Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland

Showing posts with label (PT(ca 70's) Collection). Show all posts

July 2, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun)

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 second quarter of 2026.
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Mulberry Grove artifacts

On June 29 Elsie and Linda stayed cool in Burch House. Linda sorted and bagged artifacts from Swann and Mulberry grove while Elsie washed artifacts from Swann. The screen shows some of the artifacts recovered from Mulberry Grove. Esther indicated that finding the Rhenish stoneware and the yellow ceramic floor tiles may mean we have found the original 18th century kitchen.
Rich, Denise, Caleb, Claudia and Esther braved the humidity at the Swann site. Claudia and Denise screened while Rich dug and Caleb alternatively assisted Rich or Claudia and Denise. Esther worked on still another plow scar and did some documentation paper work.
After lunch Rich and Claudia went to Rich Hill to cover the units with plastic with the hopes of keeping some of the moisture from recent rains in the units.

Thanks to Elsie for info and photo.

On June 15 Linda, Claudia, and Kathy were in the Lab at Burch House sorting and bagging artifacts from Rich Hill and from the Swann site. I think the drying screens are empty again. These two sherds with an interesting design were chosen for the artifact of the day. They were recovered from Rich Hill and appear to be from the same vessel.
Meanwhile upstairs at the Courthouse Lab Esther and Elsie selected Rich Hill artifacts to be used in a CCASM display at a Rich Hill event in July.

Thanks to Elsie for info and to Linda for photo.

June 8 - in field at Swan site - no info

On June 1 most of us were in the field at the Swann Site. Esther excavated yet another plow scar. Rich continued digging out the unit we had opened last time we were there. Claudia, Elsie, and Mimi mostly screened. Caleb assisted Rich digging but also did some screening and some work on the plow scar. Because of a bad shoulder Linda processed artifacts at Burch House. She chose this brick corner fragment as the artifact of the day.

The volunteers

Brick fragment

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

May 18 - in field Mulberry Grove - no info.

Rhenish salt glazed stoneware
(penny for size reference)

To coincide with the Maryland House and Garden Tours on Saturday May 16 Esther had been asked to investigate a small area at historic Mulberry Grove. Elsie, Melinda, Kathy, Linda, Doug, Denise, Claudia joined Esther to put in 4' X 4' unit next to where the homeowner had found 'blue & white ceramics'. The owners thought it was a privy site, but the soil was like concrete. Denise, Esther, Elsie, and Doug took turns trying to shovel, making very slow progress. Claudia frequently sprayed down the unit with water but that still didn't help much. When not shoveling most of us joined Linda & Malinda with screening. At first we were finding mostly modern artifacts. We eventually stopped skim shoveling, and Linda, Elsie, and Esther troweled,. Sometimes we had to use a brick hammer to break up the soil. Since there was no observable differences in soil color or texture, Esther decided to determine the strata by arbitrary depths as opposed to looking for soil changes. We took half of the unit down through a second strata and began to find much older artifacts - Rhenish salt glazed stoneware, whiteware, two ceramic floor tiles, plus some prehistoric artifacts. We chose the Rhenish sherd as the artifact of the day. Most of the oldest material was found embedded in the northern wall. On Monday we will probably put in a small unit extending one foot to two feet from the north wall of the original unit.

We were digging right next to the visitor parking area and interacted with many visitors.

Trying to trowel unit
(water sprayer in foreground)

Looks like screeners are
having more fun

Thanks to Elsie for info and Esther for photos.

Blue Flow Rim

Due to the weather we could not be in the field on May 11. Linda, Denise, Elsie, Evie, Claudia, and Rich were at Burch House with Esther. Everybody was in different rooms doing different tasks but we did choose this flow blue rim as the artifact of the day. It had been recovered during the recent excavations at the Rich Hill.
Thanks to Claudia for the photo and the info.

April 20 while Esther was away, Linda showed Denise, Elsie, Claudia, and Carol the possible activities she would be using at the "CCASM" talk she is giving at the Library this coming Saturday and next Thursday. We had thought one would be more for children and one would be more for teens and adults, but the library advertised both for children. Then Linda reviewed the new annual Photo contest that SRPT is having. Linda has been quite busy. Then after lunch it was back to cataloging 1970s PT artifacts. Elsie and Denise worked on miscellaneous while Carol and Linda worked on pearlware.

April 13 was an interesting day at Burch House. Outside Linda, Malinda, and Elsie created a flower garden behind Burch House in an area that had been cleared of weeds. They laid down cardboard, covered that with soil, and scattered lots of different types of flower seeds in a relatively small area. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Inside Carol and Esther looked at nails recovered from behind Stagg Hall and verified that most of the nails had been machine cut - somewhat of a surprise.

