2012 ASM FIeld Session

The 2012 ASM Field Session was May 25 - June 4 near Historic Elk Landing in Cecil County, and seven of our CCASM members were able to attend at least one day.  This includes Jim Gibb who was one of the Principal Investigators for the session.  Others there were Carol Cowherd, Barbara Kane, Elsie Picyk, Brogan Roland, Annetta Schott, and Belinda Urquiza.

Belinda at Registration Table

Dr. Charlie Hall's CAT Workshop
(Can you find Barbara?)

There were two areas where people could volunteer 

• Looking for Native American features in the corn field (Dr. Bob Wall - Principal Investigator)
  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  

  Dr. Bob Wall

  
  
  
  
  Elsie volunteered in this area. 
  
  
• Looking for ditch associated with War of 1812 embankment at Elk's Landing in order to ground truth GPR data (Dr. Jim Gibb - Principal Investigator)
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  Dr. Jim Gibb

  

  
  

  

  (Can you find Carol?)

  

  Hole filled with gravel

  
  

  

   Part of the ditch (now filled with rocks)

The Field Session is sponsored by the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc. (ASM) in cooperation with the State Office of Archeology.  CCASM is a chapter of ASM.

Washing Artifacts at Port Tobacco Market Day

At Port Tobacco Market Day on Saturday May 19 CCASM was supposed to wash artifacts beside the Burch House that is south of the Courthouse.  We actually did wash some artifacts in the shade of an apple tree, but most of our time was spent talking to people about Port Tobacco archaeology and about CCASM.  

A lot of people came by to see the Burch House that was open for the first time in many years.  Cathy Thompson of Charles County Planning had set up two displays inside - one highlighting the 3-D modelling of Port Tobacco buildings done by Alex D'Amore and the other indicating the layout of the town in the 1700's done by a CCASM member.  Also people got to see the newly completed bathroom addition.

In addition to many of CCASM's regular exhibits, Rich Gorski had an interactive activity for children.  Other members helping were Phil Angle, Carol Cowherd, Barbara Kane, and Elsie Picyk.

(Sorry there aren't more pictures.  When there's so much going on, it's hard to remember to stop and take a photo.)

Additional Work in May on Native American Site

On Sunday May 6 CCASM had planned to continue digging STP's on a Native American site near Bryans Road here in Charles County.  Instead we did some "salvage archaeology" on adjacent land.  A septic drain field will be put in that area, and this would be our only chance to see what was there.

Seven STP's were dug.  As with the adjacent property there were fire-cracked rocks, flakes, and ceramics.  The ceramics in this area were mainly Late Woodland.  Several of the STP's to the west went through fill.  We identified the most promising STP that did not contain fill and put in a 5'x5' excavation unit near it.   The most interesting thing we found were clusters of fired cracked rocks.  At the right Jim is checking for additional rocks.  Time had run out.

Now the artifacts need to be washed and cataloged. 

CCASM Officers and Board

At the May 10 meeting after the demonstration by Tim Thoman, CCASM held their Annual Business meeting.  One of the main items was the election of the officers and the two at-large members for the Board.  Actually none of the positions were contested, so it wasn't a surprise.

 

Barbara, Josh, Carol, Kitty, Gary, Belinda

President- Carol Cowherd, Vice-President- Joshua Eller,  Secretary- Belinda Urquiza, Treasurer- Barbara Kane, and the two Board Members-at-Large - Kitty Frick and Gary Frick.

We would especially like to thank the previous board members -Vice President Elsie Picyk and Board Member-at-Large Robert Eppley for their contributions to CCASM.

Making Stone Tools

Tim Thoman

At the May 10 meeting we gathered outside our meeting place to watch Tim Thoman demonstrate making stone tools.  Tim described the process and demonstrated using different materials and different methods until it started getting too dark to see.  We saw him percussion flaking (hitting the stones with either a hammerstone, an antler, or a wooden billet) and pressure flaking.  He ended with a fire making demonstration.

Tim is the Native American Village Manager at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

And we saved most of the flakes Tim generated to be used as a learning guide.

Percussion Flaking

Bipolar Percussion

Pressure Flaking

 Attendance: 14