Wishing You a Merry Holiday Season

Warm Wishes for a Happy Holiday

The Wheelwright's Experience

Jim Gibb

At the December 15 CCASM meeting Dr. Jim Gibb's talk related to a site that CCASM is currently working on--a site that has lots of artifacts that could be associated with a wheelwright shop or a carriage shop.  Jim showed slides of various tools and objects that would be found in a wheelwright shop and in its forge.  The second part of the talk was about a late nineteenth century wagon workshop in western New York.  Jim talked about how the excavations indicated various outside areas where horses were shod and where there were forges.  

There were additional discussions relating to what we had found and what needed to be done including how the iron artifacts could be conserved.  A really productive exchange of information.

Carriage Workshop

Dr. James Gibb directs the Environmental Archaeology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.  He is a founding member of  the Charles County Archaeological Society.

Members and visitors talking with Jim before meeting

Attendance: 8

 

2022 Public Archeology Lab Days (Jul-Dec)

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.
 

December 12 was the last day for Monday Lab this year.  Ned and Peggy worked outside Burch House in the 40° weather where they continued to dry brush rusty iron artifacts from the first of many buckets of iron artifacts.  Inside where it was a little warmer Denise, Elsie, and Carol along with Esther continued processing artifacts recovered from the PT Barn site. The remaining artifacts from the STPs were sorted and bagged, and work was started on washing the surface collected artifacts. 

We chose this aluminum label as the artifact of the day.  On the 1910 census a Frances B Matthews was listed as a merchant in La Plata.  In 1920 he was listed as an implement(?) and automobile dealer living between La Plata and White Plains.

 

On December 5 we were back at Burch House working on artifacts recovered from the Port Tobacco Barn site.  Malinda, Claudia, and Carol washed artifacts recovered from the STPs.  Peggy and Ned (later joined by Claudia) dry brushed one bucket of rusty artifacts.  Also Esther showed us the deed chain back to the 1600's for the property.

Although dry brushing is not that much fun, the artifacts were more interesting.  We chose a bucket of artifacts as the "artifact"of the day. 

Monday November 28 was the day for decorating Burch House for the Hoidays and also for getting ready for the Charles County Holiday Tour that will be this weekend (December 3-4).  Malinda, Elsie, and Carol brought greenery from their yards.  Denise brought down decorations from the attic.  Claudia, and Mary joined the others, and we all helped decorate.  We also set up the children's activity for the Holiday Tour and rearranged the Lab.  No one wanted their pictures taken, so here are some of the decorations.

 

On November 21 while many of the volunteers were volunteering in the field at the Port Tobacco Barn site, Claudia, Malinda, Kathy, Peggy, and Carol volunteered in the lab.  Peggy worked outside removing soil from two wheel hubs found int the blacksmith area of the Port Tobacco Barn site.  The rest of us finished bagging Maxwell Hall artifacts and continued washing the Port Tobacco Barn artifacts.  We also looked at some of the more interesting rusted metal artifacts (multiple buckets of them) that we will be processing starting in December.

Although Wednesday November 9 was not the normal Lab Day, Carol opened the Lab at Burch House and sorted/bagged artifacts that had been recovered from the Port Tobacco Barn site while the rest of us were in the field.  The unwashed artifacts will be taken to UMBC to be processed (for extra credit).

On November 7 once again Linda opened the Lab at Burch House and washed artifacts that had been recovered from the Port Tobacco Barn site while the rest of us were in the field.  There were a lot of muddy brick fragments washed.  She did stop by to see what we were doing and joined us for lunch since we weren't that far away.

On October 3 the field work planned for Maxwell Hall was cancelled due to the weather (thanks to Hurricane Ian).  Elsie, Linda, Denise, and Carol did show up at lab and ended up discussing various topics-- some archaeology related, some not. 

October 31 while the rest of us were in the field Linda opened the Lab at Burch House and washed artifacts that had been recovered from the back of Maxwell Hall on October 18.  She did stop by to see what we were doing and joined us for lunch since we weren't that far away.

On October 3 the field work planned for Maxwell Hall was cancelled due to the weather (thanks to Hurricane Ian).  Elsie, Linda, Denise, and Carol did show up at lab and ended up discussing various topics-- some archaeology related, some not. 

September 26 Denise and Carol continued cataloging while Mary and Claudia spent the whole time sorting and bagging glass fragments that belonged to the same lot.  Esther worked with Linda and Elsie as they filled out their first site form for a site we had identified in the Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park.  Sorry, we didn't identify an artifact of the day. 

