A day out…
…in the field!
I've been revisiting a past passion since I've moved back down to Maryland--Archaeology!
So far, I've volunteered to wash and catalogue artifacts, gone on archaeology hikes (even in a kayak!), and yesterday, I actually got to dig!
Prince George's County history division offers some public archaeology days at Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park near Croom. I signed up for a day when my sister teleworks from the house, which also happened to be the hottest day yet this summer....
The tools of the trade were familiar: a Marshalltown trowel and a dust pan. We scraped the earth level then sieved it to make sure we didn't miss anything.
The area chosen for the dig is thought to be the location of the dwellings of the enslaved people who worked the plantation at Mount Calvert.
Woohoo! A broken projectile point! (Beginners luck!)
It came from the disturbed plow zone, so not much information to be glean from it, but obviously, the history of people in the area goes way back.
Back inside, I noticed this poster on the wall.
Mine looked a bit like a Halifax Side Notched point (Late Archaic), don't you think?
The local archaeologists were not convinced....
Did I mention that it was HOT?
Everything happens slowly on a dig...very zen!
The rest of my finds for the morning were not very exciting: tiny sherds of pottery, some animal bone fragments, flakes from stone tool working, and some small chunks of brick.
After the lunch break, me and my knees had had enough fun for the day,
but I'll definitely do this again!
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| View of the Patuxent River from Mount Calvert |