The April 6 Lab day was part clean up day and a little bit of lab work at Burch House. The inside of Burch House was in a little bit of disarray after the "Rich Hill" furniture that was being stored at Burch House was finally able to be moved to Rick Hill. Linda, Denise, Elsie, Claudia, Evie, Kathy, Malinda, and Carol were there to help - rearranging the remaining furniture, dusting, and sweeping up (a lot of stink bugs). Elsie and Claudia went outside to weed the area near the road. Linda, Denise, and Evie inventoried the bags and other supplies and did miscellaneous other things. Kathy, Malinda, and Carol started combining and processing three screens for FS23 from Swann Site.

April 1, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)

Here is what we were doing the first quarter of 2026.
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March 30 was a special day at Lab. Remember when we found what we thought was a blacksmith site while investing in the northern part of Port Tobacco during 2023 (Fieldwork for Village of Port Tobacco). We recovered so many iron artifacts, and these were sent to the SERC Archaeology Lab (SEAL) to be conserved and cataloged. Today Jim Gibb and many of the SEAL volunteers that had worked on the artifacts brought the conserved artifacts back to Port Tobacco. Josefa O'Malley, who was the team lead, described how the artifacts had been desalinated and then protected with tannic acid. The effort took three years and three months. Josefa also indicated that examination of the artifacts pointed to this being a blacksmith site. In addition to the artifacts themselves, they provided a catalog as well as thumb drives with numerous photos and 3-D images of many of the artifacts.

Boxes containing
processed iron artifacts

Some of larger artifacts
on top of boxes

On March 23 there was only one school group from Dr. Thomas L. Higdon Elementary School in the afternoon. On a windy afternoon Linda gave the introduction to archaeology and then joined Claudia, Denise , and Esther as the students washed artifacts and mended broken ceramics.

March 16 was another day when the weather forecast cancelled the school visits and lab. The weather didn't turn out to be that bad, but it is always good to be safe.

March 9 started much earlier than usual since we needed to set up for a school visit by second graders from Mary B. Neal Elementary School, and they were arriving earlier than usual. This was the first visit on a Monday for this calendar year. There were two groups of students - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Linda gave her introduction to archaeology talk with lots of examples. Denise, Elsie, Claudia, Evie, and Ned guided the students through two activities - washing artifacts and mending broken ceramics. It was a great day to be outside.

Once again Lab (Feb 23) was cancelled due to weather. On Monday March 2 only Esther, Linda, Claudia and Elsie were at the Lab in the Courthouse. Linda, Claudia, and Else sorted artifacts from BF1-BF Lot 68 artifacts (all the miscellaneous artifacts that didn't fit into one of the larger categories) into the groups used for cataloging. We picked this engraver's plate as the artifact of the day. We are including it's mirror image in hopes of you being able to read part of it. Esther worked on organizing Rich Hill artifacts and getting Maxwell Hall artifacts ready for storage at the Mac Lab.

Engraver's Plate

Mirror Image

Thanks to Elsie for the info and to Linda for the photo,

Well the snow and freezing rain came. Monday Jan 26 we were either trying to shovel out our driveways or were snow/ice bound. Monday Feb 2 most roads were better but the Courthouse Parking Lot was not plowed, and we couldn't have lab. On Monday Feb 9 the Parking Lot had been cleared, but when got there, the walkway was not cleared. Linda, Denise, Elsie, Malinda, Carol, and Ned joined Esther to gingerly walk over the frozen walkway to the Courthouse, While the rest of us were inside discussing how we could help with several displays Linda plans to put up in the Courthouse, Ned was outside chopping away the ice so we would have a clear path for getting back to our cars. It took him several hours to do this. Thanks Ned!

Tin-glazed Sherd

Monday January 19 we once again divided up. Claudia and Malinda continued to work on more recently recovered artifacts at Burch House. Denise, Elsie, Carol, and Linda were at the Courthouse working on artifacts recovered at Port Tobacco around 1970. Carol and Linda continued cataloging BF1-BF refined earthenware. Denise and Elsie completed cataloging all the BF1-BF glassware!! Yay! Look back through the blog to see how long they have been working on this.
The artifact of the day probably should have been the last BF-BF1 glass artifact catalogued, but instead we chose this tin-glazed rim sherd. The almost pastel bands were unusual.

Monday January 12 after a long holiday break nine volunteers met at the Port Tobacco Courthouse. Of course, we had to catch up on what we had been doing. Then Esther started planning for weekend dates when we might have public archaeology events and also suggested other clean-up projects for the Port Tobacco Village. After lunch we split up and got to chose which activity we would like to do. Evie, Claudia, Malinda, and Kathy went to Burch House to finish processing the few remaining artifacts at Burch House. Carol and Denise stayed in the Courthouse and continued the processing of refined ceramics recovered from BF1-BF. Ned, Elsie, and Tim joined Esther to walk the shoreline from the causeway to the place where years ago a wooden casket had eroded into the river. They wanted to mark the location as a reference for an upcoming river restoration project this spring.