September 19 Denise, Linda, and Carol continued cataloging (or getting artifacts ready to be catalogued).   We chose this late nineteenth century scalloped rim sherd as the artifact of the day. 
Claudia, Elsie, Mary, and Peggy worked on bagging artifacts in the drying screens in Burch House and moving the artifacts to secure locations.  Charles County Tourism has approved an event this coming Saturday, and it is unclear whether or not people will be in Burch House and the Courthouse.

September 12 we all worked upstairs in the Courthouse.  Denise, Peggy, and Carol continued cataloging with Peggy and Carol cataloging lots of animal bone fragments.  To help with the cataloging of one lot  (BF1 BF) with multiple large bags of artifacts Elsie and Claudia started sorting the artifacts in the bags.  And they chose this tin-glazed ointment jar rim fragment as the artifact of the day.  The jar was probably decorated with purple manganese powder.  The glaze appears to have been burned.  There was also this blackened glaze on the interior of the fragment.

August 22 Elsie, Claudia, Malinda, and Mary went to Burch House to sort, bag, and wash artifacts.  Linda and Carol stayed at the Courthouse and continued to catalog while Peggy worked on setting up another desktop setup so we could have a third cataloging station.  We did chose an artifact of the day- three pieces of Chinese porcelain with overglazed gold decoration,  The gold was over black lines that we thought might be branches on a tree or else roads or (?).  These pieces were from Port Tobacco Area B Feature 1.

August 15 Linda, Denise, Claudia, Elsie, Peggy and Carol were at the Lab and we remembered to choose an artifact for the day!  Actually Elsie and Claudia who were washing, sorting, and bagging artifacts at Burch House in the afternoon chose this somewhat corroded faucet as the artifact of the day.  We could make out "NEW YORK" and "No 3".  It had been recovered from PSA.  We haven't found any documentation indicating where that was in Port Tobacco, at least not yet.  Linda and Carol continued to catalog while Denise and Peggy got to do something special.

Actually the day started with Esther going over the sites that we had found August 1 at Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park, and then going through one site form she had created and submitted updating information for one of the sites.  She indicated where she found the information needed to fill out the form.  Since she anticipated needing our help to fill out forms, in the afternoon she worked with Denise and Peggy as they filled out their first site form. 

August 8 Kathy, Malinda, Linda, Denise, Mary, and Elsie returned to the Lab.  The previous week we had been in the field at Maxwell Hall.  Esther had planned an activity but due to health precautions was unable to come.  Malinda and Kathy washed artifacts at Burch House, but not a lot else was accomplished. Our lunch was interrupted by visitors, and Linda gave them a tour of the Port Tobacco Village, even though the Village is not open on Monday.  Overall a pretty laid back day.

The field work at Maxwell Hall planned for July 25 was postponed until August 1.  So there was almost a full house at lab on July 25.  Elsie, Claudia, Malinda, and Kathy washed and sorted artifacts while Denise, Linda, Peggy, and Carol catalogued artifacts in the Courthouse.  Once again there are no photos.  Maybe next time.

July 18 was a slow day with only Denise, Carol, and Elsie working in the Courthouse.  Denise and Carol were cataloging, and Elsie moved artifacts into new boxes and worked with Esther to assign Lot numbers to the bags with artifacts that had recently been washed.  Sorry no photos and no artifact of the day.  As I said it was a slow day.

Monday July 11 Denise, Elsie, Malinda, Kathy, Mary, Pat, Carol, and Ned returned to the Monday Lab.  Activities varied throughout the day.   First Kathy and Malinda brushed iron artifacts outside on the picnic tables at Burch House while the others went into the Courthouse attic to retrieve additional artifacts (lots of bags of animal bones) to be washed.  Then Denise and Carol catalogued while the others washed the retrieved artifacts.  
There were two highlights of the day - First, Denise brought the CCASM hats and shirts that had been ordered, and we got to see them for the first time.
And Ned brought several wooden artifacts for show and tell, and he also told us what the artifacts told about the construction of the building from which they had come.  We choose those artifacts as the Artifacts of the Day.  These architectural artifacts came from his ancestor's house built in the early nineteenth century.  The house had been converted to a barn in the late nineteenth century and has since been torn down.  There was an oak treenail and some split oak house siding as well as several chestnut pieces. Rather than trying to describe them, here are some photos.  

Support Structure

Oak Treenail

Saw marks on Chestnut

Artifacts from House/Barn

2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Feb-Jun)
2021 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Mar-Dec)
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

2022 Charles County Holiday Tour

Burch House

On December 3 and 4 CCASM hosted visitors at Burch House in historic Port Tobacco during the 2022 Charles County Holiday Tour.  Historic homes, churches, and cultural venues throughout the County participated in this free event.

