Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc: 2024

December 21, 2024

Archaeology Jeopardy 2024

At the CCASM December 19 meeting we decided to repeat what we had done last December and play Archaeology Jeopardy instead of having a speaker.

Carol provided the game (Powerpoint) and choose the "answers" (many of which were repeats from last year). Between getting ready for Christmas, getting ready to move, and the flu several of our regular attendees were absent. So we had four individual teams of one person each and rather than ringing a buzzer you had to call out your name. Team Elsie won the game and got the "trophy". Everyone seemed to enjoy the game even though the host had to occasionally be reminded of the rules.

For four of the categories Carol provided answers relating to local archeology, previous CCASM speakers, or other things we have been exposed to while volunteering in Charles County. The legal category answers came from a Middle Atlantic Archaeology Conference version of the game.

Joe had just received the new batch of t-shirts that people had ordered. So Denise brought them to the meeting to distribute.

Sorry, completely forgot to take any pictures.

Attendance: 5

December 16, 2024

2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Oct-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.

Health precautions: Following guidelines for Charles County.

Location: Courthouse (2nd floor; use South Wing door) and Burch House (both inside and outside) in Historic Port Tobacco Village map

Note: depending on the weather, we may also be in the field on Mondays;
(we try to post the latest schedule as soon as we get it - may not get until Monday morning)

Monday, Jan 6 (11am - 3pm) Lab at Port Tobacco

The Christmas Potluck Party for those volunteering at the Charles County Lab was Monday Dec 16 at the Port Tobacco Courthouse. Photos are better than words. Thanks to Ned and Gary for the additional photos. And of course thanks to everyone who brought something to share.

Lots of Smiles

Lots of food

View from one end of table

View from other end

Lightning Battery Arrester

Monday December 9 was our last day in lab this calendar year. In the morning Peggy, Carol, Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Linda, and Mary worked on washing the artifacts recovered from Maxwell Hall on November 25. In the afternoon Jordan joined us to help bag the dry Maxwell Hall artifacts while Linda and Elsie worked on bagging some 1970s PT artifacts. Esther spent the day working on the Maxwell Hall catalog.
We chose this radio lightning arrester made by Corwico (Cornish Wire Company, 1924-1959) as the artifact of the day. It would have been used with residential radio sets connecting the radio antenna required for good radio reception to a ground that would drain the charge if there was a lightning strike. In addition to being used with radio antenna, the arrester could also be used to protect electric fences. This arrester was recovered from the Maxwell Hall Ice House Site

On Monday December 2 we decorated Burch House for Christmas. In keeping with the history of Burch House, we try to keep it simple. Elsie was in charge of the greenery displays. Linda, Denise, Mary, Carol, and Jadyn put up the two Christmas trees and lots of other decorations through out the House. The lab was set up to highlight archaeology including the archeology related to Burch House. The children's activity was put on one of the tables. And Mary brought the plates, cups, and all the things needed for the refreshments. Now everything is set for the Holiday Tour that will be this coming Saturday.

Arranging greenery

Everything's ready
(Just a little tidying up left to do.)

Monday November 25 Claudia, Denise, Peggy, and Carol were at lab continuing to work on recently recovered artifacts from the Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. It was such a lovely day that Claudia and Peggy decided to brush and bag metal artifacts outside on the picnic table but later in the day joined Denise and Carol inside to bag and brush additional metal artifacts. Denise and Carol mostly bagged artifacts from the drying screens, but in the afternoon decided to wash some of the remaining artifacts so they would be ready to bag on the last Maxwell Hall lab day in December. Among the barbed wire, partial bricks, and bottle glass fragments nothing stood out. So there is no artifact of the day.

Anchor Hocking
Brown Bottle Base

On Monday November 18 while the other volunteers were at Maxwell Hall looking for more artifacts, Claudia and Carol were at Burch House processing the artifacts that had already been recovered from Maxwell Hall. Since it was a nice day, we worked outside on the picnic table. In the morning we brushed and bagged metal artifacts labeled E-#. There were more metal artifacts to be processed but we switched to washing artifacts (mostly glass) in the afternoon. It's always nicer to be able to wash outdoors. We chose this base from a brown bottle that was embossed with the word "RAINBOW" as the artifact of the day. The "anchor" trademark indicates it was made by Anchor Hocking Glass Corporation between 1938 and ca 1980. It had been recovered last Saturday from an area identified as a bottle dump.

