Archaeology in Annapolis

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10991

Archaeology in Annapolis was a city-wide excavation of Maryland’s capital city whose purpose was to recover and teach with the below ground remains of materials from the 1680’s to today. Archaeology in Annapolis is a part of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Maryland, College Park and has been, and in some cases remains, partners with Historic Annapolis Foundation, the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, and the City of Annapolis. The project was begun in 1981 and continues to work in the City and to excavate on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The project works to provide understanding of the many peoples who have made up the City in the past and present. Under the direction of Mark P. Leone, the organization has conducted over forty excavations in the historic area of Maryland’s capitol city as well as in Queen Anne and Talbot Counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, including Wye House Plantation. This collection includes archaeological site reports, technical reports, and dissertations produced by the project between 1985 and the present. Where possible, separate files for artifact catalogs have been provided.

A physical component of the collection is housed in the National Trust room of Hornbake Library on the University of Maryland campus. It contains copies of site reports, field notes, drawings, slides, contact sheets, photographs, historic research, oral history transcripts, artifact cataloging sheets, analytical notes, dissertations, scholarly and public papers, presentations, journal articles, administrative planning notes, correspondence, visitor evaluations, press releases, brochures, exhibition planning notes and grant proposals.



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Author: search.filters.author.Leone, Mark P.Start date: 2010

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    Phase II Archaeological Testing on Schwar’s Row (18AP120), Annapolis, Maryland, 2012
    (2015) Deeley, Kathryn; Pruitt, Beth; Skolnik, Benjamin; Leone, Mark P.
    This report is a summary of excavations conducted by Archaeology in Annapolis between May 29 2012 and July 6 2012 on Cornhill Street, Annapolis, Maryland. The report is divided into the following sections: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Context and Historical Background Chapter 3: Archaeology and Interpretations Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations Chapter 1 of this report is an introduction to the Cornhill Street excavations in 2012 at two areas designated Schwar’s Row East and Schwar’s Row West. Included within in this chapter are the dates of fieldwork, laboratory processing and analyses, the identification of key project staff, as well as research design and methodology. Chapter 2 of this report details the context and historical background of the properties. Included within this chapter is a short history of the ownership of the structures and the research questions for this investigation. Chapter 3 of this report details the results of archaeological testing of a total of four units at Schwar’s Row East and Schwar’s Row West. Included within this chapter is an account of stratigraphic layers, features, and significant artifacts encountered within individual test units. Also included within this chapter are interpretations of layers, features, and artifacts. Chapter 4 of this report details the conclusions based on the data recovered from these excavations and recommendations for further investigations.
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    Preliminary Report on Phase I/II Archaeological Testing at 12 Fleet Street, 40 Fleet Street (18AP110), 30 Cornhill Street (18AP114), and 41 Cornhill Street (18AP115), Anne Arundel County, Annapolis, Maryland, 2008-2010
    (2015) Knauf, Jocelyn; Leone, Mark P.; Tang, Amanda; Uehlein, Justin
    In June 2008, June 2009, and June 2010, undergraduate and graduate students under the supervision of staff from the Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), Archaeology in Annapolis Project, conducted archaeological testing in privately owned backyards at 40 Fleet Street (18AP110), 12 Fleet Street, 30 Cornhill Street (18AP114), and 41 Cornhill Street (18AP115). These sites are all located in the historic district of Annapolis, Maryland, in Anne Arundel County. This project was an intellectual extension of previous testing that was conducted along the public right-of-ways at 26 Market Space (18AP109) and on Fleet Street (18AP111) and Cornhill Street (18AP112) during the spring of 2008. A total of eleven test units were excavated in the backyards on Fleet and Cornhill Streets during the summers of 2008, 2009, and 2010. The Fleet and Cornhill Street project area falls within the Council for Maryland Archaeology’s Maryland Archaeological Research Units, Coastal Plain Province, Research Unit 7, Gunpowder-Middle-Back-Patapsco-Magothy-Severn-South-Rhode-West Drainages. The project area is bounded on the east side by the Annapolis Historic District Market Space and on the west side by State Circle. The previously excavated streetscape units helped to address many of the research questions related to the development of