At least twenty groups of people (mostly on Sunday afternoon when the weather was nicer) came by Burch House this year to hear about this eighteenth-century house and about one of its owners and residents, Washington Burch.  And no visit to Burch House is complete without learning a little about archaeology in Port Tobacco.  There was hot cider, home-baked cookies and coffee cake, chocolates, and even an activity for children.  (It's easy to forget to take pictures when you are interacting with visitors, but we did remember to take a few.)

Visitors Looking at Artifacts

Mary at the Food Table

CCASM members decorated Burch House simply for the holidays in keeping with the house.  There was a lot of greenery and two trees - one decorated with crocheted ornaments and one with paper ornaments.  Visitors also noticed that the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco had updated the kitchen that included washing and ironing objects that could have been used by the Burchs.

Paper Ornament Tree

 

Kitchen Hearth

 

Crocheted Ornament
Tree

   

Thanks to Elsie, Denise, Pat, Peggy, and Carol for being there to talk with the visitors.  And a special thanks to Mary who was in charge of the baked goods, hot cider, and everything else needed to enjoy them.

Shenandoah Valley Pottery in 19th-Century Maryland

Jim Gibb

At CCASM's November 17 meeting Dr. Jim Gibb talked about the history of potting in Western Maryland during the 19th century showing examples of Weiss earthenware pottery sherds and photos of complete vessels published in Eugene Comstock's book on Shenandoah Valley pottery.  Jim also described recovering ceramic artifacts from the Reiff site in Cearfoss, Washington County that included sherds from these local made ceramics as well as more refined ceramics imported from the United Kingdom.  And he brought up various questions that these distributions could raise.  As always an interesting talk. 

Dr. James Gibb is the principal of Gibb Archaeological Consulting.   Jim also directs the Environmental Archaeology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.  He is a founding member of  the Charles County Archaeological Society.

Members and Visitors before the Meeting

 

Attendance: 9

 

What If You Find a Projectile Point or a Rusty Nail on the Ground?

Carol Cowherd

Have you ever wondered what to do when you find a projectile point or a broken piece of pottery on the ground?  Can you just pick it up and take it home or should you just leave it? 

On Thursday October 20 Carol Cowherd shared what she had learned as a member of the Archeological Society of Maryland about what you could and could not do when you find an artifact such as a projectile point on the ground.  It all depends on where you are.  Then Carol described several ways to document what is found.  She also brought several shoe boxes of documented artifacts that she had surface collected on her property. 

Carol Cowherd is an avocations archaeologist and president of the Charles County Archaeological Society.
 

Catching up before the meeting

Attendance: 12 members

In the Field at George Washington Birthplace National Monument

Dr. Julie King has a grant for  investigating a mid-17th century site at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument on Pope's Creek in Virginia.  The site is in danger of loss through erosion.  Dr. King invited CCASM to come and volunteer in the field.   Initially it was just for a half day, but later she indicted her crew were clamoring for us to return.  (Maybe they weren't exactly clamoring, but they did seem to enjoy working with us as we did with them.)

Wednesday October 19 CCASM members Mary, Elsie, Pat, and Carol once again carpooled to George Washington Birthplace National Monument for an opportunity to be in the field for part of a day (9am-2:30pm).  Ned arrived earlier at 7.  We came prepared for a chilly day (56 degree high).  The sun was out, the air was crisp, and it was a great day.  After Ned, Pat, and Carol helped Garrett complete a test unit, everyone worked on a new unit.  The plowzone in this unit contained lots of interesting artifacts in addition to shells (of course).  We found several Pope's Creek pottery sherds including one thick piece that would have been near the base of a large vessel.  There was also early Colonial ceramics, a couple of machine cut nails, fire cracked rocks, various unidentified Native American pottery sherds, ...  Really a nice day.

Tuesday October 18 Ned again volunteered on the site for the whole day.  The weather had turned colder and there were 10-15 mph wind gusts as well a sustained wind coming off the Potomac.  Since the weather kept changing, it was good to wear lots of layers.  Today we found mostly shell, a few nails, possible fire-cracked rocks, flakes, a scraper, two pieces of lead shot, and a fair amount of ceramics.  Two park service men came by at lunchtime doing GPS measurements of the shoreline to document current and future erosion.  Here is Julie's crew (Megan, Travis, Caitlin, Garrett, Aidin)

Thanks to Ned for the photo.

Friday October 14 Ned again volunteered on the site for half a day.  Due to heavy Friday afternoon traffic on the Nice-Middleton Bridge (the old one), the crew only works half a day on Fridays.   

