Projectile Points on JPPM Website

Projectile Points have been added to the "Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland" section of the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum website.   If you have never used the Diagnostic Artifacts website, you should check it out.  It definitely helps in the identification of many of the types of artifacts found in Maryland.

The projectile point section may not answer all your questions, but it is a good start. 

What’s Happening in Calvert County Archaeology

Kirsti Uunila

At the February 14 CCASM meeting Kirsti Uunila indicated the ways archaeology was "happening" in Calvert County - everything from mandated Cultural Resource Management to accidental discovery.  Kirsti who is the Historic Preservation Planner for Calvert County Planning and Zoning is also an archaeologist and would welcome volunteers to work with her. 

Since it was Valentine's Day, Kirsti included images of artifacts with hearts on them from some of the Calvert County sites.  Also you may notice the roses in the pictures.  Joshua provided the roses.

Kirsti thought the following links to some historic maps would be of interest to us.

       Historic maps, some of which include portions of Charles County

       The main Calvert County Maps page with many options

 

 

And once again Annetta donated books to CCASM.  We will be putting a list of the books that CCASM has on-line soon.  The books are available for reference and for members to borrow.

 Attendance: 17

Processing Artifacts from Native American Site in Charles County

At last we have finished the processing of the artifacts in the Shovel Test Pit (STP) phase.   On January 31  Peggy, Josh and Carol finished processing the artifacts from the one unit that was west of the road.

Carol has entered all the data into the Excel spreadsheet, and Jim has input the location of all the STPs into Auto cad.  Now we just have to come up with a plan for the next phase.  We need to start work soon since we will be losing access to the property.

Thursday Jan 17 Peggy, Carole, Carol, and Josh  finished sorting the last of the artifacts recovered from the site.  (Yea!!!)  Once these have been cataloged Jim will be able to determine where excavation units would be useful in helping us understand the site. 
(We still have a little more work processing the STPs and the one unit done on the west of the road, but no additional excavation is to be done in that area.)

Thursday Jan 10 Elsie, Peggy, Carole, Carol, and Josh were able to finish sorting, etc. three more transects.  Still three more transects and one excavation unit to go.

Saturday December 8 we finished washing all the remaining artifacts from the STPs.  Elsie, Barbara R, Peggy, Carol, and Josh all helped.  Josh showed us the information he had gathered about a "barn" site.   We even had time to start processing artifacts from one of the transects that had been washed in November.  We lost track of time and worked an extra hour.  And once again I forgot to take any photos.

Friday morning November 9 Elsie, Carol, and Josh finished washing the artifacts from the STP's that have been dug to date.  And there was still time to finished sorting, counting, and weighing all the remaining artifacts that were dry.  Carol got excited when she washed a really good example of a Pope's Creek pottery sherd.  The exterior was net-impressed and was decorated with two parallel finger swipes.  The interior was combed.  Here are some photos.  Click to learn more about Pope's Creek pottery

Pope's Creek - exterior
(net-impressed with finger swipes)

Pope's Creek - interior
(combed)

Thursday morning October 4 Carol S., Elsie, Josh, Peggy, and Carol continued with processing the artifacts from the northern site.  Then Wednesday morning October 10 Peggy and Carol worked on the artifacts and talked about identifying lithics and about bonobos. 

Friday morning September 28 we washed the last of the artifacts from the southern part of the site.   It only took about an hour to complete the washing.  So we pulled out all our cataloging stuff and began sorting, counting, and weighing the artifacts from the northern part of the site.  Once again I forgot to take pictures of those helping (Barbara K., Carol, Elsie, and Rich). 

The artifacts from the STP's dug in June were washed on Sunday August 5.  Thankfully we were able to be indoors.  Barbara K. Barbara R., Carol and Rich helped wash.  Below is a picture of Barbara R. holding up the last bag.  Now we just need to sort them.

The Last Bag (June) - Barbara R. and Rich

On June 23 we started sorting, counting, and weighing the artifacts.  All the STP's in Transect A were completed.  Since we completed digging Transect M the day before, we have a way to go.  I forgot to take pictures of those helping (Barbara K. Barbara R., Carol, Elsie, and Josh), but here are a few pictures of the sorted artifacts.

As many of you know a derecho went through Charles County early June 30, and many of us were without power (unless we had a generator).  So only Steve and Carol showed up to catalog artifacts. Since there was no air conditioning, they gave up around noon.  Even so they were able to complete the processing of three transects.  Also Carol found a fragment of what appears to be a soapstone bowl.

On July 8 only Steve and Carol showed up again but they were able to complete processing all the artifacts that have been washed to date.  We still need to wash about artifacts from four transects.

Adjahoe Site Registered

Carol, Rich, Edgar, Joshua,
Nevilla, Elsie

On January 25 CCASM members reviewed with Nevilla Ottley and Edgar Adjahoe the site information they had gathered for a ruin on the Adjahoe property.  Joshua Eller and Rich Gorski had mapped the ruin, and Joshua had submitted an archaeological site form to the Maryland Historical Trust.  The ruin was given site number 18CH820.  Elsie Picyk provided details from USGS maps and aerial maps dating from 1902 to 1981 that showed the buildings in the area of the site.  Carol Cowherd put together the information in a notebook that was given to the Adjahoes.

CCASM wants to help identify and register archaeological sites in Charles County.  This was our first one.

Viewing Site Form

Viewing Maps

Remote Sensing at Port Tobacco

Peter Quantock

At the January 10 CCASM meeting Peter Quantock presented some of the geophysical results from the remote sensing he did in Port Tobacco in 2011.  Both magnetometer and ground penetrating work was done around the Courthouse.  Peter shared part of the results which showed the location of the Wade House.  Also in some areas he found evidence of several feet of sedimentation "hiding" any possible artifacts in the area.

Peter is completing his M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Denver.  The work done at Port Tobacco will be included in his thesis, and he will provide us a copy when it is complete.  Prior to his going to graduate school, many of us worked with Peter on the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project.

We also had a raffle for an ASM sweatshirt.  The money will eventually be used for CCASM to acquire a projector.  (We have a long way to go.).  Doug won the raffle. 

 Attendance: 22