2023 Archaeolocy Jeopardy

At the CCASM December 21 meeting we did something a little different.  It was so close to the holidays that we decided not to have a speaker but to still have an archaeological theme.  So we played Archaeology Jeopardy.  And since it was the holidays, Mary brought cookies and snacks we could enjoy while playing the game.

Those attending (including one attending via FaceTime) divided into three groups.  Instead of using buzzers that we would not be able to distinguish, each team has to choose an animal sound.  We got this idea from the Mid-Potomac Chapter that  routinely plays this game. So we had a duck team (Linda and Mary), a dog team (Doug, Linda, and Denise), and a cow team (Peggy, Pat, and Ned).   As often happens the Final Jeopardy wager was the decider.  The cow team won.   Carol was the host and Frank was the score keeper.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the game even though the host had to occasionally be reminded of the rules.

 

Answers for two of the categories came from an older Middle Atlantic Archaeology Conference version of the game.  For the other three categories Carol provided answers relating to local archeology, previous CCASM speakers, or other things we have been exposed to while volunteering in Charles County.

Thanks to Peggy for bringing the hot spot and allowing us to test out connecting to someone remotely, and thanks to Pat for being the guinea pig.  It turns out FaceTime is not the best option for a presentation, but it worked fine for Pat to be able to participate in the game and demonstrated that we can now get internet access in the Community Room.

As always, thanks to Mary for the great refreshments.

Sorry, completely forgot to take any pictures.

Attendance: 10

2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec)

CCASM has been working with Charles County at the ongoing Public Archaeology Lab since 2015.  The lab is for processing artifacts recovered from various archaeology initiatives in Charles County -  including artifacts from investigations of sites on County properties, artifacts recovered from savage archaeology in the County, as well as artifacts recovered around the 1970's before the Port Tobacco Courthouse was reconstructed. Esther Read is the archaeologist in charge.

Here is what we were doing the second half of 2023.

Monday December 18 was the Christmas Potluck Lunch for the Monday volunteers.  Every one brought something to share - salads, shrimp, kielbasa, vegetable dishes, fruit and, of course, cookies and cupcakes.  Esther brought the pizza from Pizza Hotline.  Jim Gibb and a young woman who works with him now but previously was Esther's student  joined us.  We also got to meet Joel Binkley, the new Charles County Community Planning Program Manager (Cathy Thompson's previous job).  Lot of good food.  Lots of interesting conversations.

All that's left

Eating a little too much

On December 11 we had our first snow of the season (0"-2'' depending on where you were in Charles County), but Denise, Linda, Claudia, Elsie, Pat, Carol, and Malinda had no problems coming to lab.  We continued sorting and bagging artifacts from the Swann Site.  Ned dropped by in the morning to check out the Swann Site units (too wet to work) and to dry brush some metal artifacts.  At the end of the lab we straightened up since we would not be back to Burch House until next year.

Magnified button image

On December 4 we took a little time to straighten up after the Holiday Tour - removing any wilted greenery, packing up the activities for next time,  removing the refreshment dishes, but leaving the decorations.  Then we returned to processing the artifacts.  Mary and Claudia washed artifacts outside.  Peggy, Elsie, Denise, Linda, and Carol sorted and bagged inside.
We decided to chose a Swann Site button as the artifact of the day so we could show off Linda's new "toy" that allows us to magnify and photograph objects.  The back of this one-piece flat button has the word "GILT" as well as laurel leaves stamped on it.  It was definitely much easier to make this out when the button was magnified.  These buttons date to the early nineteenth century.  (Thanks to Pat for finding web sites related to Gilt buttons.)

There was no Lab on Monday November 27, because CCASM needed to decorate Burch House for the upcoming Charles County Holiday Tour.   CCASM will be hosting Burch House during that event. The same trees and other decorations are used in some way every year, but we always want to add a little something different.  Several members brought evergreens from their yards to use in the displays.  Others brought tree lights, candle sticks, table cloths, and miscellaneous items for the decorations. 

Denise, Mary, Elsie, Linda, Carol, and Malinda put up the Christmas trees, added greenery everywhere, set up the activity table and the table for refreshments, straightened up the archaeology displays, and did all the little things needed to make everything ready for this weekend. 