October 1, 2025

2025 Public Archeology Lab Days (July- Sept)

Here is what we were doing during the third quarter of 2025
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Monday September 29 Claudia, Linda, Evie, Carol, and Malinda worked in the lab at Burch House processing artifacts recovered from Elsmere. We bagged the dry artifacts that the school children had washed (four times) and started to wash the other artifacts. So far there are twenty-nine bags (one per STP). Meanwhile Elsie, Denise, and Kathy were in the field at the Swann Site opening up a new unit to the northwest of the current units. Esther got to show Joel Binkley, Charles County Planning Supervisor, all that we have been doing in Port Tobacco, and we got to tell him what repairs are needed on Burch House.

Monday September 22 Linda, Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Ned, Kathy, and Malinda along with Esther worked with second graders to introduce them to archaeology. There was one group in the morning and another in the afternoon. Both groups were from Billingsley Elementary School.

On week days in the Fall 2025 (Sept 15 - Oct 22) and in the Spring 2026 (Mar 2 - Apr 13) second graders from the various Charles County Schools are coming to visit the One-room School House and Stagg Hall but also to get an introduction to archaeology. Each group tends to include around twenty children. We have only been helping on Mondays, our regular lab day, when we are not scheduled to be in the field. Esther has provided the activities and the script for docents at Stagg Hall to provide the archaeology introduction on the other days.

Monday August 11 Claudia, Linda, Peggy, and Carol were at Burch House and finished the sorting and bagging of all the remaining Swann Site artifacts recovered to date. Denise, Malinda, and Kathy were in the field. The base of two Swann Site units were troweled to better see any features. This did produce five additional artifacts.

Monday August 4 was a short day in the Lab. After Denise, Claudia, and Carol finished sorting and bagging the artifacts from the four trays of artifacts recovered from the same Swann Site provenience, we all decided to stop for the day. Another tray had a small number of artifacts from several Swann Site provieneces that Malinda bagged and sorted, and Linda washed most of the remaining artifacts - not that much left.

Monday July 28 was another day in the lab at Burch House. Everyone (Elsie, Denise, Claudia, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol) worked on sorting artifacts from four trays of artifacts recovered from the same provenience. The tray highlighted last week was just one of those trays. So each person worked on a different type of artifact - glass or ceramics or lithics or nails or brick or ... We almost got everything sorted and bagged, and we plan to finish up next week.

Tray of washed Swann Site artifacts

Monday July 21 we had seven people working at Burch House on Swann Site artifacts either washing or sorting and bagging. It's been a while since we've had that many. Jack joined Elsie, Denise, Linda, Malinda, Kathy, and Carol as we worked on the artifacts. Since it's was Jack's first time, Linda gave him a tour of Burch House and worked with him as he washed Swann Site artifacts. We decided to choose that tray of washed artifacts as the "artifact' of the day. The tray includes a wide variety of artifacts - fragments of bricks, oyster shells, ceramics (decorated and plain), bottle glass, window glass, a tooth. and even a tobacco pipe stem. If you blow up the image, you may see more.

Pipe Bowl Fragment

Monday July 14 we were back in the Lab at Burch House. Denise, Claudia, and later Linda continued to wash, sort, and bag artifacts recovered from the Swann Site. Linda also spent time straightening up Burch House, and Denise inventoried remaining artifact bags. Carol sorted and bagged artifacts from BF1-1-4. It is from these artifacts that we selected an artifact of the day. The artifact of the day is a fragment of a tobacco pipe bowl with a partial maker's mark that is somewhat distinctive - a "D" inside what appears to be a heart with additional geometric symbols (diamond circle, bar, possibly a stylized Fleur-di-lei) under the initial. There isn't enough to identify the maker but there was a mid-eighteenth century London pipe maker whose makers mark was a TD inside a circle or heart. Interestingly there are several seventeenth maker marks with initials and a stylized Fleur-di-lei inside a heart. Maybe someone else will be able to identify the maker.

July 1, 2025

2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)

Here is what we were doing during the second quarter of 2025
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Monday June 30 was a quiet day in the Lab at Burch House. Linda and Denise continued sorting and bagging artifacts from Swann Site Unit 12. Esther worked on sorting and bagging artifacts from one of the other screens. Then she also worked on Unit 12. Everything from Unit 12 was sorted and bagged. Inside labels and bag labeling still need to be completed.
Thanks to Denise for the info.