Barb Wire

On Monday November 4 Mary, Claudia, Evie, Jordan, Peggy and Linda cleaned artifacts from Maxwell Hall, the Oyster House in Port Tobacco and artifacts brought down from the courthouse attic. We chose this barb wire fencing from the Maxwell Hall Daffodil Site as the artifact of the day.

Thanks to Linda for the info and to Mary for the photo.

Monday October 28 was supposed to be a lab day but ... Mary was the only one in lab in the morning and decided to clean - floors, bags, whatever needed cleaning while the other volunteers were with the school group. After lunch we decided to take the afternoon off.

Porcelain cup

The Monday October 21 Lab was a little crazy with people doing lots of different activities during the day - cleaning up and inventorying tools and equipment in the shed, inventorying bags and pens in the lab, retrieving some of the last bags of artifacts from the rafters of the Courthouse (a dirty job), stabilizing some of the retrieved bags, putting new flagging tape around the Swann House foundation, and also the normal activity of sorting and bagging some of the artifacts washed in previous weeks. Not sure this was everything we did. There were eight volunteers - Linda, Denise, Elsie, Claudia, Evie, Carol, Jordan, and Jadyn -- along with Esther and Esther's sister who was visiting from the West Coast.

We chose these Chinese porcelain cup sherds (from a group of porcelain sherds) as the artifact of the day. The mended sherd on the left contains seven pieces. The sherd on the right appears to have a similar design and may or may not mend at the rim to the other sherd. They had been among the 1970s Port Tobacco artifacts that were brought down from the attic.

Various Bottle Finishes

At the Monday October 14 Lab it was just Linda and Jadyn. We bagged dry brushed items from last week and washed items from the Courthouse box (1970s Port Tobacco artifacts). We chose these glass bottle fragments with different finishes as the "artifact" of the day.

Thanks to Linda for the photo and the info.

Buckle

Monday October 7 while several of the regular volunteers were in the field, Linda, Claudia, and Jadyn were at Burch House sorting and bagging the artifacts that were washed last week and then dry brushing the remaining metal artifacts. We chose this sturdy copper alloy buckle as the artifact of the day. It was with the other artifacts recovered during the 1970s excavations at Port Tobacco but that's all we know. So it is listed as Port Tobacco, no provenience.

Thanks to Linda for the photo and the info.

December 9, 2024

2024 Charles County Holiday Tour

Burch House

On Saturday December 7 CCASM hosted visitors at Burch House in historic Port Tobacco during the 2024 Charles County Holiday Tour. Four sites in Port Tobacco participated in this free event - the One-Room Schoolhouse, Stagg Hall, the Port Tobacco Courthouse, as well as Burch House.

Only fifteen people came by Burch House this year to learn about this eighteenth-century house and Washington Burch, one of its owners. Seceral were also interested in hearing about the archaeology done in Port Tobacco and upcoming ASM Field Session that is to be in Charles County. There was hot cider, home-baked cookies, chocolates, and even an activity for children.

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 Linda and Elsie for setting up and being there to talk with the visitors and also to Carol who helped out in the afternoon.
And a special thanks to Mary who provided the baked goods, hot cider, and everything else needed to enjoy them.

November 25, 2024

Volunteering for Maxwell Hall Grant Archaeology - Continued

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

Fall 2024 Location: Maxwell Hall Park Equestrian Area, Hughesville, MD (but near Benedict, MD

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Monday November 25 was the last day in the field for this grant. Elsie, Linda Doug, and Jordan joined Esther to surface collect the field we had started on Saturday. We mostly found fire cracked rocks. Linda, Doug, and Elsie also used Doug's metal detector to find the nails Esther had set in edge of field. Lee Ann Stone, Charles County Video Production Specialist, and crew filmed a video about the archaeology being done on the site. The video is to air a week from Thursday.

Walking
one of the fields

Saturday November 23 was very cold and windy. Just Esther, Tim, Elsie, and Ben (the dog) came out to walk the fields. It was a long day that got started at 10 and didn't finish until 3:30. We planned to collect three fields. We finished one field previously started near the river, skipped another because the cover crop of wheat was already emerging and started another field by the river. We found concentrations of Native American artifacts in the corners of the fields near the river but found little to none in the center of fields further from the river. One exception to this was concentration of artifacts on either side of a dip in the center of a field. Esther had previously identified a dark stain in this location on Google Earth. Esther is theorizing that this is the location of an ancient waterway with artifact concentrations on the banks. We found lots of fire cracked rock but thought a picture of these lithics would be more interesting.