Fleet and Cornhill Streets, and the ways in which the streetscape changed between the seventeenth and the twenty-first centuries. The backyard units provided the opportunity to further address research questions related to the archaeology of a working class neighborhood, providing the opportunity to compare different work and living spaces within the neighborhood. The test units excavated during the course of the project provided evidence of the use of backyard spaces during the historical development of the neighborhood. Historic features uncovered during the excavations included a late 19th and early 20th century privy at 40 Fleet Street, a 19th century cistern at 30 Cornhill Street, and evidence that the early 20th century owners of 41 Cornhill Street may have had indoor plumbing privately installed in their home. Excavated levels and features also revealed evidence of changing usage of backyard spaces through features associated with outbuildings that are no longer extant, as well as artifacts related to domestic and work related activities. This site report is an addendum to the 2008 site report, which details the archaeological findings from the test units that were placed along the streetscape of Fleet and Cornhill Streets, and the Market Space. The test excavations at 40 Fleet Street (18AP110), 12 Fleet Street, 30 Cornhill Street (18AP114) and 41 Cornhill Street (18AP115) indicate that the archaeological resources in the back yard spaces of Fleet and Cornhill Street generally have a high degree of archaeological integrity and are historically significant. The units excavated at the sites of 40 Fleet Street, 30 Cornhill Street, and 41 Cornhill Street provide supporting evidence that these sites meet National Register Criterion D for potential inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, although 41 Cornhill Street showed more disturbance than the other sites. These sites have revealed important information about the historical development of Fleet and Cornhill Streets, and the historic district of Annapolis, over the past two hundred and fifty years, and future work at the sites should be monitored.
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    Report on Archaeological Investigations in the Eastport Neighborhood of the City of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, 2001-2004
    (2015-05) Palus, Matthew M.; Napoli, Janna M.; Leone, Mark P.
    This report details the archaeological excavations in Eastport, Maryland at eight different properties during the summers of 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. These include 119 Chester Avenue (18AP93), 110 Chesapeake Avenue (18AP94), 102 Chesapeake Avenue (18AP100), 201 Chesapeake Avenue (18AP101), 512 Second Street (18AP102), 127 Chester Avenue (18AP103), 520 Third Street (18AP105), and 108 Eastern Avenue (18AP106). The Eastport community developed over the later 19th and early 20th centuries on the peninsula immediately to the south of the City of Annapolis, on the eastern shore of the Severn River in Maryland. This peninsula, known as Horne Point, was the location of a series of farms until the second half of the nineteenth century. From the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, Eastport contained a glass company that was utilized by the City of Annapolis. Jurisdictionally, Eastport was an independent village under the Anne Arundel County government until it was annexed into the City of Annapolis in 1951. The county paid for Eastport to receive some services from Annapolis to compensate for its slowly developing infrastructure. The Annapolis Gas and Electric Light Company placed its first arc light on the Spa Creek Bridge in the 1890s, which would mark one of the first such infrastructural connections between the two communities. This connection multiplied during the early 20th century. The Eastport community has not been subjected to systematic archaeological excavations prior to this study. Archaeological research in the Eastport neighborhood has mainly focused on the community of craftspeople, watermen, boat-builders, oyster shuckers, crab pickers, merchants and grocers, builders and tradesmen, engineers and technicians, laborers and domestics that grew up on the peninsula throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries. Traditionally Eastport is remembered as a community where working meant more than skin color. However, distinctions were realized between black and white residents, just as they were between old families and recent settlers, skilled and unskilled labor, home owners living in comfort and poor renters crowded into narrow frame dwellings. These dimensions of the community have become a part of its contemporary geography, and they figure strongly in the identity of its residents. The sites investigated from 2001-2004 suggest this diversity. The investigations from 2001 to 2004 aimed to increase these archaeological investigations in order to gain a more thorough understanding of this borough of Annapolis. The excavations took place as part of the University of Maryland Summer Field School in Urban Archaeology offered by Archaeology in Annapolis. The first and second seasons of archaeological excavations took place during the summers of 2001 and 2002, at sites 18AP93 and 18AP94. The third season