Creating one of the displays
using variety of evergreens

Adding some of the
finishing touches

tin-glazed ceramic

We started Lab on Monday November 20 by doing an inventory of the holiday decorations stored at Burch House to see what we needed to bring next week for decorating.  Then Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Linda, Carol. and Malinda continued to wash, sort, and bag artifacts recovered from the Swann Site.  There were both indigenous and historic artifacts, but we chose this really small piece of tin-glaze because of its unusual colors.  It was not the usual blue and white we normally see.  And yes, it has been washed, and that is not dirt on the surface.

Monday November 13 we returned to Burch House to continue washing, sorting, and bagging artifacts from the Swann Site.  It wasn't that cold.  So Linda, Elsie, and Claudia worked outside while Mary, Denise, Peggy, and Carol stayed inside.  For the artifact of the day we chose these pieces of a canning jar lid recovered from Level 5 in a unit (Unit 1) inside the fireplace.  Mason jar zinc screw caps with milk glass liners date to after 1869.  This milk glass liner is embossed with "PORCELAIN LINED CAP" "FOR MASON FRUIT JARS".  There also appears to be lettering on the cap but we could not make it out.

Post-1869 Canning Lid

Doll's Porcelain Arm

On October 30 we were once again outside Burch House sorting and bagging artifacts from the Swann Site.  Denise, Peggy, Mary, and Carol spent the whole time sorting and bagging artifacts from Level 4 in a unit inside the fireplace.  There were lots of artifacts, and some of the metal fragments also needed to be brushed.   Elsie, Linda, Claudia and Malinda worked on a number of different unit/levels that had fewer artifacts in them.  But they were the ones to find the artifact of the day - a porcelain arm and hand that would have been attached to a cloth-bodied doll.

Although it was beautiful outside, Monday October 2 was another lab day.  Linda, Mary, Claudia, Elsie, Carol, and Ned worked outside Burch House on the Swann site artifacts.   Ned brushed (and tried to identify) metal objects, Carol washed artifacts while Mary, Linda, Claudia, and Elsie sorted and bagged.  Claudia and Elsie decided to tape together some clear machine-made glass bottle fragments, and the resulting bottle became the artifact of the day.  Most of the pieces were there.  (Not the usual case but since this turned out to be a beer bottle maybe not that unusual.)  We were able to make out the embossed letters on the front - PABST /  B / TRADE MARK / MILWAUKEE.   Here is also a photo of the base.  We had to take the taped bottle apart before storing, but it was still fun to see that we could fit the pieces together.

Taping Bottle Together

Lettering

Base

On September 26, a dreary Monday, we were back in the lab at Burch House.  Elsie, Ned, Linda, Peggy, and Carol worked on processing Swann Site artifacts while Mary spent the day organizing and storing the Swann Site artifacts that we had already bagged. 
We chose these miscellaneous metal objects that include a rusty bicycle chain as the "artifact" of the day.  Although they are not artifacts, we also decided to include an image of an unusual number of land snails that was found in Unit 1, Level 4, the same unit/level as the metal objects.  This unit was inside the foundation.

Miscellaneous
metal objects

Land snails
(family polygyridae)

After a break for Labor Day we were back at Port Tobacco on September 11.  Linda and Peggy worked on sorting and bagging Swann site artifacts at Burch House while the rest of us (Elsie, Claudia, Carol, and Ned) volunteered with Esther in the field at the Swann Site.  Sorry no artifact of the day.

On August 28 it was drizzling, so Denise, Linda, Elsie, Claudia, Peggy, Carol, and Malinda worked inside Burch House - sorting, bagging, and washing artifacts recovered from the Swann Site.  There were some larger pieces of metal and of bottle glass.  Elsie and Claudia wrapped the larger bottle glass fragments in ethafoam before bagging them.  Fragments from one of the bottles was chosen for the artifact of the day.  The bottle fragments were embossed with "MOUNT VERNON PURE RYE", and you can just see the top of the letters SKEY.  "Mount Vernon" made us think of George Washington, but checking the web indicated this rye whiskey brand was first distilled in Baltimore starting in the 1860's.  Esther Read blue taped a number of pieces together to show the shape, but we had to remove the tape before storing since the resulting object was not sturdy.  She identified the bottle as Pre-Prohibition. 