It was really hot Monday June 23. So inside Burch House Denise, Linda, and Carol sorted, bagged, and washed artifacts from the Swann Site Unit 12. There are quite a few artifacts - mostly historic but some worked lithics. We still aren't through. Ned removed some of the weeds around the Swann Site in preparation for the Public Archaeology Saturday before going inside to identify metal objects from the 70s Port Tobacco investigations.

Really soggy ground and a temperature hitting over 90 had us all in the lab on Monday May 16. Linda, Elsie, Denise, and Carol mostly sorted and bagged artifacts from the Swann Site. Elsie had to wash/re-wash some of the artifacts. Carol started out sorting and bagging artifacts recovered from Rich Hill in 2017. It was nice to be inside.

After a break for the ASM Field Session at Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park, we were back in Port Tobacco. on June 9 However, we were all in the field so there was no one working in the lab.

Monday May 19 Evie was at Burch House washing artifacts from the Swann Site while others were in the field looking for more artifacts. Claudia worked with Evie in the morning. At lunch Linda came in from the field to work in the lab and Claudia decided to work in the field. Linda found a piece of sponge ware, but we didn't get a picture of it.

For various reasons not everyone could be in the field on Monday May 12. Evie and Claudia continued getting the Maxwell Hall grant artifacts ready to be sent to the MAC Lab. Since Ned was also there identifying metal artifacts from the 1970s, Ned was able to help Evie and Claudia identify nails (e.g. machine made or hand wrought). It's always good to get a chance to learn something new or to verify what you already know. In the afternoon there were also lots of shells to sort.
Ned also finished repairing the CCASM Trifold that was damaged at Market Day when the wind blew it off the table. (Thanks, Ned)

Patinated Glass

Monday May 5 everyone worked in the lab on artifacts recovered from Port Tobacco in the 1970s. Ned continued to sort and identify the metal artifacts with no provenience. Carol and Malinda cataloged the rest of the stoneware and most of the coarse earthenware from BF1. Elsie and Denise sorted lots dark green bottle glass fragments from BF1, and they chose the artifact of the day. We are used to seeing the golden patina on olive green bottle glasses, but this fragment had strips with little or no patina that created an interesting design on the fragment. Also the surface was perfectly smooth. So this patinated glass fragment is the artifact for the day.

In the morning of Monday April 24 we (Linda, Claudia, Ned, Kathy, Carol, and Malinda) worked with twenty second graders from Berry Elementary School to introduce them to archaeology. Second graders from the various Charles County Schools have been coming almost daily to visit the One-room School House and Stagg Hall but also get an introduction to archaeology. We have only been helping on Mondays, our regular lab day, but Esther has provided the activities and the script for docents at Stagg Hall to provide the archaeology introduction.

In the afternoon Denise, Kathy, Carol, Malinda, and Cal joined Esther in the field at the Swann Site working on the newly opened unit. Cal from Charles County Government (historic preservation) did the shoveling while Denise, Kathy, Malinda, and Carol screened. Linda and Claudia went to the Burch House to continue to wash oyster shells that had been recovered in 2017 from Rich Hill.

Esther found some additional buckets of artifacts (mostly oyster shell) from Rich Hill. So Monday April 21 Evie, Linda, and Claudia were at Burch House washing the oyster shells and any other artifacts in the buckets.

Monday April 14 Claudia and Evie decided to work in the lab rather than in the field. They continued getting the Maxwell Hall grant artifacts ready to be sent to the MAC Lab- putting paper tags with provenience into the artifact bags.

Monday April 7 in the morning we (Elsie, Claudia, Ned, Carol, Malinda and later Denise and Esther) worked with the twenty-seven second graders from Eva Turner Elementary School to introduce them to archaeology. This included an introduction to archaeology as well as two activities. The students were divided in half with one group learning about archeology in the Courthouse while the other group was learning about Port Tobacco history at Stagg Hall. Then the two groups switched.

In the afternoon we went upstairs to the lab. We had planned to be in the field but it was raining. Dominique, a potential new volunteer, joined us at lunch time and worked with Carol cataloging BF1 stoneware. Denise and Elsie catalogued BF1 Glass, and Ned identified BF1 metal artifacts. Claudia and Malinda continued getting the Maxwell Hall grant artifacts ready to be sent to the MAC Lab.

2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)

March 31, 2025

2025 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Jan-Mar)

Here is what we were doing during the first quarter of 2025
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Monday March 31 we helped out with the second graders from C. Paul Barnhart Elementary School that arrived in two waves - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each wave had about twenty students. While half of the students were learning about Stagg Hall, the other half were learning about archaeology. Esther gave the overview. Ned, Kathy, and Carol were at the vesselization activity table. Linda, Denise, and Malinda were at the washing artifacts activity table.
The school visits have been happening every weekday since March 17 and will continue until May 13. On days that we are not volunteering, the archaeology part is pared down to the overview and the vesselizaton activity.

