Volunteering with Dr. Julia King at Chapel Point Park

Dr. Julie King, Anthropology Professor at St Mary's College of Maryland, invited CCASM members to volunteer with her and her crew as they investigate a site in Chapel Point Park.  A plat shows a late 17th century house that was part of mission.  Also in the 1930s Native artifacts were found in this area.

Monday February 27 was the last day at the site.  CCASM members volunteered for part of the day, and the unit was closed today.  Ned was there most of the day.  Carol and Elsie volunteered in the morning.  Peggy volunteered for part of the afternoon.  It was Peggy's first time at the site, and she proclaimed it a beautiful site.  One of the more interesting finds of the day was part of a Starmaker School pipe that dates to the mid-1600's.  (Sorry no photo.)  Despite needing to cut paths through the woods and having to pick up thousands of small oyster shells, this has been a good site on which to volunteer.  All the crisp sunny days were great for being outside.  We can't wait to see the report that pulls together all that was recovered.

Friday February 24 Elsie joined Ned and Carol to volunteer with the rest of Julie's crew and with Carole, the volunteer from Virginia.  We all worked on the unit with all the shell.  Later in the afternoon the plow zone level was closed and a new level was opened.  I don't have the exact number of bags but it was over twenty with about four gallon-size bags being for lithics and three quartz-size bags being for "groovy" artifacts.  The rest of the gallon-size bags were filled with shell, mostly small fragments.  Julie stopped by in the afternoon to photograph some of the more interesting artifacts.  Here are three of the lithics we found - a steatite rim fragment, a Levanna point, and a core.  We also found several hand wrought nails today.  Quite an interesting unit. 

Thursday February 23 was an unusual winter day.  The temperature reached into the upper 70's.  A great day to be in the field.  Carol, Ned, Travis, and Carole, a volunteer from Virginia, worked in the unit that had all the shell while Caitlin and Garret completed excavating the other unit that had very few shells.  More shell meant more hands needed.  After four days at least eight bags of shell had been retrieved from the 'plow zone' level of this first unit.  We also found indigenous pottery, point fragments, Rhenish brown stoneware, hand wrought nails, and fire cracked rocks

Wednesday February 22 Ned volunteered the whole day working with Travis and Garrett  in the unit that had lots of shell but also in which a 17th century stoneware sherd had been found.  Carol volunteered for most of the day with Caitlin and Meagan in the newly opened unit that had very few shells but also had point fragments, stoneware sherd, hand wrought nails, and fire cracked rocks.  Julie visited the site in the morning to assess the erosion along the shore. 

On February 21 Julie's crew opened up one 5'x5' test units, and CCASM was notified that night that our help would be appreciated.

Tuesday February 14 the crew and volunteers finished up the marked set of STPs that were spaced 25' apart.  Ned helped Garrett with STPs.  Carol volunteered for part of the day and helped Caitlin with STPs.  Among the things found were a quartz projectile point midsection and a rim fragment from a red clay tobacco pipe.  Not sure if any additional field work is planned. 
Like the other days that we have volunteered this day was sunny and not that cold.  This winter has had many wonderful days for working (or just being) outside.

Friday February 10 Carol volunteered during the morning and helped Garrett with STPs.  The other volunteer also named Carole (but with an e) helped Caitlin.  Among the things we found were a Native American pottery sherd,  a piece of olive green glass as well as one of clear glass, and a possible weight/sinker.

On February 8 and 9 Ned volunteered to help clear the STP lanes and set the flags for the new STPs  (25 feet apart).  These STPs were in an area of interest.  It was another pair of nice winter days.  Actually it was a little too warm to be cutting STP lanes through brush and fallen trees. 

Tuesday February 1 Ned again volunteered at the site.  Carol also decided to come out for a few hours after the snow had melted.  (The weather was too nice to stay home.)  There were two other people also volunteering.  Carol helped Caitlin with STPs.  Ned worked with Isabel, another woman that volunteers with Julie, and the two of them finished a number of STPs.  We were working closer to the Point.
Julie stopped by for a few minutes and indicated there were two areas of interest based on the initial STPs.

Friday January 27 Mary joined Ned to volunteer at the site.  Ned and Mary helped Caitlin screen STPs, and Mary found this triangular point (Late Woodland).  Again it was a beautiful day.

Thursday January 26 Ned once again volunteered at the site and continued to help clear thickets and cut lanes. One highlight was Caitlin finding the base and midsection of a quartz point at Fourth Point.  The day was a little overcast, but here is the view from Fourth Point.

Tuesday January 24 Ned and Carol volunteered at the site.  It was a beautiful day.  Ned worked with Caitlin, and Garret to continue laying in lines for an additional 100 STPs in the western part of the site that includes the point.  Carol worked with Aiden for a partial day to complete digging the STPs in the eastern part of the site.  Aiden then started digging STPs in the new area.  There's still a  lot to do.

Friday January 20 Carol joined Ned to help Caitlin screen STPS in the morning. The sun was out, there was little wind, and it was fairly easy to travel through the woods.
In the afternoon the crew moved to a different area and here is Ned's update on that area--
BRIARS! BRIARS! BRIARS!  Caitlin, Garrett, Aiden, and I cut more lines through BRIARS, REALLY BIG BRIARS, after lunch. Carol didn’t seem interested in BIG, BIG BRIARS and went home.  Our CCASM president has more sense that I do obviously. I had fun despite the loss of blood.  First photo below is an earlier area we had to cut through. The other two photos were in the last area we cut through showing what a great path we made.  See what you missed!

       

Wednesday January 18 Ned again volunteered with Julie's crew.  Here is Ned's update--
We cut lines on the southern end of the forest in the morning. Some of these were short and perpendicular to the east/west lines. Flags were set 50’ apart, and the lines are 100’ apart. The first STP that Caitlin dug had very wet clay that wouldn’t go through the screen.  The next STP we did was dryer and passed through the screen.  I found a blackened plain ceramic about 3/16” thick and about 1.25” square.  Caitlin was very happy with this ceramic. The STPs closer to the Port Tobacco River had a good bit of oyster shell. We found a few quartz flakes in a few of the STPs.  At an STP in the wheat field, I found a narrow bore, 1” long, white pipe stem which also pleased Caitlin.

Monday January 16 CCASM member Ned volunteered at the site.  Here is the information he provided--
Today at Chapel Point  three members of Julie's crew--Travis, Hanson and Aiden-- dug STPs.  I helped two other crew members -- Caitlin and Garrett-- cut lines from a wheat field through a pine forest to Port Tobacco Creek .  While the pine forest is relatively open, there were major thickets of fallen trees and heavy vines to cut through.  I think we cut at least five 200-yard lanes. Caitlin and I did most of the clearing while Garrett set the flags about every 50 feet.  I had fun, but it was a very tough job even with the heavy-duty tools I brought. 
Plans are for the crew to work Wednesday and Friday.  There are threats of rain on Tuesday and Thursday.

Thanks to Ned for the info and the photos.