Searching for the Seventeenth Century Wollaston Manor

Kelly Copper

At the March 2 CCASM meeting, Kelly Cooper provided an overview of the 2008 excavations conducted along the Potomac River in Charles County.  Local lore has often credited this area to be the location of the original Wollaston Manor house built by Captain James Neale in 1661.  However, the artifacts and the dimensions of the two dwellings excavated indicated that these buildings were not Wollaston Manor.

Kelly is the Education Coordinator for Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.  She had participated in the 2008 excavations.

The winners of the raffle for the classic ASM t-shirts were Kitty Frick and  Anne Zabel.

Attendance:28

Looking at Prehistoric Artifacts in Charles County

Carol Cowherd

At the February 2 CCASM meeting, Carol Cowherd talked about the artifacts that have been appearing in her backyard over the past several years.  In order to help understand these artifacts Carol gave a brief overview of prehistoric lithics and ceramics that can be found in Charles County.  The answer to the talk's question "Is there a prehistoric woodland site in my backyard?' was yes there is either a site or part of a woodland site.

Artifact Distribution

On the right is a map indicating what she found where along with an image of one of the ceramic sherds.

Carol is the president for the Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland Inc. and a member of the Archeological Society of Maryland Inc.

Everyone got to a chance to hold a mortar and a pestle brought by one of our visitors.  The woman also brought  a picture of some of the projectile points that she had found.

The winners of the raffle for two copies of Jim Gibb's The Layman's Guide to Historical Archaeology in Maryland book were Carol Raucheisen and Gary Frick.

Attendance:16

Google Calendar for CCASM Events

The larger version of the Google Calendar now works.

In December we started putting CCAS events and other archaeological events of interest into a Google Calendar.  Also we put a small embedded version of the calendar on this blog rather than just putting up a picture of a calendar.

Now by clicking on "Calendar - Large View"  it is easier to see the details.  You also have the ability to use the "Agenda" tab to create a list of upcoming events.

If you do click on dates within the small calendar, here are things that you need to know.

Clicking on a date with text (usually only a few letters or numbers) will pop-up a small window with the event, location, and description information.

Unfortunately, the right side of the text is cut off and there are no scroll bars.  On a Mac, using the right and left keyboard arrow keys will allow you to scroll in this pop-up window and see all the information.

To close this window, you have to click on some part of the calendar that is outside this pop-up window.  For example, try clicking the "Today" button at the top of the small calendar.

Sharing Experiences Excavating in Arizona

Belinda Urquiza

At the January 5 CCASM meeting, Belinda Urquiza shared her experiences excavating at the Q-Ranch in Gila County, Arizona.  There were historic stories related to a graveyard on the Q-Ranch which Jesse Ellison bought in 1893.  And there were prehistoric stories related to two pueblos occupied by the Mogollon/ Western Puebloan Indians from A.D. 1265 to 1380. 

Belinda is the secretary for the Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland Inc.  She is also a member of various other archaeological societies including the Archeological Society of Maryland Inc and the Arizona Archaeological Society.

Attendance:21

CCAS is now CCASM, Inc.

The Articles of Incorporation for CCAS to become a non-stock tax-exempt corporation in Maryland was accepted this month.  So now we are

Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc. (CCASM)

CCASM is a non-profit organization, but we do not have federal 501(c)3 tax-exempt status yet.  We will file that application the first of next year.