Wednesday October 12 Ned traveled to the site arriving at 6:45 (too early for the rest of us).  The STPs were long finished, and the crew had already started laying out units.  Megan laid out two new test units first thing.  Aidin and Ned were able to complete the unit farthest down the peninsula.  That unit had some shell, a few possible ceramics, three nails, and a very small fragment of pipe initialed WE which was either William Evans of Bristol (1660-1682) or William Evans II (1667-1682). The pipe fragment was their artifact of the day.  Garrett finished up the sidewalls of a unit they were calling the Devil Unit. They had several of these hard-subsoil units that took too long to complete.   Travis spent the day documenting the 4-unit combo where they detected a feature or two that might be indigenous. Also Ned was able to cross the new Nice-Middleton Bridge on the way home.

Wednesday September 21 CCASM members Mary, Elsie, Pat, Ned, and Carol carpooled to George Washington Birthplace National Monument on Pope's Creek in Virginia for an opportunity to be in the field for part of a day (9am-2:30pm).  The weather was perfect, and we even got to wear our new CCASM t-shirts. 

We worked with Julie's crew--Megan, Travis, Garrett, Aidin, and  Caitlin for 5.5 hours sifting dirt from four different test units  We recovered both Native American artifacts such as pottery sherds and pipe fragments as well as historic artifacts including colonial ceramics and nails.  

 

If you think the screens look somewhat tilted, they weren't on level ground.  
Also here's the rest of Julie's Crew.

Afterwards we listened to a video at the Visitor's Center and walked around the grounds looking at the various buildings.  Overall a really nice day.

Many thanks to Mary for driving.

2022 Maxwell Hall Colonial Faire and Fall Festival

Maxwell Hall held its annual Colonial Faire and Fall Festival on October 15 and 16.  We had two really nice days for being outdoors.  This year the tents and exhibitors were more spread out, and there were lots of people in Colonial attire.  CCASM's table was near the house and the musicians.  It was a nice location since the shuttle from the parking area dropped people off near us.  We were able to talk about archaeology with quite a lot of people.   And we also got to hear some local oral history. 

The first day was a little windy.  Winds gusts even tried to take our canopy away--frame , weights, and all.  So the second day we didn't even put up the tent.

Ned with a number of our visitors
including possibly the youngest one.

Elsie talking with one of the
families that stopped by.

Carol with Mike Callahan
from Friends of Maxwell Hall

Thanks to Elsie, Carol, and Ned for representing CCASM at the Faire.

2022 ASM Fall Meeting

On Saturday October 1 the Central Chapter of ASM hosted the 2022 Archeology Society of Maryland, Inc Fall Meeting at the Marshy Point Nature Center in Middle River, MD (northeast of Baltimore).

The Fall Meeting started with the Annual ASM Business Meeting that also included the presentation of the 2022 William B Mayre Award to Don Housley for all his contributions to Maryland archaeology, as well as the presentation of certificates to recent graduates of the Certified Archaeological Technician (CAT) program -- Tom McLaughlin, Fran Kline, and Paul Bollwerk. (Congratulations to Don, Tom, Fran, and Paul.  Interestingly they are all from the Mid-Potomac Chapter.)

The election results were also reported -- President: Valerie Hall; Vice-President: Katherine Fernstrom; Membership Secretary: Ethan Bean; Secretary: Barbara Israel; Treasurer: Elaine Hall Chhean; At-large Trustees: Lynne Bulhack, Brent Chippendale, Jim Gibb, Aaron Jarvis, Don Housley, Jim Gibb, Becky Morehouse.  (And many thanks to Claude Bowen, the outgoing president.)

But the highlight of the ASM meetings are the talks. 

• Cassandra Bond Hamilton (whose tombstone is in Marshy Point Cemetery)
   Daniel Dean, Research Chair, Marshy Point Nature Center Council.
  
  
• Many Faces of the Dead: Different Facets of Cemetery Archaeology
    Dr. James G Gibb, Research Associate, Smithsonian Environmental Research Cente
        
•  Frederick M. Stiner Memorial Keynote Lecture
   Historical Preservation and Historic Cemeteries
     Howard Wellman, Conservator, Wellman Conservation
      
• Learning and Teaching at the Mace Family Cemetery, Community College of Baltimore County, Essex
    Katharine Fernstrom, Adjunct Faculty MICA and Towson University
    Nina Brown, Professor, Social Science
    Debra Sambuco, Collection Development Librarian, CCBC, Essex

This year there was also a tour of the Marshy Point Cemetery.

