At Nanjemoy Heritage Day 2011

CCASM had an exhibit at the 11th Annual Nanjemoy Heritage Day on Saturday September 24.

Elsie with Diagnostic Information

Barbara with Archaeobotany Activity

If you look closely at the exhibit on the left, you might be able to see a DVD player showing a slide show of various CCASM activities, notebooks with diagnostic information for identifying historic and prehistoric artifacts, posters for  telling time with historic artifacts, and the back of the Port Tobacco Display.

For the first time a children's activity was included.  The archaeobotany activity involved picking out seeds, e.g. corns, beans, onion,  from gravel and identifying them.  The seeds were then taped to a form for the children to take with them.

Elsie Picyk and Barbara Kane represented CCASM at the event.  George Picyk provided the photos.  They had an enjoyable afternoon meeting others interested in archeology as well as promoting archeology in Charles County.

We would like to thank those CCASM members that provided items for the exhibit. And we would especially like to thank Barbara Kane for developing the children's activity, Dr. James Gibb for allowing us to use the Port Tobacco Display, and the Picyks for providing the DVD player.

Announcing the Discovery of the Zekiah Fort

This summer Dr. Julia King was once again looking for the Piscataway Indian Fort in the Zekiah Swamp in Charles County, and she believes she found it.  In 1680 the Piscataway moved to Charles Calvert's land in the Zekiah and built a fort initially for protection from raids by northern Indian groups.  The fort was abandoned in the mid-1690's.  Dr. King's work was funded by the Smallwood Foundation and Michael Sullivan.

The announcement of the discovery was made September 15, 2011, at Mount Victoria, the home of Mike Sullivan.  In addition to Julia King and Mike Sullivan, those speaking included Gov. Martin O’Malley, Sen. Mike Miller, Sen. Thomas "Mac" Middleton, the presidents of St Mary's College and the College of Southern Maryland, as well as representative from three Piscataway groups- Billy Tayac, Mervin Savoy, and Natalie Proctor.

Numerous local historic and preservation organizations were represented.  At least eight CCASM members attended.  Five of them had volunteered for Dr. King this summer.   Sorry, I didn't get pictures of the CCASM members.

Skylar Bauer and Alex Flick

Here are pictures of two of the St. Mary's College alumni that worked on the project as well as a box with some of the artifacts from the site.

Zekiah Fort Artifacts

For more information on the event see St. Mary's College Press Release

Archaeology Project at Mt Aventine

Laura Cripps

Dr. Laura Cripps, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Howard Community College, conducted a small non-invasive survey project at Chapman State Park on September 2 and 3. The project was to produce additional information on the extent and preservation of archaeological remains at the Park for use by the DNR and the Friends of Mt Aventine.

You can hear more about what she found at the October 8 meeting of the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc. (see calendar).  Dr. Cripps will be giving the 2010 Frederick L. Stiner Memorial Lecture on "A Multidisciplinary Investigation for the Original Mt. Aventine(s), at Chapman State Park".

Excavating at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery

Scott, J. Babock, Dr. Gibb, Frankie

Scott Lawrence and Dr. James Gibb are looking for the 1661/2 Jesuit Chapel in the St. Francis Xavier Cemetery at Newtown, St. Mary's County.   Based on precious STP work, 5' x 5' units are being excavated.  The site is completely clear and is situated away from known burials.

CCASM members are welcome to participate.  Carol Cowherd has helped on two days.

Current plans are to continue excavating for at least two more days. The dates will be posted once they are set.   The times are 9-4, but it is not necessary to volunteer for the whole day.

Contact Scott or Dr. Gibb for more specific information.

St. Francis Xavier Cemetery
21370 Newtowne Neck Road
Leonardtown, MD 20650

Trip to Smithsonian Museum Support Center

Friday August 5 was the CCASM trip to the Smithsonian Museum Support Center in Suitland where we toured a small part of the National Museum of Natural History archaeology collections.  This was the highest rated option on our survey for a week day CCASM trip during the summer.

Carol S, Josh, Phil, and Robin in back
with Elsie and Sheila in front looking at parkas

Jim describing drawer contents

James Krakker, the archaeological collections specialist in the Department of Anthropology, showed us just a small fraction of some of the objects from North America.  He indicated there was the equivalent of an acre of storage for archaeology and ethnology.  Of course, we had to see the collections from Maryland.  Also we saw how artifacts were catalogued in the 1800's, where collections were processed, and how the collections were stored.

It was quite an interesting trip.

Click on NMNH Anthropology Collections to learn more about the collections.

Museum Support Center

The tour was set up by Carol Cowherd who volunteers for Jim Krakker at the MSC.