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.

Here is what we were doing the fourth quater of 2024.
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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.

2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Sep) --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)  --2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)
2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-Dec) --2023 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-June)
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