Letters from Lost TownsWinter 2010

News & Future Events

Mid-Atlantic ArchaeologicalConference, March 18-21Ocean City, MarylandOn the morning of March 20,the Project will present an entiresession on our findings from PigPoint! Hope you can join us!

Mark your calendars for the2010 Public Dig Days:May 22, July 10, &September 11, 2010!9 am - 2 pm, London TownLost Towns archaeologists invitethe public to help screen soil andfind artifacts, take tours, and at-tend workshops. Call LondonTown at 410-222-1919 to reserveyour spot.

Smithsonian EnvironmentalResearch Center (SERC)Open House on the BayMay 15, 2010 10 am - 3 pmCome out to SERC for their an-nual open house with hands-onactivities from historical andenvironmental organizations inthe area, including the LostTowns Project. For more info,visit http://www.serc.si.edu.

The Lost Towns Project Thanks our Partners and Supporters

Hoping for Hopewell~ Al Luckenbach

Continued on page 7Another Hopewell point from theJohnson collection.

One of the more intriguing aspectsof the Pig Point artifact assemblage isthe presence of a projectile point madeout of a very exotic chert (apparentlyfrom Ohio) which appears to be aresharpened Hopewell Point. If thisattribution is correct, then a numberof other finds at Pig Point might raisesimilar suspicions. Included in this listis a rolled copper bead, marginellabeads, drilled canines, a zoned incisedsherd, and a broken platform pipe.However, none of these are definitiveby themselves or even as a group -just suspicious. The Hopewell, famous moundbuilders of the Ohio Valley, were thebeneficiaries of an "interaction sphere"which included trade contacts withmost of Eastern North America, butnotably not the Middle Atlantic - atleast that's the old paradigm. On theDelmarva Peninsula, Darrin Loweryhas been finding Hopewell materialsamong materials from the MiddleWoodland Period. Then there is themythical Tracey's Creek site that theProject spent days searching for lastyear - and will again next year. Ourlong-time volunteer Lois Nutwellreported finding Hopewellian potteryand a projectile point at this unspecificlocation near Deale. The most recent Hopewellian cluefrom Anne Arundel County comesfrom the Johnson collection. Dick and

Hopewell projectile pointdiscovered at the Pig Point site.

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Special ContributorLouise AkersonPat BarlandMr. and Mrs. William Brown IIIJames CheeversRobert and Cynthia ChewRonald and Melissa ChewWayne and Margaret ClarkNed and Betty CrandellDonald and Keren DementTimothy and Seely FoleyMichael and Jo Ann GuidosEdward and Caral GrunwaldMr. and Mrs. Phillip HazenMarjorie HeggeCatherine HessDouglas and Donna HoleRay and Nancy HuffMechelle Kerns-NoceritoPaul and Gwendolen MarshmanCamilla McRorySue MorrisJames ParkerOrlando and Elisabeth Ridout IV

Mollie RidoutJean RussoHerbert and Marjorie SappingtonCarol SannerHarold and Elizabeth Slanker Jr.Gordon and Susanne SmithBarbara SweeneyMrs. R. Carmichael TilghmanJeffrey and Laura TomitzWayne and Michelle WalkerHarrison and Susan Wetherill Jr.Mr. and Mrs. John WingCaroline Wugofski

FamilyWilliam and Betty DotyPenny GoldsteinKathleen Gramp-SmithJames McLefreshMcElfish FamilyJulie McColloughPatrick and Vicki McCorkleDavid and Diane ReyKay Spruell

At the Lost Towns Project, we are very lucky to have supporters that value the discovery and preservation of thethe past. Our sustaining membership program is helping us to support and continue many worthwhile educationalactivities within our local community. Please consider renewing your Lost Towns Project Sustaining Member-ship today! Remember, you can now conveniently make your contribution online via Paypal, a secure paymentportal, at our new website at www.losttownsproject.org/support.html. We greatly appreciate the support of thefollowing individuals who have recently joined or renewed their memberships:

IndividualJohn and Cynthia BennoitJeannette ChristmanIndia Bell DavinMatt GrubbsJames HooperFrederick Hunt Jr.Val HymesMarion KayAlex LavishAlice P. McNamaraJane MillerRichard MorinEllen MoyerRichard NapoliJared PomfreyCharlotte PowersMichael and Carolyn QuinlanMark and Ann SchatzJoAnne SchneiderL. SilbermanEthel Stephan