of archaeological excavations took place during the summer of 2003, at sites 18AP100, 18AP101, 18AP102, and 18AP103. The fourth and final season of archaeological excavations took place during the summer of 2004, at sites 18AP105 and 18AP106. As part of these excavations, shovel test pits (STPs) and excavation units were placed across the front, side, and back yards of the properties. At 18AP93, a total of forty-six STPs were excavated, along with nine 5’ by 5’square excavation units. At site 18AP94, a total of thirty-two 4 STPs were excavated, along with six 5’ by 5’, one 2.5’ by 2.5’, one 4’ by 5’, and one 6’ by 5’ excavation units. At site 18AP100, a total of one 5’ by 5’ and one 6.8’ by 5’ units were excavated. At site 18AP101, a total of seven STPs were excavated, along with five 5’ by 5’ square excavation units. At site 18AP102, a total of fourteen STPs were excavated, along with three 5’ by 5’ square excavation units. At site 18AP103, a total of nine STPs were excavated, along with two 5’ by 5’ square excavation units. At site 18AP105, a total of twenty-three STPs were excavated, along with four 5’ by 5’ and one 4’ by 5’ excavation units. At site 18AP106, a total of forty-four STPs were excavated, along with three 5’ by 5’ square excavation units. Each unit was excavated to sterile soil. After excavations finished each season, all units were backfilled and closed. The excavations within Eastport show that the archaeology of Eastport is intact. The archaeology of house lots has been made to comment on domestic and work life in Eastport from the time of its settlement as a planned town just after the close of the American Civil War. The major contribution that comes from understanding the archaeology of Eastport derives from the work of Matthew Palus in understanding utility lines and their relationship to road building, paving, and the extension of gas, water, sewage, electric, and telephone lines into house lots. Continued excavations have the potential to reveal more information about the changes in the landscape of Eastport during the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, as well as information on the lives of the families who occupied these properties.
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    Phase I and II Archaeological Testing at the Talbot County Women’s Club, 18 Talbot Lane, Easton, Maryland, 18TA439
    (2015) Jenkins, Tracy H.; Leone, Mark P.
    The University of Maryland, College Park, Archaeology in Annapolis Project, conducted Phase I and II archaeological excavations of the Talbot County Women’s Club (TCWC) in Easton, Maryland, from July 8th through July 26th, 2013. This site is located at 18 Talbot Lane. The Women’s Club granted permission for this excavation as a part of The Hill Community Project to document and publicize the history of the Easton neighborhood known as The Hill and of the community of free African Americans that coalesced around this neighborhood in the nineteenth century. Following on the heels of the 2012 successful public excavation of the Home of the Family of the Buffalo Soldier (HFBS), this second public excavation within The Hill Community Project sought more information on early members of the free black community and on the material conditions of tenants living on The Hill in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries. It also continued archaeologists’ efforts at the HFBS to test the capability of archaeological sites of bringing together people of different backgrounds to forge a more open, civil discourse about the past. To these ends, archaeologists conducted a shovel test pit (STP) survey of yard spaces at the Women’s Club and opened seven test units to further investigate activity areas and construction phases, while maintaining a public dig site. While the HFBS excavation focused on African-American landowners from 1879 to 2002, the Women’s Club excavation focuses on the non-landowners who lived here from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries in order to highlight the diversity of experiences among neighborhood residents through the years. These residents included enslaved and free African Americans in the nineteenth century and tenants of unknown ethnic background in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, upwards of two thirds of the residents of The Hill rent their homes. The high rate of tenancy has been identified as a major contributor toward the gentrification processes that currently threaten the integrity of the African American community by pushing black families from dilapidating homes and demolishing historic community and racial landmarks in attempts to remove blight from the neighborhood. Excavations at the Women’s Club therefore sought more information on the material conditions of tenancy and the ways in which community can exist even without home-ownership. The most promising archaeological materials for addressing these questions at the Women’s Club are a nineteenth-century kitchen used by both enslaved and free cooks and a sheet midden created by the several families renting the property from 1891-1946.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing at the John Brice II House (18AP53), 195 Prince George Street, Annapolis, Maryland, 2013
    (2014) Deeley, Kathryn H.; Leone, Mark P.
