April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 10, 2009, 8:01 am
While working down at Port Tobacco I have often heard a volunteer exclaim "I found a flake! Or...at least I think it's a flake...is this a flake?" as he or she holds up a small piece of quartz or ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 9, 2009, 10:30 am
This past Saturday I became a powerlifter. I had applied this term to myself before and many of you requested my help with lifting buckets because of it; but this past Saturday it became true. Satur...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 8, 2009, 11:30 am
This week Anne and I have continued to catalog artifacts from the four units opened in the Swann House area this fall. This means not only going through all the modern material from Unit 83, the unit ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 7, 2009, 7:43 am
Scott! Though I do suppose it is sort of by default, since he was our only reader to actually post an answer (that's ok, it still counts). The artifact of the week last week was indeed white salt-...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 6, 2009, 7:51 am
Yesterday I was thinking about Port Tobacco's loss of its port facilities as a consequence of unchecked erosion and sedimentation. One of the key questions that the PTAP team has asked of the town...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 5, 2009, 12:10 pm
Yesterday's blog mentioned some turtle carapace (upper shell) and parapace (lower shell) that the team recovered from the Swann House site. We suspect that these remains are from a meal, turtle so...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 4, 2009, 7:30 pm
Hey folks! Sorry for the late blog today--we were out in the field working on another project and there was some confusion as to who was responsible for the blog! As such, while I do not have any pi...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 3, 2009, 12:27 pm
We are still processing the boat load of artifacts from the units in and around the foundation uncovered in the Swann Locus last month. One beautiful object is this copper alloy clasp with blue, whit...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 2, 2009, 12:38 pm
The past few days in the lab we have been hard at work washing, rebagging, and cataloging the artifacts recovered from units in the area of the Swann foundation. So far the content of the material has...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Dec 1, 2009, 1:26 pm
While excavating the Midden, we found a nice cluster of artifacts. One of them was this drawer pull made of a copper alloy, possibly brass . It has molded, floral decorations. This type of pull is c...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 29, 2009, 11:12 am
Greetings all...I hope our readers have had a delightful holiday weekend. I apologize for the lack of a posting yesterday...the crew scattered for the weekend and Scott and I were conducting an archae...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 27, 2009, 12:28 pm
The chap you know as Dr. James G. Gibb is a complex man with a complex past. A New Yorker by birth, Jim received his academic training in the State University of New York system, beginning at Stony Br...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 26, 2009, 10:00 am
Today we thought it would be inappropriate to discuss any topic unrelated to Thanksgiving, which means nothing but pies, turkeys, parades, and football. As such, I present you with a brief lesson on.....
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 25, 2009, 12:50 pm
Our foundation unit artifacts continue to produce. This is a Coronet Matron Head Cent, which was circulated between 1816 and 1839. Engraved by Robert Scot, it has the head of Liberty wearing a crown...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 25, 2009, 10:16 am
The chap you know as Dr. James G. Gibb is a complex man with a complex past. A New Yorker by birth, Jim received his academic training in the State University of New York system, beginning at Stony Br...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 24, 2009, 1:17 pm
We are finishing up the report writing for the 2009 Field Session. I took several photographs of the artifacts from the Compton field to include. Represented in the photos was one of my favorite cer...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 23, 2009, 12:18 pm
As promised (multiple times...) I present to you the completed Swann House foundation drawing! After many hours of scanning, hatching, moving, rotating, and joining these walls we have a completed dra...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 20, 2009, 12:44 pm
....Latin for oyster fork.Can you believe there was a time when people didn't use forks?! They used a knife for solids and a spoon liquids!! Or even worse...their hands!! How very uncivilized!! ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 19, 2009, 1:18 pm
We began photographing the artifacts that Pete mentioned in yesterdays blog. The Ban Deodorant container has an aluminum lid, but the base is white milk glass. Embossing on the bottom reads, "Bristo...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 18, 2009, 2:13 pm
Anne and I started to wash the artifacts from the Swann Site today. We already have told you about one of the great finds last week. Before we get to the smaller finds, we took a couple buckets full o...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 17, 2009, 1:13 pm
Today we did yet more report writing and Auto-CAD mapping. Stayed tuned for much more exciting events tomorrow!