StudentJohn Fury

A Warm Thank You to all of our Members

Another Outstanding ACT Awards Ceremony~ John Kille

I am pleased to report that theannual Anne Arundel County Trustfor Preservation (ACT) awardsceremony held last October 28th atthe Marley Neck Rosenwald Schoolin Glen Burnie was a resoundingsuccess! ACT President WillMumford again hosted this much-anticipated event, which honoredefforts to preserve the historical,archaeological, and culturalresources of Anne Arundel County. The 29th Marjorie MurrayBridgman Award was presented toDonna Ware, Executive Director of

Historic London Town and Gardens.Donna served for over two decadesas Anne Arundel County's HistoricSites Planner where she establishedthe county's stellar preservationprogram. She also served for eightyears as the Chair of the AnnapolisHistoric Preservation Commission.Her book "Anne Arundel's Legacy"remains the primary source on thecounty's architecture. The 34th Orlando Ridout Prizewas presented to the Marley NeckRosenwald School. This awardhonors the name of the Anne

Arundel County native who servedas first director of the MarylandHistorical Trust and continues to leadin preserving the architecturalheritage of Anne Arundel County.The historic Marley Neck School isa significant example of aRosenwald School design andrepresents a landmark era in blackeducation in the period beforefederal support of local education.The School was built in 1927 withfunds raised by the local AfricanAmerican community and matching

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Left to right: Anne Arundel County ExecutiveJohn Leopold with awardees Donna Ware,Executive Director of Historic London Townand Gardens, and Lisa and William Brown.

Left to right: Members of Friends of MarleyNeck School Center Yvonne Henry, HelenJohnson, and Rosalie Gaither.

funds provided by the JuliusRosenwald Fund. It is one ofeight known surviving RosenwaldSchools in Anne Arundel County.The school closed in the 1960s,but served the needs of HallUnited Methodist Church until itfell into disrepair in the 1980s. Itsat idle until a collaborative effortbegan in 1999 to restore thissignificant cultural resource. Therestoration and rehabilitation ofMarley Neck took nine years tocome to fruition. In March 2008,work was finally completed, andon April 11, 2008 it officiallyopened its doors once again as acommunity center. The awardwas received by members of thenon-profit that spearheaded therestoration, the Friends of theMarley Neck School Center. Three awards were also givenin recognition of significantcontributions to the Marley NeckSchool restoration project. PatBarland, Senior Planner in theAnne Arundel County Departmentof Planning and Zoning, DonnaWare, and the Arundel CommunityDevelopment Services werehonored.

This year, two SpecialContribution in Archaeology awardswere also given out. The first wasawarded to Bob Ogle who has spentmost of his lifetime collecting

prehistoric and historic artifactsin the county, along with the vitalinformation about theirprovenance. Earlier this year,Bob donated this astoundingcollection to Anne ArundelCounty's ArchaeologicalLaboratory to be preserved forresearch and display. A Special Contribution inArchaeology award was alsobestowed upon William and LisaBrown who have graciouslyallowed the Lost Towns Projectto excavate the prehistoric PigPoint site located on theirproperty. They have also donatedthe artifacts to Anne ArundelCounty. The Pig Point site is oneof the most important prehistoricsites ever excavated in the statecontaining the earliest knownevidence of structures found inMaryland. Our condolences go out to thefamily of Helen Johnson, an activemember of the Friends of MarleyNeck School Center, who passed

away shortly after the ACT awardswere held. Her contributions topreservation were significant andshe will be missed by all.