March 24 started a little earlier than usual since we needed to set up for a school visit by second graders from Arthur Middleton Elementary School . This was the first visit for this calendar year. Twenty- two students came. Linda gave her introduction to archaeology talk with lots of examples. Denise, Elsie, Claudia, Evie, Ned, and Carol guided the students through two activities - washing artifacts and mending broken ceramics.

After the school children left Denise, Linda, Ned, and Carol worked in the lab on the 1970's Port Tobacco artifacts. Denise found this fragment from what must have been a decorative vessel, and we decided to make it the artifact of the day.

Embossed Glass

On March 17 five people volunteered upstairs at the Courthouse. Linda worked on storing objects previously in one of the SRPT display cases. The Courthouse belongs to the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco (SRPT), and they allow us to have lab space on the second floor. The rest of us continued to work on the 1970's PT artifacts that belong to SRPT - Ned identifying metal objects, Carol cataloging stoneware, Elsie and Denise cataloging glass. We chose this glass fragment as the artifact of the day. Although it was difficult to photograph, you should be able to see that it was embossed with the letters T(?) E R as well as embossed with what look like tree branches or maybe plant stems. It was the latter that intrigued us.

Everyone was busy at lab on March 10. We were all upstairs in the Courthouse. Most worked on artifacts recovered from the 1970s Port Tobacco excavations. Ned worked on identifying metal objects that were associated with the PT sites while Elsie, Carol, Linda, and Malinda worked on cataloging artifacts from the BF sites (BF1 glass Lot, BF1 stoneware-ceramics Lot, and artifacts from other BF Lots). Claudia and Evie worked on readying the artifacts from the Maxwell Hall grant for transfer to the MAC Lab while Esther worked on the Maxwell Hall Grant report.
Here's everyone so intent on what they were doing that they were not aware their pictures were being taken. So people of the day, not artifact of the day.

The March 3 lab started out a little differently. Esther had cleaned out one of her storage areas and was donating a map cabinet for storage of the SRPT historical maps and other papers currently stored on the second floor of the Port Tobacco Courthouse. Doug and Ned brought the cabinet and drawers upstairs (not an easy task since it was bulky and the stairs have a right angle bend). Doug also created a platform with casters on which to put the large cabinet. And during the day everyone else - Linda, Evie, Jordan, Denise, Elsie, and Carol- helped a least a little bit with dealing with all the papers and other stuff that had to be moved and organized in order to install the cabinet.
But most of our time was spent in the lab. Denise and Elsie continued with cataloging BF1 glass. Carol with help from Claudia in the morning continued cataloging BF1 Ceramics. Evie and Morgan looked at sorting and bagging building materials (mostly slate) that were labeled with various PT numbers. PT numbers are associated with excavations at the Courthouse site prior to the reconstruction. So overall a busy day.

At the February 24 lab we found an artifact to feature as the artifact of the day (at last). The Historical Society of Charles County had been given a Tourism Grant to produce a brochure and interpretive sign for "Footsteps to the Past: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Cabin Site of the Enslaved African Americans at Historic Rich Hill." The grant included monies for supplies needed to deal with the artifacts we had uncovered in that area in 2021. Linda and Claudia went through the collection to see what additional work needed to be done, and they found our artifact of the day. The object could be part of a piece of jewelry. A somewhat unique find. It had been found near the area believed to be a cabin site.

The rest of us worked on cataloging BF1-BF artifacts. Denise and Elsie continued cataloging glass and Carol started cataloging stoneware. In the afternoon Claudia and Linda also catalogued BF artifacts that were not BF1.

Monday February 17 two new people - Mark and Meena - volunteered in lab working with Claudia and Esther to identify and sort artifacts from the Swann Site. Esther identified possible Borderware and Staffordshire ceramics which were made up to the beginning of the eighteenth century. The rest of us continued to work on the 1970's Port Tobacco collection. At last we were ready to start cataloging the BF1-BF ceramics, and Linda worked with Evie to start entering the information into the spreadsheet. In the morning Denise and Elsie continued organizing the non-BF1 artifacts, and in the afternoon they returned to cataloging the BF1-BF glass.
Thanks to Elsie for the info.

On Monday February 10 we continued to work on the Port Tobacco artifacts recovered around 1970. Elsie and Denise spent the data organizing the artifact bags that were not from BF1 - bags labelled PT or U or ... Remember multiple areas were excavated by different groups over a number of years. Linda, Claudia, Carol, and Malinda finished sorting the BF1 refined earthenware and the coarse earthenware artifacts. At last we think we are ready to start entering all the BF1 ceramics (possibly over a thousand pieces) into the catalog. We thought about choosing an artifact of the day, but once again it didn't happen.