Mount Vernon Pure Rye
bottle fragments

Taped bottle
fragments

Miscellaneous Bones

August 21 Denise, Peggy, Elsie, Claudia, Mary, and Carol worked inside Burch House. We mainly sorted and bagged artifacts recovered from the Swann Site.  One of the units contained lots of bones including two pig mandibles with teeth, possible ham bones (cut), a rodent mandible with teeth, other mammal teeth, and miscellaneous bird bones.  There is even one fish bone.  We decided that these bones would be the artifact of the day.  They were from a unit that was inside the foundation

Bottle Base

On August 14 only four people decided to volunteer in the field at the Swann Site.  The temperature was in the high 80's and it was humid.  The rest of us volunteered in the lab at Burch House.  Linda showed Malinda how to sort and bag artifacts.  Carol tried to sort small fragments of whiteware from small fragments of creamware and pearlware.  Peggy and Claudia washed artifacts outside in the shade of a tree.  We chose this base of a possible medicine bottle as the artifact of the day.  It has two concentric mold marks on the base but no mold seam.  You can see air bubbles in the glass, indicating a lower quality glass. 

Metal Object

 
August 7 Elsie, Linda, Malinda, Pat, Carol. and Peggy worked on Swann Site artifacts at Burch House while Ned did maintenance on the Blacksmith Site.  So once again some were washing or dry brushing artifacts while others were sorting and bagging.  We chose this fragment from an unusual metal object as the artifact of the day.  The photo shows a hole where something would have been attached.

Stamped Handle of
Bone-handled Toothbrush

Monday July 31 we were in the lab again working on artifacts from the James Swann Site.  Some of us were inside Burch House, and others were outside at a picnic table shaded by a tent.  Esther worked with Denise to sort and bag artifacts.  Mary and Claudia started out sorting and bagging artifacts.  Pat, Elsie, Linda, Carol along with our newest volunteer Evie washed artifacts.  Ned returned to the Swann Site to continue to pull up poison ivy and then went to the Blacksmith Site to move bricks so that site could be mowed.

We chose this curved bone toothbrush handle that was recovered inside the Swann House foundation with a lot of other "debris".  The handle has "xtra Fine" stamped on it.  Patricia Samford, MAC Lab director, identified this as the handle of a bone-handled toothbrush.  The stamped wording indicates a toothbrush made after 1850.  Without the toothbrush's head additional dating is not possible.  James Swann's family was living at the site after 1850.
Thanks Dr. Samford for the info.

Uniface

After a weekend in the field we returned to the lab on Monday July 24.  Mary, Claudia, Denise, and Carol worked inside sorting and bagging Swann Site artifacts that had been washed and dried.  Outside under the trees Elsie and Linda washed more Swann Site artifacts artifacts while Peggy washed/dry brushed some of the "debris" recovered from a unit inside the foundation.  Ned helped with the metal but spent much of his time pulling up poison ivy plants at the site. 
We chose this piece of unifacially worked quartzite as the artifact of the day.  It is very similar to an artifact found in the field on June 12 (scroll down in Investigating James Swann Site)  However, this one is a lighter colored quartzite.  (On further comparison the two photos are too similar not to be of the same artifact.  Soil must have made the other one seem darker.  We'll let you know if there really are two.)

1865 Indian Head One Cent

Monday July 17 was a lab day.  Denise, Kathy, Carol, and Malinda worked inside Burch House (air conditioned) sorting, bagging, and doing a little rewashing of Swan Site artifacts.  Linda put up a tent outside in the heat where she and Claudia washed artifacts.  Peggy cleaned Swann Site metal artifacts - also outside under a tree.  The remainder of the Blacksmith Site metal was picked up this morning by Dr. Jim Gibb to take to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where all the metal from the Blacksmith Site is being conserved and catalogued before being returned.  Ned worked in the field cutting grass in preparation of the event this weekend, but also stopped by the lab.
Since we were able to determine the date (1865) for this Indian Head One Cent piece from its photo, it became the artifact of the day.  Like the other artifacts we were processing today, it was recovered from the Swann Site.
Thanks to Ned for the photo.

Jeweler's Vise

Monday July 10 Linda along with Malinda and Evie, a new volunteer, washed artifacts from the Swann Site inside Burch House while Kathy and Claudia washed artifacts outside.  Peggy and Ned were also outside, but they were cleaning the iron artifacts from the Blacksmith Site.  Denise and Mary assisted Esther with completing and documenting the test units at the Swann Site.  In the morning Charles County Media Services personnel videoed Esther talking about the Swann Site.  
      