In the wintertime, our efforts turn towards lab work,research, analysis, and report writing. In my case, Iam reading reports on other archaeologists' findings.Lots of them. While some archaeologists think of thisas a low-grade level of torture, I am embracing theopportunity to delve into the data found in the reports. You may remember the article that Jane wrote aboutour Middle Woodland Geographic Informations Systems(GIS) tool that she and Stephanie developed last year.My task for the winter is to build upon that tool for thesecond year of our Middle Woodland grant, which isgenerously provided to us by the Maryland HistoricalTrust. We have chosen to include over 20 MiddleWoodland sites in Anne Arundel County that have well-

Sorting Out the Middle Woodland~ Lauren Schiszik

documented excavations. I am collecting artifact dataas well as information about features (such as hearths,pits, shell middens), specialized analyses, and excavationmethodologies. All of this will be compiled into the GIStool and made available to other researchers with aninterest in Maryland's prehistoric collection. This willallow archaeologists to conduct both inter- and intra-site analysis of Anne Arundel County’s Middle Woodlandsites. So, why is it important that I am a glorified bean-counter this winter, you ask? (Believe me, I've beenasking too.) Basically, I am doing this so that otherswon't have to do it again in the future. For those of you

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Many of our Lost Towns friendsand volunteers know that when foodis placed in front of certainarchaeologists, it is quickly devoured- doughnuts and pizza don't stand achance! We have recently turnedour attention to these core culturalissues of food ways and subsistencein the Middle and Late WoodlandPeriod, as an outgrowth of the workunderway at Pig Point. Subsistence studies explore howNative peoples exploited theirenvironment and found thenutritional resources needed tosurvive. What they chose to eat isa large part of this investigation, andthe faunal and archaeobotanicalmaterials being diligently recoveredat Pig Point may lend new insightsinto these questions. Theexcavations have clearly shown thatwild animals, such as deer, elk,wildfowl, even BEARS (oh my!),and aquatic resources such as clam,oyster and fish supported thenutritional needs of NativeAmericans. We are also focusingon the plant resources readilyavailable in the rich environment ofwhat is now Anne Arundel County. While many equate NativeAmerican diets with plant cultigenssuch as corn, beans and squash,

Native American Subsistence~ C. Jane Cox

Marshelder that may have grown herein Anne Arundel County.

these standard staples did notactually come onto the scene untilrelatively late in the Coastal Plainenvironment. Early corn is not seen

in this Chesapeake Bay coastal plainregion until ca. AD 900. Ourinvestigations will explore what theNative American populations wereeating before the arrival of corn. The "Eastern AgriculturalComplex" is a phrase you may hearin the future, as we believe that thiscollection of selected plants may

have formed the mainstay for NativeAmerican diets in the Middle andLate Woodland (200 BC to AD 1100)period of Anne Arundel County.Now we have the task of provingthat selectively cultured plants - suchas Sunflowers, Chenopodium,Sumpweed or Marshelder, andnative Squash - were in fact usedby the Native Americans, and wehope to explore how they utilizedsuch resources. We also havespeculated that the rich ecosystemin the County offered a broad arrayof plant materials that Nativepopulations would have exploited inthe marsh or riverine environments- such as Amaranth, Tuckahoe orWild Rice. Food is so culturally sensitive andspecific that it offers an opportunityto really understand and appreciateNative American lives. We hopethat our investigations in the comingyear will help us understand thechallenges and rewards these peopleexperienced 2,000 years ago. AndI can't wait to try a yummyamaranth and dandelion saladcovered with sunflower seeds,roasted walnuts and blackberries,topped with thinly sliced mediumrare roasted elk, with a side ofsquash, wild rice or tuckahoe!

During the winter months the weather has growncolder and the ground at the Pig Point site has frozenover, but that hasn't stopped us from doing archaeology!Even though we are not currently making new finds inthe field, we are discovering microscopic ones that liehidden in soil samples. Throughout the summer we collected these soilsamples from features at Pig Point, and now I amextracting the archeobotanical remains. After dryingout the soil samples, I sift the samples through a fine

Update: Archaeology Through a Microscope~ Steve Tourville

mesh screen, and look at them under a high poweredmicroscope to find seeds carbonized by our nativeancestors. So far the investigation has yielded severalpossible food sources for our Native American friends.All of the seeds that I have found date to the WoodlandPeriod. The most common seed found thus far is Lamb’squarters (Chenopodium berlandieri), an annual weedthat is found throughout North America. It belongs to

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Earlier this year, the Lost TownsProject and the Anne ArundelCounty Department of Planning andZoning received a grant from theMaryland Department ofNatural Resources and theNational Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration(NOAA) to study thepotential effects of sea levelrise and climate change onarchaeological and historicalsites. A recent scientific andtechnical analysis of sea levelrise over the next centuryconducted by the MarylandCommission on ClimateChange projects that coastal

