Volunteering with Dr Julie King At Chapel Point Park - 2024

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.  Although the Field School will be over June 21, the crew (and volunteers) will continue working into July.  

 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.

------------ (in the lab)
As every archaeology volunteer knows, time in the field is only a small part of what it is needed to investigate a site.  A lot of lab work is also needed.

Thursday July 25 Ned was again at the lab washing artifacts.  At the end of the day there were only four bags of shells left to be cleaned.
Thanks to Ned for the update.

Tuesday July 23 Ned returned to the lab and mostly cleaned gravel, but there were a lot of tiny flakes. The most interesting thing he found was a fossil. Would have been 3/4”.  Shellfish buried while both shells closed. Both shells dissolved, and form filled with sediment that hardened to a red stone.
Thanks to Ned for the update.

Monday July 22 Ned traveled to St Mary's College to help in the lab.  He had a great time - mostly scrubbed rocks and pebbles with one goodie bag with the usual interesting stuff.  75% of the rocks and pebbles were JARs - Just A Rock. There were a few FCRs and lots of flakes. 
Thanks to Ned for the update.


------------ (in the field)

Drawing a complicated
plan view

Thursday June 27 Mary and Carol returned to the site for the last time and worked with Travis, Laura, Garrett, and Matt.  The students were gone.  We helped with two units, one that just required the sides to be straightened and one that had features that needed to be better defined.  After a really hot Wednesday it was nice that the rain the previous night had cooled things down even though we did end up screening a little bit of really wet soil.

Monday June 17 CCASM members Mary and Carol decided to volunteer during the morning since archaeologists from MHT would be visiting the site.  In addition to helping screen we got to hear Dr. King's overview of the site.  Those visiting the site included Matt McKnight, Chief Archaeologist; Zac Singer, State Terrestrial Archaeologist; Stephanie Soder, Research Archaeologist; and Katie Gill,  MHT intern and St Mary's alumnus.  We should also mention that Kevin, who you can see in the background also has been volunteering for Dr. King at the site.

Dr. King talking about site

Getting a chance to screen

Mary and Carol said goodby to the students whose last day on site will be Wednesday, but the crew will continue to work on the site until the first part of July.  So there are still days left to volunteer.

Reviewing what's next

Thursday June 13 Mary and Carol initially worked with Sara on a new unit that remote sensing indicated might be a midden.  Then we moved around and worked with various students and crew on other units.  Most of the units had lots of shell with some native pottery and some early historic artifacts, but the last unit on which Mary worked contained hardly any shell.  In it she found a small fragment of a running deer pipe.  Sorry we didn't get a photo of it.

Tuesday June 11 Carol volunteered with Matt, Travis, and later Sara on a new unit.  Once again this unit had lots of shells, but also there were some flakes, FCR, the tip of a preform, and a little bit of native pottery.  There was not as much historic, but there was a small fragment of olive green bottle glass and the unidentified metal artifact shown in the photo below. 

Interesting metal artifact

A nice view

Friday June 7 Mary volunteered on the site.  It was another beautiful day.  The students and crew always like it when Mary volunteers since she brings homemade cookies.

Stopping to pose for a photo

Thursday May 30 Mary and Carol worked with different groups at the site.  Mary worked mainly with Laura and three of the students.  Being at a field school also allows us to learn some of what the students are learning.  Mary listened to how to describe the soil and use Munsell charts.  At times students were working on individual projects like drawing profiles or plan views, surveying with Travis, or sorting lithics artifact bags to identify any non-lithics.  Carol worked mainly with crew Garret and Nico who were joined later by Cassandra and Ricardo.  Some of the more interesting artifacts found included nails, Rhenish stoneware, and indigenous pottery.  It was another nice day to work under the shade of the trees.

Looking for artifacts

Friday May 24 Mary and Carol returned to the site and worked most of the day with crew members Nico and Laura  and at times with Julie King on one of the three open units.   It was decided to have two screens for this unit to speed up the screening.  The unit had lots of shell and a good deal of lithics but not that many historic artifacts.  Still it was a good day to be outside.  (Once again the weather forecast of rain did not materialize.) 
We also heard about the group's field trip to a rhyolite quarry in Western Pennsylvania.

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.

Taking a break from Screening

A different kind of break

Dr. King with Field School Students

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. 

Excavating Test Units