We picked this tiny vise that was among the metal objects from the Blacksmith Site.  Ned thought it might be a jeweler’s vise.  The 1895 Montgomery Ward catalogue has a tiny "Jeweler’s Vise” with the approximate 1.5” wide jaws, but with a stronger attachment for the bench.  Doug who was familiar with jewelry repair found a better example of a jeweler’s vise that was a close match on an auction site.  Whether a jeweler’s vise or a tiny clamp-on bench vise, it was probably used for fine filing of copper or brass parts.
Thanks to Ned for the info and the photo.

 

 

2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Dec)
2022 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec)
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

2023 Charles County Holiday Tour

Welcome to Burch House

On December 2 and 3 CCASM hosted visitors at Burch House in historic Port Tobacco during the 2023 Charles County Holiday Tour.  Eleven sites throughout the County participated in this free event.  This included four sites in Port Tobacco - the One-Room Schoolhouse, Stagg Hall, the Port Tobacco Courthouse, as well as Burch House.

Over fifty people came by Burch House this year to learn about this eighteenth-century house and Washington Burch, one of its owners.  Many were also interested in hearing about the archaeology done in Port Tobacco and the Archaeology Lab. There was hot cider, home-baked cookies, chocolates, and even an activity for children. 
(It's easy to forget to take pictures when you are interacting with visitors.)

Signing in and
having refreshments

Viewing some of the
homemade decorations

Enjoying a simpler time

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. 

Thanks to Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Mary, Linda, Pat, 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.

The Search for the Jesuit Mission of Father Andrew White Along the Potomac River

Dr. Julia King

At the CCASM November 16 meeting Dr. Julia King talked about recent investigations done in Chapel Point State Park along the Potomac River.  They were looking for evidence of the Jesuit Mission in that area was associated with Father Andrew White.  Julie's talk was so interesting and informative that I forgot to take any notes.  I do remember  - an old map showing the location of a dwelling that could be overlaid on a current map,  artifacts made by Native Americans (that's why the Jesuits wanted a mission there), seventeenth century artifacts from the time period Father White and/or his successor would have been there, but there was so much more.

Julie has a grant to continue investigations at the site next year.  So stay tuned.
(CCASM was written into the grant, and members will be able to volunteer.)

Native American and
early Colonial artifacts recovered

Two recovered sherds similar
to mid-seventeenth century mug

Julia King is a professor of anthropology at St Mary's College of Maryland and was the principle investigator for investigations that found Charles County's first Courthouse and that found the Piscataway's Zekiah Fort. 

Several CCASM members had volunteered for at least a day on the site early this year.   Julie thanked them by taking them to dinner prior to the meeting.  A really nice thank you.

Before the meeting

Attendance: 15

 

Documenting an African American Cemetery

Recording Coordinates
(Total Station)

Monday November 13 the locations of the grave depressions that had been found in October were recorded.  Jim Gibb used his Total Station to record the coordinates of the head and foot of the individual depressions found previously as well as those of a few new ones found today.  He was assisted by Ned and Esther.  Jim will use this data to create a map of the cemetery.

Thanks to Jim for doing this.

Thanks to Ned for the info and photos.

 Monday October 9 CCASM members Denise, Elsie, Linda, Carol, and Ed joined Esther Reed to mark graves on a property along Old Stage Coach Road.  There was one marked grave on this property that is privately owned.  The rest of the graves were just depressions in the ground.  We flagged seventy-seven possible graves. This appears to be a cemetery associated with the Mount Zion Colored Episcopal Church that was formed in the 1870s
For more about the site see Finding Charles County Blog- Mount Zion

Flagging the head
of a grave depression

Volunteering for
a day in the woods

Volunteering for Maxwell Hall Grant Archaeology - Continuing

The Friends of Maxwell Hall received a grant titled "Maxwell Hall: Discovering and Raising New Voices".  The goal was to learn more about the African/African American experience at Maxwell Hall. The first half of the project is archival and landscape research headed by Esther Read. The second half is a community outreach headed by Cathy Thompson to locate descendants of those who lived and worked at Maxwell Hall in an effort to tell a more complete story and to build relationships with the community. 

Esther completed the interim archaeology report in May that also included identification of Native American sites.  In September she received the permit that allows surveying.  So the archaeological work on the grant continues.

