Dr. Julia King, Anthropology Professor at St Mary's College of
Maryland,
once again invited CCASM members to volunteer with her, her crew, and the SMCM Field School students as
they continue to investigate a site in Chapel Point Park.
In 2023 Dr King and her crew dug numerous STPs as well as a couple of test units looking for evidence of the Jesuit Mission in the area that was associated with Father Andrew White. A few CCASM members volunteered 2023 Volunteering at Chapel Point at the site. In the 2023 Julia King talk on Chapel Point Julie showed some of the diagnostic artifacts found. Now it is time to find out more about the site.
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Friday May 17 was overcast but otherwise pleasant. Ned and Carol volunteered on the site. Ned continued to clear part of the site. Carol worked with Matt and two students (Ricardo and Max) on one of the four units being processed today. Some of the more interesting finds from Matt's unit was a red pipe bowl fragment with parallel rouletting marks, a red pipe stem fragment, and two small lead shots with different diameters. Today one of the students got to draw her first wall profile of a unit.
Thursday May 16 was a beautiful day to be outside. Ned brought his string trimmer and a swing grass cutter to the site. He spent most of the morning clearing the site but did alternate with screening. (Ned's update)
Tuesday May 14 Ned, Mary, and Carol volunteered on the site. Rain was predicted, but there were only a few drops at lunch time and more sprinkles around 2. So overall a fairly pleasant day.
It was the first day for the five field school students to be on site. So we also got to hear Dr. Julie King describe how to fill out the field forms, the process to use to dig test units, and more. Interestingly the soil was screened into a wheel barrow so it could be taken off the site until it was needed to refill the units at the end of the project. Every Principal Investigator seems to have a slightly different process.
Only two of Dr. King's crew - Laura and Travis - were on site today, and they did most of the initial digging of the units. Ned, Mary, and Carol worked with the new students on the screens to help identify artifacts. Ned also helped with the overall site maintenance. Among the more interesting finds today were a Rhenish sherd (blue and gray with manganese purple) and several Late Woodland sand tempered pottery sherds.
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| Taking a break from Screening |
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| A different kind of break |
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| Dr. King with Field School Students |
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| Everyone (except Ned) at Lunch |
Thanks to Ned for the additional photos.
Friday May 10 Ned worked with Travis and Matt. There was lots of mud, but they did find two or three pieces of ceramics. The temperature dropped at noon, and there were a few sprinkles. The last four buckets were wet mud/clay with nothing interesting. That's the way it goes sometimes. (Ned's update.)
Not all volunteering involves doing archaeology. On Thursday May 9 Ned cut a new trail to the site. This new trail bypasses the treacherous log crossing. There was another much longer way to get to the site, but this will be better.
On Wednesday May 8 Carol volunteered on the site. The weather was nice. The sun was out. There were trees shading us. The birds were singing. It was a great day to be outside. Carol worked with Travis while Garrett and Matt worked together on the excavation of two test units in preparation of the SCSM Field School that will start next week. The artifacts recovered can be used to introduce the students to the site. Both Travis and Garrett found an interesting diagnostic artifact. Travis's was seventeenth century, and Garret's was Late Archaic/Transitional.
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| Excavating Test Units |
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