Lithics from Field 1

Dressed for a
cold day

Thanks to Elsie for the info and to Esther and Elsie for the photos.

Monday November 18 Linda, Doug, Mary, Elsie, and later Jordan volunteered with Esther to dig additional STPs at the Daffodil Site in the morning. They didn't find that much but it did help define the boundaries of the site. Then in the afternoon they walked the fields. It was another sunny fall day.

Flagging STP location

Documenting STP

Thanks to Elsie for the info and to Linda for the photos.

On Saturday November 16, another sunny fall day, CCASM members Steve, Doug, Linda, Elsie, Denise, and Ned along with an additional volunteer John worked with Esther on the site. Steve, John, and Doug used their metal detectors. Doug ran a leaf blower. The others flagged and retrieved artifacts from locations identified by the metal detectors and maintained the provenience of the artifacts. They also retrieved artifacts from an ice house pit below the south end of the ridge. Based on the artifacts this does not appear to be the Mount Arundel site. There were some rosehead nails, but most of the artifacts were more later. The oldest artifact was a button possibly dating from 1780-1810 that was found by Steve on the far north end of the ridge.

A little of every activity

Checking out what
Metal Detector detected

Clearing path for
Metal Detector

Back of Button

Recording location

Thanks to Ned for the info and the photos. He actually sent lots of photos.

Monday November 11 was a sunny fall day. Denise, Doug and Linda joined Esther to clean undergrowth and briars from two strips of land at the Mount Arundel site in preparation for metal detecting this Saturday.
Thanks to Linda for the info.

Monday October 14 we continued to work in the same area as last week. Esther ran lines to several new points. In the morning Denise and Mary dug (mostly Denise dug and Mary screened) several STP's. A lot of rusted metal from a collapsed building, a few pieces of glass, and one ceramic was uncovered. After lunch Esther joined in the fun and helped to dig additional STP's in a wooded area. We finished the day by driving around the fields to check on the status of the soybean crop. Not ready to harvest as of now.

The weather was delightful and the soil was easily dug, so a good day in the field.
Thanks to Mary for the info.

Monday October 7 was another beautiful day to be in the field. Denise, Mary, Elsie, and Carol volunteered with Esther to dig four more STPs at Maxwell Hall Site 4. This involved Esther and Denise cutting paths to the STP locations. Each STP had at least one historic artifact. There were lots of pieces of rusty barb wire as well as an early whiteware ceramics sherd, an oyster shell, and nails. We even found some English ivy. Esther reminded us this was where all the daffodils were last spring - another landscape feature that would indicate a residence in the area. A 1930s aerial shows a building in this area. Esther thought we should call it the the "Daffodill Site".

Starting to clear a path
into the brush

Screening

More Screening

Thanks to Esther for the additional photos and info.

Finally a nice day to be in the field even if it did get cut short by rain. Monday September 23 Denise, Elsie, Carol along with a new volunteer Jordan joined Esther in the field at Maxwell Hall Site 4. We dug five STPs and found nineteenth century artifacts in one.

Documenting

Screening and finding
no material culture artifacts

Wednesday July 10 was a hot day (mid to upper 90's). Even so, Linda, Doug, Denise, and Mary joined Esther to continue walking the field that we had started last week and to continue surface collecting. Several more artifacts were found including the base of a very nice projectile point and a piece of worked rhyolite.
Thanks to Linda and Mary for the info.

Wednesday July 3 was a nice enough day (not too hot) for Esther and CCASM members Denise, Linda, Doug, and Ned to be in the field at the Equestrian Park. The farmer had disced the wheat stubble and completed planting soybeans with a drill in the fields on the Red and Blue trails. Linda, Doug, and Denise walked parts of two of the Blue Trail fields that had been planted after the rain. Nothing was found in the first field, but we found some shell pieces, a couple of flakes, a possible piece of pipe, and two pieces of ceramics in the second one,
Thanks to Ned, Denise, and Linda for the info.

After a number of months we returned to the Equestrian Park on Wednesday May 29. Mary, Gary, and Ned joined Esther at an area on the Red Trail. We dug four STPs in the morning. Then We explored a continuous shell midden along the shores line with Esther wading in the water and Mary walking the upper bank. Gary and Ned set flags at 100 ft intervals to indicate an area to be explode in the future.

Always paths to clear

Stopping for a photo

Thanks to Mary and Ned for the info and thanks to Mary for the photos.

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.