and Mary worked in the Burch House attic to transfer artifacts into corrugated plastic boxes.  All the cardboard boxes needed to be removed from Burch House to help reduce the possibility of mold.  Linda and Carol worked on the Courthouse second floor trying to organize the additional artifacts that Esther brought over from Burch House.  They also made a new bottle of 10% B-72 in acetone that will be used to label the artifacts.  Julie was on the first floor of Burch House washing artifacts - one of our normal activates.  So it was Julie that selected our artifact of the day - the base of an olive green eighteenth century vial.

Putting new boxes
together
Transferring artifacts
to new boxes
Pointing out bottle of
10% B-72 made today


2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Sep-Dec)
2020 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jul-Dec)
2019 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec)
2018 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec)
2017 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec)
2016 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
2015 Public Archaeology Lab Days