How Will Sea Level Rise Affect Archaeological Sites?~ Stephanie Taleff Sperling

communities (like Anne ArundelCounty) may experience between2.7 and 3.4 feet of additional rise bythe year 2100. Anne Arundel County

is particularly susceptible to sea levelrise, given its 530 miles of tidal andnon-tidal shoreline. We estimate thatnearly half of the more than 1,400

recorded archaeological sitesin the County are located inor near coastal areas. In an effort to plan for thefuture of these resources, weare developing aVulnerability Assessment toidentify potential areas of sealevel rise and storm surgeinundation, assess trends andpredict impacts of shorelineerosion, and developcomplete inventories ofresources at risk. Thisinnovative project will be

undertaken in partnership withvarious County agencies and willlead to the introduction ofconcrete guidelines to the Planningand Zoning Director addressinghow we can proactively protectand monitor threatened culturalresources. While many Europeangovernments have conductedsimilar studies examining thepotential effects of sea level riseon heritage resources for over adecade, this study is one of the firstof its kind on this side of theAtlantic. Kudos to Jane for havingthe wherewithal to kick-start thisproject! In the words ofarchaeologist Michael J. Kimball,who is with the University ofNorthern Colorado and organizeda panel discussion at the 2008World Archaeological Congressabout the impacts of climatechange and sea level rise tocultural resources, we are "helpingto mark the emergence of a newparadigm for archaeology." Prettycool!

No, Jane isn’t walking on water... she is walking on asubmerged archaeological site!

This issue's mystery artifact is an ornately decorated - albeit significantlyburned - "drab ware" stoneware cup recovered from the cellar of the

Samuel Chew mansion.The décor is an elaboratesprig molding, which is adecorative piece of whiteclay applied to the outsideof a gray ceramic vessel.This sprig molding,highlighted with cobalt blue,is ostensibly a floral motif,although some of themolding is missing. What isso mysterious about thiscup, then? I personally findthe numerous small holes inthe bottom of the cupintriguing. They appear tonullify the practicality ofholding liquids unless, ofcourse, it was designed asa practical joke. If anyoneknows the purpose of thisstrainer, please contact us atthe lab at 410-222-1318!

Mystery Artifact~ Shawn Sharpe

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THE

ARCHITECTuRE

Column

Manhattan Beach, a quiet residential enclaveon the Broad Neck Peninsula in Anne ArundelCounty, was developed as a planned communityin the 1920s, one of the first developed as thecounty transitioned from a rural agriculturallandscape to a recreational destination for theincreasingly middle-class populations ofAnnapolis, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. Manhattan Beach is surrounded on threesides by the Cypress and Dividing Creeksand the Magothy River. The first settlersof the peninsula cultivated tobacco; in thelate 1800s and early 1900s owners operateda truck or produce farm that benefitedgreatly from the mild micro-climate createdby the surrounding water and the proximityto the river for transportation. By the 1920s,truck farming declined due to competition,labor shortages and soil erosion. This ledGeorge Stinchcomb, whose family owned226 acres on the peninsula, to sell 177 acresin 1921 to a Baltimore real estate companyfor $37,000. The Stinchcomb family wereland owners in the area since the late 1700sand a cemetery at 730 McCann Roadcontains family burial plots. After sellinghis land, Stinchcomb moved into a formertenant house on Windrush Farm Lane. Thisproperty is listed on the Maryland Inventory ofHistoric Properties (MIHP) as Holly Run Farm(AA-307). The land was was divided into residentialbuilding lots and sold to city residents anxious toescape oppressive summers for cool air andclear waters. The community was named

The Other Manhattan Beach~ Gabriela Harris

Manhattan Beach, thought to evoke the area'sfirst native inhabitants. Visitors arrived by trainat Jones Station Road from Baltimore,Washington and Annapolis and then travelled theshort distance to Manhattan Beach by horsecarriage.

