Total news: 34
Last news: March 11, 2008 14:08:00

Total news: 70
Last news: January 1, 1970 00:00:00

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Yes, Pete and I were out again with Elsie and Carol. We were collecting the field immediately south of Port Tobacco proper and found compelling evidence that the town site extends further south than the current landscape suggests. Aside from one or two historic period sites, we found a good deal of late prehistoric material (Late Woodland).

We also noted that the concentrations of artifacts and oyster shell paralleled a linear area, poorly drained. I had noted it last year and... - [Read more]

I spent an enjoyable day Saturday with colleagues from the University of Maryland, the New York State Museum, the Annapolis History Consortium, and others. We discussed a wide range of subjects, not all of which were directly related to the 300th anniversary of the issuance of the City charter.

In my presentation, I tried to look at Annapolis archaeology from outside of the city; in fact, from the perspective of Port Tobacco. How do you systematically investigate the archaeology of... - [Read more]

On May 13, the Charles County Archaeological Society became an institution when it voted in six officers: Paula Martino, president; Carol Cowherd, vice-president; Jane Keller, treasurer; Belinda Urquiza, secretary; Elsie Piczyk and Gary Frick, at-large board members.

Today, the board of the Archeological Society of Maryland accepted our petition to be a chapter in the Society.

Also at the board meeting I learned that we have quite a few people registered to participate... - [Read more]

We are back in the office today after the storms knocked us out for a little while. As Jim prepares for the Annapolis City 300 presentations tomorrow at St. Johns College in Annapolis, I am working on updating our database and maps from the field surveys we did just south of Port Tobacco.

I have finished the north and middle fields and am now working on the south fields. For those of you who havent done it, data entry is long and tedious. However, once you look at the maps... - [Read more]

It seems like it has been years since my last trip down to Maryland! My last 7 weeks have been jam packed. As you know, I spent all of May as a Scholar in Residence at the Pennsylvania State Museum. Not long before heading down to Harrisburg I was offered, and accepted, a Visiting Assistant Professor position at Heidelberg College in Ohio. So, once I finished up in Harrisburg I had to fit in a house-hunting... - [Read more]

Another of the very distinct 17th and 18th century artifacts we find at Port Tobacco is British Brown salt glazed stoneware. These vessels came in a variety of forms, most often as drinking mugs. In our shovel testing from last year, we found several sherds of this type, clearly indicating 18th century occupation. Nearly all Read more]

The field session is fast approaching! For an easy reference to our field session schedule, check the Port Tobacco calendar. The link is at the top of the left hand column of this blog.

-April

And from Jim:
Welcome back April.
Last night I attended the last meeting for the year of the Charles County Historical Trust. The Trust awarded the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco $500 toward a project that we call, Virtual Access to the Historic Town of... - [Read more]

On Sunday, I posted an excerpt from Barry Kents "Susquehannas Indians." In the excerpt, Kent says that the Susquehannock presence at the Piscataway fort was "clearly established" by archaeology. Later on in the same book he has this to say:

"One typical tulip pipe was found at the Piscataway fort and is in fact the only real archaeological evidence for identifying the Susquehannock occupation of... - [Read more]

Last August the PTAP crew excavated Shovel Test Pit 150 in the Compton field, near the hedgerow that separates the field from the Jamieson field to the west. Unlike the other 400 odd shovel tests that we eventually would excavate, STP 150 came down on what should have been undisturbed subsoil, but instead encountered a mixture of three soils of varying color and texture, including some material that probably came from deep below the natural subsoil.

This subtle difference... - [Read more]

Our approach to the fields south of town should prove very useful as we are collecting accurate, precise information on everything we find. The down side of this approach, however, is large numbers of data that have to be processed to produce detailed maps with topographic contours. Typing in long series of numbers all day, especially on gloomy, rainy days can be trying. But well not feel sorry for ourselves because tomorrow we are back in the sun having fun.

A brief note on my use... - [Read more]

The PTAP staff and a few volunteers are sitting beside the Burch House, waiting for our BBQs to be ready for our dinner grilling. All is well.

Jim lead an Ethics workshop earlier this evening while Dio and I did the grocery shopping for the crew. Pete and Jeff assembled the grills. Nothing like teamwork.

We continued our excavations in the three areas described yesterday. We are closet to defining the jailhouse and Wade House foundations and may have found a building in the Native... - [Read more]

The field session is rolling along. We had to keep an eye to the sky
today. A cool breeze mixed with dark clouds seemed to alternate with
our normally sunny and warm weather. The storms did hold off until the
day's excavations were over but not by much. Just after everyone left
the wind picked up and the rain came down. We would have been comfy
and dry in either the courthouse or the Burch House if I hadn't
noticed that one of our shelters had blown off... - [Read more]

Jim was away today so it was a much different day in the field. I put the three teams in close reach by gains them work on the Wade House, Native American, and Centennial Hotel areas. We did a lot of detailed excavation today and sent many volunteers to out field lab because excavation was slow going. The field lab provides volunteers the opportnuity to study the recovered artifacts more closely and the lab supervisors assist them with identifying just what it is that they are washing.

I... - [Read more]