Finishing STPs at Native American Site

On December 2 CCASM members finished digging/screening STPs at the Native American Site near Bryans Road.  Yea! 

The day started out foggy but it turned out to be really nice.  We had enough people to have three crews.  CCASM members helping were Jim, Annetta, Rich, Steve, Barbara, Josh, Peggy, and Carol.  Scott Lawrence stopped by to help some and also to tell us about an interesting site he will be starting soon.  Although Jim had to leave at 2pm, Rich, Steve, and Carol were able to stay and finish the final six STPs. 

Now we just need to finish washing and cataloging the artifacts so Jim Gibb will be able to identify possible locations for excavation units.

Following are pictures from work done in September.
For more pictures and notes of work done on the site, see posting Investigating Native American Site

September 30 was another beautiful day for digging.  We had two crews and finished STPs for two additional transects on the northern part of the site.  One person even traveled from Gaithersburg to help.  CCASM members helping were Jim, Fran, Peggy, Steve, Josh, and Carol.  We still will need another day or two to finish the STPs.

Sunday (September 23) was a beautiful day to be outside, the first really nice day we have been in the field, and we finished the STPs for the southern part of the site.  We had two crews (Jim, Barbara R, Rich, and Carol).

Thank you for Supplies and Books

Once again Annetta Schott, one of CCASM's members,  has donated items to the Charles County Archaeological Society of Maryland, Inc.   This time it is supplies, books, and manuals.  Pictures are supposed to be worth 1,000 words.  So here are photos of what Annetta has donated.

Supplies including four Marshalltown trowels

Reference Books

Manuals and Workshop Materials

CCASM would like to thank Annetta for her donation.  We are slowing acquiring the equipment and supplies that will allow us to conduct archaeological surveys and excavations.  

Thank you Annetta.

Archaeology and the Citizen-Scientist at SERC

Jim Gibb

On October 8 Dr. James Gibb of Gibb Archaeological Consulting talked about the on-going excavations he is conducting on Sellman’s Connection, a 500-acre tract that is now part of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Anne Arundel County.  This August SERC added this archaeological pilot study that combines students, interns, all sorts of volunteers, and professional scientists in the study of human-environment interaction on its 2600-acre preserve.  Jim showed some of the archaeological results that is beginning to show how a single family (the Sellmans, 1729-1917) adapted to environmental changes.  For an overview view SERC blog posting

If you would like to volunteer to work with Jim at the site, you can see the volunteer schedule as well as tentative findings at Volunteer at Sellmans Connection.

 
We would especially like to thank Jim for agreeing to give this talk on such short notice.

Also at the meeting there were photos of a possible site that CCASM plans to visit.  CCASM would like to start identifying more archaeological sites in Charles County and submitting the Maryland Historical Trust Site Forms so archaeologists will be aware of the sites.

Attendance: 10

2012 ASM Fall Meeting

On October 20, 2012, National Archaeology Day, CCASM hosted the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc (ASM) 2012 Fall Meeting at the La Plata United Methodist Church.

These are the CCASM members that attended and helped make it happen.  (Three members are missing from the photo.)  Thanks for all the hard work.
Not only were there interesting talks, but everyone enjoyed socializing with people from around the state.

Here are a few more pictures.

Speakers   (Dr. Torben Rick, Dr. Julia King, Dr. Jim Gibb, Ruth Mitchell)

 

 

 

 

Topics were on Chesapeake Bay shell middens, early Maryland Anglo-Native American relations, the Port Tobacco experiment, and excavations of an 18th century plantation.

William B Mayre Award Winner                                            

Stephen Israel

 Silent Auction

This was the first time the event has been in Charles County.

Attendance: ~59

Indentifying Bottle Glass

Bob Sonderman

On October 11 Bob Sonderman gave a mini-workshop on identifying 18th through 20th century bottle glass based on determining how the bottle was manufactured.  Bob even had examples of bottles or bottle fragments to illustrate the different processes.  So we could hold the bottles and look for the mold seam or the sand in the pontil mark.

Several people brought bottles.  In some cases we were able to identify their bottle based on information from Bob's talk.  For the other cases Bob was able to tell us about the bottles and their probable manufacture date.

Robert Sonderman is Curator/Director of the Museum Support Center for the National Capital Region of the National Park Service.

Bob is quite knowledgeable about bottle glass, and we would like to thank him for coming to Charles County and sharing some of his knowledge with us.

Attendance: 22