Two  CCASM members attended the meeting.

Southern Maryland Sites and CRM Q&A

For the first time in over two years CCASM was able to hold its meeting in the Community Room of the La Plata Police Station.  

Pat Walters

On Thursday September 15 Patrick Walters talked about three projects in Southern Maryland completed by the CRM firm Applied Archaeology and History Associates, Inc. (AAHA).   One project was a follow-up project at Calverton (the site of ASM Field Sessions in 2017 and 2108) that indicated much of the site that was there in the 1600's would be eroded away by around 2030.   Another project was at Simpkin-Coatback site where CCASM members had previously volunteered.  He indicated what had and had not been found.  The third was a project related to a SMECO substation.

The talk was interesting, but the best part of the meeting was the question and answer period at the end.  We learned more about Cultural Resource Management (CRM), and also had lively discussions about the three projects and other things.   A lot on information sharing.

Patrick Walters is the Director of Cultural Resources for Applied Archaeology and History Associates, Inc.
 

Nice to be together again

Attendance: 10 members

MHT/ASM Workshop - 2022

The 31th Annual Workshop in Archeology was held at the Maryland Historical Trust in Crownsville, MD, on Saturday August 28, and like its name implies this year there were a lot of workshops.

The day started with the Keynote Speaker Dr. Laura Masur from Catholic Universality talking about The Archaeology of Jesuit Plantations and Jesuit-enslaved Ancestors at three sites in Maryland.

Next there were several workshops, some being held at the same time.  So we had to choose.

• Introduction to Land Patent and Deed Research with Matthew McKnight
      
  
• Flintknapping and Lithic Identification with Nate Salzman and Zachary Singer
      
• Post Colonial Earthenware Identification with Patricia Samford
  
  
• Zooarch 101: Basic Faunal Analysis with Valerie M. J. Hall 
  
  
• CAT Workshop on Basic Lab Procedures (Parts I and II) with Sara Rivers Cofield
  

Concurrent with the workshops Sammy Orlando and Megan Ossmann gave individuals an opportunity to take a virtual tour of Mallow Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary.  Virtual reality headsets let each person take a 360 degree tour.  Click links to see the virtual tour without a headset and  to see different level paddling itineraries

CCASM Members

 

CCASM members attending included Ned, Elsie, Peggy, Jim, and Carol.


CCASM is a chapter of ASM.

Click for program agenda and more details about talk/worshops

Volunteering with Dr Julia King at Newtowne

 Dr. Julie King, Anthropology Professor at St Mary's College of Maryland, invited CCASM members to volunteer with her and her crew as they investigated a Native American site in Newtowne Neck State Park.  (This is not to be confused with the investigations of a historical site in Newtowne for which two of our members volunteered.  A lot of trips from Charles County to Newtown Neck.)

Tuesday, August 9: Pat and Carol volunteered in the lab washing lots of oyster shells.  We didn't have to count the shells (there were thousands), but the shells will be weighed once they dry, and only the whole halves will be kept.  I was originally planned to be dwork outdoors, but thankfully we were inside on this hot day.  Julie's crew had worked in the field the previous week and had finished four test units.  Then on Monday they had washed the shells from the STPs outside and weighted them.  I forgot how many pounds they said, but it was a lot. 
Since there was not that much additional help we could provide, the planned volunteering by Mary and Elsie was cancelled.  There should still be opportunities to help at another site.

Thursday, July 28: Mary and Carol volunteered for half a day.  Mary helped Garrett finish one of the original test units just before lunch while Carol helped Aidan open a new test unit at a location further south.  The photo shows Mary wearing her new CCASM shirt.
Again we found lots of oyster shell fragments.  It was good to be in the trees or under a tent where we occasionally felt a slight breeze.  Not too bad, but still a little hot.
An update on the flooded field.  We could find no way to get from the site to the car without going through water.  Mary wore wellies through the water and carried her shoes to/from the site.  So if you don't have waterproof boots, you might want to bring wellies for the field.

Tuesday, July 26: Carol volunteered.  On Tuesday two test units, the first ones, were opened by four of Julie's crew. There were lots and lots of oyster shell fragments to be retrieved and later weighted.  (Thankfully don't have to count.)  Also found a few flakes, several FCR, and some small fragments of Native American pottery, but we're not at the bottom of the units yet.  It was nice in the woods.
Carol has a story about finding the site and how a humongous water "puddle" ending up causing her to not get to the site until 10am although she had arrived at the parking location at 8am.

Julie's crew dug hundreds of STPs in the woods over a two week period several weeks ago and identified locations to place test units.