Monday February 3 was another day of cataloging BF1-BF artifacts upstairs at the Port Tobacco Courthouse. Denise and Elsie continued to catalog glass artifacts. Claudia, Kathy, Evie, and Malinda worked with Linda to sort ceramic artifacts - mostly earthenwares. Then in the afternoon Linda introduced the others to how to enter artifacts into the catalog. Esther brought four print outs of the revised Master Artifact Catalog. It's amazing with so many interesting artifacts to choose from, once again we did not pick an artifact of the day.
Thanks to Elsie for the info.

On Monday January 27 the weather cooperated. and we were back in lab. Claudia and Malinda finished bagging the remaining artifacts in the drying tray. Then they joined Linda, Carol, Denise, and Elsie upstairs in the Courthouse to "catalog" BF1-BF artifacts from 1970s Port Tobacco. Peggy stopped by to help and to check out video conferencing. Denise and Elsie entered glass into the catalog (Excel spreadsheet). But before the ceramics for BF1-BF could be entered into the catalog, they needed to be sorted, merged, and bagged so it would be easier to catalog. Linda, Carol and Claudia worked on the ceramics- hundreds of ceramics (lots of earthenware, stoneware, and some porcelain). We still have the refined earthenware and the coarse earthenware to finish merging before we can start putting their information into the spreadsheet.
Elsie found a nice air-twist wine glass stem that could have been the artifact of the day if we had photographed it.

Monday January 13 was our first day back in lab at Burch House after the Holidays. Carol, Claudia, Denise, Elsie, Linda, Kathy, Peggy, and Malinda were at lab - maybe just to get out of the house and away from the snow. Ned dropped by to talk and to pick up his CCASM logo shirts. We started out taking down the Christmas decorations and taking them to the attic for storage.
After lunch we divided into two groups. Claudia, Malinda, Peggy, and Kathy sorted and bagged the remaining artifacts in the drying screens. Peggy got to introduce Kathy to bones. There were no new artifacts to wash. Linda, Elsie, Denise, and Carol went to the attic to straighten up and start organizing the boxes of artifacts recovered by Port Tobacco Excavations in the 2000's when Dr. Jim Gibb was the PI. There were boxes from other investigations from that time as well as one "missing" box that had artifacts recovered in the 1960's by Braley(?)
Esther chose the artifact of the day as this Dandy Button recovered from our recent investigations at Maxwell Hall Equestrian Park. This copper alloy button would have been used on a gentleman's coat in the late 18th and early 19th century. There are some indications that it may have been gilded.

"Dandy Button"

September 30, 2024

2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (July-September)

Here is what we were doing the third quarter of 2024.
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Base of Mold Produced Bottle

There was a full lab on Monday September 30 with a lot of different activities going on. Linda, Elsie, and Denise gathered materials and filled water bottles to use with the second graders that would be coming to Port Tobacco on Wednesday. Evie, Claudia, Malinda, Jadyn, Jordan, and Carol did some washing and some bagging of artifacts from the the 1970s Port Tobacco excavations as well as from the more recent Swann site. The artifact of the day was from the 1970s excavations, but not from BF1. It was labeled P5G. This is the base of a post-bottom mold produced bottle from late 1850s to 1890. Check out https://sha.org/bottle/mouthblowndating.htm#Question%206

At the Monday September 23 Lab Mary, Linda, and Jadyn sorted and bagged 1970's artifacts (mostly bones) while several of the other regular volunteers were in the field at Maxwell Hall. The artifacts were from a numbers of sites including some with an LT designation that had been collected in 1973. (Now we need to find out where LT is?) We did not find a bone artifact that was interesting enough to be the artifact of the day.
Thanks to Linda for the info.

Two-tine Fork

On Monday September 16 four people were in lab at Burch House and two members were with Esther in the field. Linda and Evie washed the artifacts excavated from the plow scars this past weekend and then helped Malinda and Jadyn who were processing the ca 1970s Port Tobacco artifacts. The latter included Lots of bones as well lots of metal artifacts. It was one of the metal artifacts that was chosen as the artifact of the day. The artifact of the day is this decorated bone handled two-tine fork.
Thanks to Linda for the photo.

Pocket Knife

Denise was the only one at lab on Monday September 9 since everyone else decided to be in the field. She bagged several interesting metal artifacts from BF1, but we chose this rusty bone-handled pocket knife as the artifact of the day. Although the rust had caused the knife to break apart into several pieces, the main part with the blade (rusted shut) was still intact. It was stored in a bag and may have been in one piece when it was recovered. If air and moisture are present, rust keeps forming and causes an object to disintegrate.
Thanks to Denise for the photo.