CCASM members are providing volunteer hours for the archaeological part of the grant.  Volunteer hours count as an in-kind match ($29.95/hr).

Locations: Maxwell Hall Park Equestrian Area
                  Hughesville, MD (but near Benedict,MD)  map

                  
Next dates:  Check Lab post

Monday November 6 we returned to the Equestrian Park.  The farmer had just harvested soybeans in part of a field that supposedly had an early colonial building.  CCASM members Ned, Peggy, Linda, Elsie, and Carol along with two repeat volunteers Doria and Melaney joined Esther to surface collect for part of the day.  We only found two small bricks, but only a small part of the field had been harvested.  The field was continuing to be harvested while we were there.  After lunch we walked the bluff and on the shore.  Esther found at least two new shell middens, and Linda recorded the locations.  

Surface Collecting

Recording shell midden location

But the most interesting thing found were two U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Reference Marks that had fallen down onto the shore of the  Patuxent..  They were labeled Fodder No. 1 and Fodder No. 2 and were dated 1943.  Two reference marks are needed to determine a boat's location on the River.

Geodetic Survey Reference Markers.

Thanks to Ned for the additional photo and for the photos of the markers.

Monday October 23 we were able to finish surveying this site (18CH101).  CCASM members Mary, Peggy, Denise, Elsie, Ned , and Jim continued digging STPs today.  There were three teams - Elsie and Denise; Peggy and Jim; and Ned and Mary (although Mary helped Esther part of the time).  We did some additional STPs in the road where it bends along the Patuxent and out on the field's edge.
Thanks to Ned for the info and photo.

Monday October 16 was another beautiful but cooler day to be in the field.  CCASM members Mary, Linda, Peggy, Denise, Carol, and Ned joined Esther at the site to dig nine additional STPs.  After laying out the grid we divided into two teams with Ned assisting where needed, especially when the digging through the root filled soil became difficult.  The STPs did start to define the edges of the shell midden with some STPs having essentially no shells and at least one having a buried layer of densely packed shells.  A small amount of worked lithics were recovered.

On Monday September 19, a beautiful day to be in the field,  CCASM members Elsie, Mary, Linda, Pat, Carol, and Ned joined Esther to dig shovel test pits (STPs) at the Chalk Point Site in an area above where a shell midden had been found on the shore.  We dug eight STPs and found lots of shells in at least three of them as well as a small amount of worked lithics.  

Laying out grid

STP Team A

STP Team B

STP Team C

Documenting

Shells from STP

Thanks to Ned and Pat for the additional photos.

For archaeology done during the initial part of the grant
Volunteering for "Maxwell Hall: Discovering and Raising New Voices"

2023 ESAF Conference

The Eastern States Archeological Federation (ESAF) held its 2023 Conference at Ocean City, MD Oct 27-29.  ESAF is an organization of state archeological societies representing much of the Eastern United States and Canada, and this was the year for the Archaeological Society of Maryland (ASM) and the Archaeological Society of Delaware (ASD) to co-host.

Presidents of ASD and ASM, the keynote speaker,
and President of ESAF. 
Sorry don't know the other ESAF conference helper

Five CCASM members (Mary, Gary, Pat, Carol, and Jim) attended the conference, and on the last day we all agreed we were glad we came.  There were a number of really interesting talks.  Rather that summarizing the various talk, here is a link to the final program - https://esaf-archeology.org/esaf-2023-final-program.pdf   

At the Saturday night banquet Dr. Julia King was the keynote speaker.  Her  talk was titled "Revisiting Portobago: A Mid- to Late 17th Century Trading Post on the Rappahannock River in Virginia".

Some of us at the dinner

Four of the five CCASM attendees
(although one appears to be hiding)

On Oct 26 before the conference started there was also a special tour that was limited to twenty people with one lucky CCASM member being able to take the tour.  It included a visit to the Zwaanendeal Museum with a behind the scenes look at the His Majesty’s Sloop Debraak 1798 Shipwreck exhibit.  The tour also included a visit to the Nanticoke Indian Museum.

Debraak Shipwreck (~80')

FYI, the archaeological societies from the following states/provinces are members of ESAF- Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Massaschusetts, New Brunswick (Canada), New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

CCASM is a chapter of the Archeological Society of Maryland.

Thanks to Pat for the photo of all the presidents and the speaker.