At first, residences were seasonal and only afew people were year-round residents. Theconstruction of Governor Ritchie Highway in the1930s and the inauguration of the ChesapeakeBay Bridge made commuting much easier andmany more people elected to live in ManhattanBeach on a permanent basis. During its heyday,Manhattan Beach was a lively and funplayground, with picnics on the beach, boating,pony rides and even a Ferris wheel. Today, Manhattan Beach is home to over 500families living in a close-knit community. Severalof the original cottages dating from the initialsubdivision survive, peeking out from behind thenewer houses. The significance of the communitydoes not lie wholly in its architectural inventory,as Manhattan Beach represents thetransformation of Anne Arundel from anagricultural county to a recreational destinationfor city folk that parallels the growth of the middleclass and its increasing affluence.

Holly Run Farm, a late-19th centuryvernacular farmhouse in Manhattan Beach.

USGS Map of Round Bay depicting the location ofManhattan Beach. On inset map, the star marks thecommunity’s location in the county.

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Al Luckenbach....Director/CountyArchaeologistJohn Kille....Assistant DirectorC. Jane Cox....Assistant Director/Cultural Resources PlannerDarian Schwab....HistoricPreservation PlannerShawn Sharpe....Field Director/Conservation SpecialistJessie Grow....Lab Director/Education and VolunteerCoordinator/ArchaeologistStephanie Sperling....ResearchArchaeologistSteve Tourville....Archaeologist/Lab Specialist

Part TimeGabriela Harris....AssistantArchitectural HistorianCarolyn Gryczkowski....LabSpecialistLauren Schiszik....Archaeologist/Intern Coordinator/Newsletter EditorTony Lindauer....Historian

Lost Towns ProjectStaff

unfamiliar with how archaeological excavation data is stored, letme explain. When professional archaeological excavations areconducted, they must produce a report according to state standards.This report is filed with the State Historic Preservation Office, whichis the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT). MHT is in the process ofdigitizing site reports for various counties across Maryland.However, there are thousands of site reports for Anne ArundelCounty alone, and dozens more written each year. In order to conduct site analyses, one has to hand-tabulate datafrom the site reports. This is the reason why our Middle Woodlandtool is important. After extracting all of this data and compiling itinto a spatially-oriented database, we will make it available for otherarchaeologists' use. That way, others don't have to log in the sametime and effort that I did to get this information. We hope that thistype of data -sharing will become more prevalent in archaeology,as it greatly benefits all of our research efforts. The Middle Woodland GIS tool will allow us to engage in a "bigpicture" approach to studying this period in prehistory. Rather thanjust looking at sites individually, we can look at them collectivelyand draw comparisons. We believe that this tool will allow thearchaeological community to learn more about the broadergeographic, social, and environmental patterns that shaped andinfluenced the Middle Woodland peoples in Anne Arundel County.We'll let you know how it turns out, but in the meantime, I have togo count some more ceramics.

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the goosefoot family(Chenopodiaceae), and like othermembers of the type genusChenopodium, the leaves bear aslight resemblance to the foot of agoose. The fresh, tender foliage issometimes called wild spinach dueto its appearance and taste. Wehave also found a few differentspecies of nuts, berries and grapes.The grapes and berries could beeaten raw or cooked, anddocuments from Jesuit priests notedthat Native Americans did in factmake wine. Edible nuts like walnuts,chestnuts and acorns could be eatenraw or cooked, and were sometimesground up into a milky substancesimilar to soy milk. This nut milkprobably served as a great sourceof protein. Hickory nuts were usedas fuel for fires. In the lab we continue to searchfor answers that will further our

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Steve examines seeds under themicroscope, with seed reference bookclose at hand!

Marjorie Johnson, lifelongavocational archaeologists,were kind enough to donatetheir major collection of AnneArundel County artifacts to theLost Towns Project. Nowcurated at the county'sarchaeology laboratory atHistoric London Town, thiscollection constitutes a majorresource for future research.Recently, I decided to go backover some of this collection thatcame from Tracey's Creek. Inone bag I found a previouslyunrecognized Hopewell point -and this one definitively madeout of chert from Flint RidgeOhio. It would appear that theold paradigm might need someadjustment…

research into the enigmas of NativeAmerican culture. Every day we arefinding new evidence under themicroscope, and this new data meansnew research. This is only thebeginning of our archeobotanicalexpedition, which is shininga new light on our prehistoricpast.

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