Monday August 26 we all worked inside Burch House on artifacts from the ca 1970's excavations at Port Tobacco. Linda and Claudia sorted glassware and Denise sorted a variety of artifacts . Carol and Jadyn tried to identify animal bones as they sorted and later washed quite a lot of animal bones. The artifact from the day comes from the glassware artifacts. On first glance it looked like the base of a olive green bottle with a kick-up, but when turned over there is no kick-up. The other side is completely flat. Interesting.

Raised area inside

Opposite side
completely flat

Buckle fragment

Monday August 19 everyone was in lab working on artifacts from the ca 1970's excavations at Port Tobacco. Inside Burch House Linda, Claudia, and Malinda sorted and started bagging a large collection of interesting glass fragments while Evelyn and Jadyn washed animal bones. Denise, Mary, and Carol decided to wash artifacts outside with the majority of the artifacts being animal bones although Mary did wash some Late Woodland prehistoric pottery sherds and other non-bone artifacts.
The artifact of the day was part of a decorative copper alloy buckle. We chose this one artifact that was found in a bag of miscellaneous somewhat identifiable metal objects.

Monday August 5 was another hot day - so a lab day. At Burch House Claudia, Malinda, Kyle, and Jadyn were joined in the morning by Linda and Linda's granddaughter Hadley in washing artifacts from the Swann Site. Denise, Mary, and Carol were at the Courthouse sorting stoneware from Feature BF1. Linda joined them in the afternoon.

Small ceramic sherd

Monday July 29 was too hot to be in the field. So everyone was in the lab. Linda, Claudia, Kathy and Malinda continued to sort and bag artifacts from Swann Site Unit 10. Esther spent time talking to the new volunteers (Evie, Jadyn, and Kyle) about the different types of artifacts we find and how to identify them.
Once again we chose a small ceramic sherd from the Swann Site as the artifact of the day. This one was engine turned. As you can see it was smaller than a push pin.
Thanks to Linda for the photo and the info.

Summer is a busy time, and Monday July 22 turned out to be a busy day for most of those who normally volunteer in lab. The day started out with only Linda and Carol in the lab working on Swann Site Unit 10 Level 1 - Linda washing the remaining artifacts, and Carol trying to merge/separate artifacts from three trays/bags. Before lunch Pat joined us and also talked about her recent archaeological volunteering on a site in Wales. Elsie stopped by near the end of the day just to touch base.

Small ceramic sherds

Monday July 15 was too hot to be outside, so we were in lab but at two different Port Tobacco locations. Over at the Courthouse work continued on sorting and cataloging artifacts recovered from BF1-BF during the ca 1970's excavations at Port Tobacco. Mary and Linda were working on glass while Linda and Carol were working on ceramics. There were hundreds of BF1-BF artifacts to be processed. Note: We moved downstairs after lunch since the air conditioning upstairs wasn't working.
At Burch House Claudia sorted and bagged artifacts while Kyle and Jadyn washed additional Swann Site artifacts. We decided to feature a selection of small decorated ceramics as the "artifact" of the day. Most are painted earthenware sherds. The center piece is stoneware (Nottingham).

Worked Chert

Monday July 8 CCASM members Linda, Evelyn, Peggy, and Carol were at Burch House while four other volunteers were working with Esther to finish up at the Swann Site until it gets cooler. After lunch they were joined by Denise as well as Kyle and Jayden who came in from the field (it was getting way too hot). It was Kyle's and Jayden's first time in the lab. We were all either washing or sorting/bagging artifacts from the Swann Site. These artifacts included a lot of brick fragments and fire-cracked rocks as well as small pieces of ceramics and glass. Even with all these artifacts it was hard to find one for the artifact of the day. We finally chose this piece of black chert with interesting flake scars as the artifact of the day.

2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)

June 30, 2024

2024 Public Archaeology Lab Days (Apr-Jun)

Hunyadi Janos
Bottle Base

Monday June 24 Denise, Evelyn, Linda, and Carol worked inside Burch House. Denise and Evelyn worked on bagging the artifacts retrieved via metal detecting recently at Swann Site when we were looking for nails that would identify a structure. Linda and Carol worked on some of the last Port Tobacco Courthouse attic artifacts identifying which needed to be washed and which didn't. Among the ca 1970s Port Tobacco artifacts was a bottle base with some unusual embossed lettering, and it had been retrieved not from BF1 but from location P56. This dark olive green bottle base became the artifact of the day.