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 16, 2009, 1:37 pm
Happy birthday to our crew members Jim and Anne! As of today, Anne has graced the earth with her presence for 24 years, and, as of Friday, Jim has...well, I wouldn't use the word "graced," but per...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 14, 2009, 4:45 pm
Thursday I wrote about a highly eroded site that the GAC team tested in a Southern Maryland county. I thought that I would add a bit more on the subject. I continue to be cagey about the site and wher...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 13, 2009, 7:16 pm
Hey folks, Sorry for the late blog post on this rainy, windy day. After trekking back from Port Tobacco I was set to finish up the mapping of the Swann House foundation, but was foiled by technology ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 12, 2009, 3:30 pm
The GAC crew conducted a one-day site examination on an early 19th-century domestic site in a neighboring county earlier this week. It proved instructive in that it represents the exact opposite effec...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 11, 2009, 1:20 pm
...the north wall of the Swann House! The rainy fall weather has kept us inside the office, meaning that we are all diligently working on site reports and mapping. One of my tasks today was continuing...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 10, 2009, 9:17 pm
Everybody is off in different directions today, so no substantive posting. Apart from other projects on which the GAC team is working, we have undertaken a long-overdue equipment overhaul, organizatio...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 9, 2009, 2:21 pm
Just a reminder that Tuesday (Nov 10) the Charles County Archaeological Society (CCAS) will be meeting at 7:30pm at the Port Tobacco Courthouse. Ed Chaney, Deputy Director of Maryland Archaeological ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 7, 2009, 6:47 pm
My wife Bonnie and I spent the day in Richmond, Virginia, visiting an old friend and colleague. Tara took us around her adopted home town. I was impressed by the extraordinary strides the city has mad...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 6, 2009, 4:28 pm
The GAC crew will be working on some other projects in Southern Maryland for the next month or two, curtailing our fieldwork at Port Tobacco. One of our tasks today was to put the site to bed, backfil...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 5, 2009, 12:03 pm
Today Kelley and I stayed in the lab and worked on mapping and report writing. Tomorrow we will be back at Port Tobacco. This will likely be the last time we are there for a while. We will finish t...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 4, 2009, 12:21 pm
As Jim mentioned yesterday our excavation into the cellar fill of the Swann House has produced numerous 20th century artifacts. This does not mean that all of these more recent artifacts are particula...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 3, 2009, 5:20 pm
Sorry...no pictures today. Pete, Anne, and Kelley started excavating a 5 ft by 5 ft unit into the northeast corner of the Swann House cellar hole. The upper horizon, as expected, produced a large num...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 2, 2009, 4:11 pm
We finished mapping the Swann House foundation today and will excavate one unit in the northeast corner tomorrow. The north side of the chimney (pictured left) turned out to be a little odd. Not Anne...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Nov 1, 2009, 8:25 am
It is a rainy Sunday and All Saints Day, so I thought I would post a few more pictures from our final day of monument recovery at St. Nicholas Cemetery. Near the existing early 20th-century church, t...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 31, 2009, 12:22 pm
Although there are a few monuments to repair and re-erect, and some others that have to be re-plumbed, for all intents and purposes we finished the St. Nicholas Cemetery restoration fieldwork on Frida...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 30, 2009, 1:04 pm
Click images for larger view www.bigartweb.com, Christine Hopkins (left) nootdnoot.blogspot.com(right) Mochaware is a favorite type of ceramic for many people because of its unique look and...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 29, 2009, 7:03 pm
A busy and somewhat hectic day at Port Tobacco. Anne and Kelley spent an hour or more with a photographer from the local newspaper showing some of the artifacts that we have recovered. The photographs...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 28, 2009, 1:32 pm
In some of the last posts, we have talked about the work at the Swann House site. The team has been clearing brush and exposing the foundation walls. We have photographed and documented our work and w...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 27, 2009, 12:49 pm
Hey folks, Another rainy fall day has confined us to the lab, though there certainly is plenty to do here (report writing, report writing...and more report writing). So, while I could regale you with ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 26, 2009, 5:12 pm
By lunchtime today, the team completely exposed the foundation of the building we think is the James A. Swann House. Elsie and Carol joined the GAC team, as did "Mr. Backfill," Mark Thompson...he used...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 25, 2009, 3:50 pm
Our crew of six found a third corner of the stone foundation (partially illustrated in the photograph), thereby allowing us to determine the size of the building's footprint. It is 17 ft wide and ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 24, 2009, 1:39 pm
The photograph to the right shows Elsie and Carol exposing a sandstone foundation, work that will continue tomorrow (Sunday). We've cleared off the grapevines, multiflora rose, and other understor...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 23, 2009, 7:06 pm
Sorry, I am unable to provide a full posting of today's events but will return tomorrow.
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 22, 2009, 3:40 pm
The team, seven strong today, took on two tasks. As you can see from the photograph to the right, one of those tasks involved excavation. We completed Unit 81 and found, in the lowest deposits, more e...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 21, 2009, 12:17 pm
Wednesdays are office days for us here at GAC/PTAP. While the fun happens in the field, the magic happens in the office! Jim is off teaching all day so I am updating the maps and catalogs from the p...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 17, 2009, 3:51 pm
Just back from the Archeological Society of Maryland's annual meeting, held this year at the maritime museum in Havre de Grace and hosted by the Northern Chesapeake Chapter. The various presentati...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 16, 2009, 9:15 am
In the spirit of our return to Port Tobacco to continue excavations I figured today would be as good a time as any to discuss an archaeologist's close encounters with soil...of the plowzone kind. ...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 15, 2009, 1:47 pm
Despite the damp and chilly weather at Port Tobacco yesterday Carol and Calvin joined Pete, Kelley and I in finishing a third 5x5 unit in the search for the Swann site. We excavated five strata in Un...
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April B. posted an article on Port Tobacco Archaeological Project - Oct 14, 2009, 10:11 am
In anticipation of filthy weather tomorrow and Friday, I'm suspending fieldwork at Port Tobacco until next week. Sunday is a remote possibility depending on how much rain falls over the next two d...
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