The base of the bottle had "HUNYADI JANOS" in the center with "SAXLEHNER BITTERQUELLE" around the edge. Searching the web we learned that Hunyadi Janos Bitterquelle was made by the Andreas Saxlehner Mineral Spring Water Company of Budapest, Hungary. It has been used since 1863 as a laxative curative water. It was imported into the US between 1870 and ca 1920. btw, Hunyadi Janos was a 15th century Hungarian military hero.
(For more details check out https://www.peachridgeglass.com/2015/02/is-the-hunyadi-janos-saxlehners-bitterquelle-a-bitters-bottle/)

Printed Creamware Sherd

On Monday June 17 only Ned, Esther, and some new younger volunteers decided to work in the field at the Swann Site. Since the temperature was predicted to be in the nineties, Linda, Denise, Evie, Kathy, and Malinda chose to process Swann Site artifacts inside Burch House where it was cooler. They were joined by Mary and Carol at noon Since the artifacts were coming from the plowzone, they were small. We decided on this printed creamware sherd as the artifact of the day.

Flake

Although Monday June 10 was a really nice day, Esther could not be at the site. So we had a lab day. Linda, Mary, Denise, Malinda, Evie, and Carol volunteered inside Burch House. All of us were working on artifacts recovered from the Swann Site. Malinda and Mary washed (or brushed) artifacts while the rest of us sorted and bagged. We chose this small translucent flake as the artifact of the day.

Modified Flake

Monday May 13 was an unusual day in the lab since much of the time was spent getting Burch House ready for the CCASM meeting this coming Saturday. Kathy was able to join us again and spent the day on the outside stoop defrosting the refrigerator. Probably not what she thought she would be doing. Claudia and Malinda swept the whole house and cleaned off the kitchen counter that had been used to stored artifact bags. In order to help free up counter space Carol and Evie worked on sorting and bagging Swann Site artifacts. We chose this modified flake as the artifact of the day. It looks like the flake may have been modified to be a point that broke or to be a scraper or ?? Definitely interesting.

Monday May 6 we spent the day in the lab with some of us sorting and bagging artifacts inside and others washing artifact outside on the picnic tables. Mary, Elsie, Denise, Claudia, and Malinda worked on Swann Site artifacts while Carol bagged a few remaining artifacts including whole bottles from the Blacksmith Site. Ned stopped by and provided an update for the Chapel Point Site. It was a slow day, and we didn't select an artifact of the day although we could have selected one the bottles.

Decorated Tobacco
Pipe Stem

There was another school visit on the morning of Monday April 29. It was the last school visit until the fall. Linda, Mary, Claudia, Ned, and Carol worked with the children. It's always interesting interacting with second graders.

Since we had more than enough helpers, Elsie went to the lab to continue the weighing of oyster shells recovered from the Maxwell Hall shell middens. After lunch we all returned to the lab and washed artifacts from the Swann Site. That is all except Ned who braved the heat to clear off the weeds on the Swann Site and to help get it ready for the Public Archaeology event this weekend.

We chose this decorated tobacco pipe stem recovered from the Swann Site as the artifact of the day. It is the second decorated pipe stem we have recovered from this part of the site so far. The other one was the artifact of the day on March 11 (https://ccarchsoc.blogspot.com/2023/12/2024-public-archaeology-lab-days-jan.html). The decorations on the March 11 stem are different, but there appear to be some dots. We'll need to go back and check.
Thanks to Mary for the photo.

Wine Bottle
fragments

On Monday morning April 22 we split into two groups with some working in the lab and others working with second graders from one of the Charles County Schools. This was the fourth school to visit the Historic Port Tobacco Village this spring. The archaeology part of the visit includes an introduction to archaeology (usually by Linda) as well as age-appropriate activities (washing artifacts and mending dishes). Today those working with the children included Esther, Linda, Claudia, Ned, and Carol. On other days Denise, Elsie, and Mary have helped.

Elsie, Denise, and Malinda worked in the lab washing artifacts in the morning and were joined by the others in the afternoon. Most washed artifacts from the Swann Site, but Carol and Denise washed artifacts from the PT attic that had been recovered around 1970. We chose these two "PT attic" fragments (a neck/rim and a base with a kick-up) from an eighteenth century wine bottle as the artifact of the day. The two pieces may or may not be from the same bottle. The rim style indicates it was probably from a mid-eighteenth century bottle.


Polychrome Painted Sherd

Monday April 1 was rainy, and only three volunteers (Denise, Claudia, and Carol) plus Esther (on crutches) were at the lab in Burch House. Denise washed bones from PT attic while Claudia and Carol sorted and bagged the remaining artifacts recovered from the Maxwell Hall shell midden (18CH101). Then we all washed artifacts recovered from the Swann Site last Monday.

An artifact doesn't have to be big in order to add to the story. This small polychrome painted sherd was chosen as the artifact of the day. Since it is similar to other polychrome sherds with a minimum of cobalt paint, it would date from c.1795 to c.1815. It was recovered last week at the Swann Site in Port Tobacco. So far most of the sherds recovered from this area predate 1830.

Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc

July 2, 2026

2026 Public Archaeology Days (Apr-Jun)

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2025 Public Archeology Lab Days (July- Sept)

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March 31, 2025

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