    This report details the second archaeological excavation that took place at 195 Prince George Street, known as the John Brice II House or the Judge John Brice House. This two-story brick dwelling built by John Brice II is considered by some as a forerunner to the elaborate colonial homes built in Annapolis during the mid- to late-18th century. John Brice II was a public servant and also ran a small store in Annapolis. His family owned and lived in the property until the mid-19th century. The Halligan-Adair family purchased the home in 1917 and continues to occupy the property today. The first season of archaeological excavations was in the fall of 1989, and is detailed in a report written by Julie Ernstein (1990). The second season of excavations took place as part of the University of Maryland Summer 2013 Field School in Urban Archaeology. As part of this season of excavation, 10 shovel test pits were dug at approximately 20 foot intervals across the front and back yards of the property. Four 5’ x 5’ excavation units were placed in the backyard of the property. Only one of these units was excavated to sterile soil. The remaining three were covered with plastic landscaping tarp before being backfilled so that excavation of these units could continue in the future. The preliminary excavations of the John Brice II House show three large scale yard modifications to the backyard landscape, each roughly corresponding with the change in property owners. The oldest levels recovered from the backyard contained a late 18th oyster shell path and associated garden bed that are likely evidence of the landscaping features of the Brice Family occupation of the property. The 19th century archaeological occupation levels indicate a reorientation of the backyard landscape, and several large features dating to this time period were discovered in the last week of excavation. Further research is required to determine the exact nature and relationships of these features. Continued excavations have the potential to reveal more information about the changes in the urban landscape of Annapolis from the 18th century to the 21st century as well as information about the lives of the families who occupied this property.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing at the James Holliday House on East Street (18AP116), Annapolis, Maryland, 2010-2012
    (2013) Deeley, Kathryn H.; Leone, Mark P.
    Archaeological excavations at 99 East Street began in December 2009, with two shovel test pits dug to determine if the stratigraphy was intact at the site. Preliminary analyses concluded that the site was archaeologically intact, with materials found at least two feet below the surface and intact layers of deposition. In June 2010, more intensive excavations began as part of the University of Maryland Field School in Urban Archaeology, and continued until June 18. Two large, deep units (5’x5’ squares) were excavated in the backyard of 99 East Street and produced thousands of artifacts, including buttons, broken dishes, whole bottles, and a very large number of food bones, which were processed, cataloged and analyzed in the Archaeology in Annapolis Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park. In June 2011, three additional units were placed at the site, two 4’ x 5’ units in the backyard and a 5’ x 5’ unit in the basement of the house. These three units produced over ten thousand artifacts, including animal bones, glass bottles, broken dishes, dozens of buttons, marbles, a Spanish coin, and a corroded gun. These artifacts were processed, cataloged and analyzed in the Archaeology in Annapolis Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park. Finally, in the June 2012, three final units were placed at the site, one 5’ x 5’ unit in the basement, one 4’ x 4’ unit in the basement, and one 4’ x 4’ unit in the backyard. Over five thousand artifacts were recovered in these three units, including glass bottles, broken dishes, assorted buttons, marbles, slate pencils, straight pins, thimbles, animal bones, a redware tobacco pipe bowl, and a wooden lice comb. These artifacts were catalogued and are currently being analyzed in the Archaeology in Annapolis Laboratory. These many thousands of artifacts will identify how the Holliday family lived their daily life, showing what the Holliday family ate, how they were eating their food, and what they threw away or lost. Excavations at 99 East Street will continue for an additional summer season of excavation, which will help provide even more information about how the Holliday family saw themselves, the extent of their ties to the Naval Academy and how they negotiated their way around racism in Annapolis.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing of the Hothouse Structure (18TA314), Talbot County, Maryland
    (2013) Pruitt, Beth; Leone, Mark P.
    This report contains the results of the Phase II Archaeological Testing of the Wye House Hothouse Structure (18TA314). It is divided into the following sections: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Research Design and Methodology Chapter 3: Cultural Context and Historical Background Chapter 4: Previous Archaeological Investigations and Significant Architectural Structures Chapter 5: Archaeology and Interpretations Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations Chapter 1 of this report is an introduction to the Hothouse excavation in May 2012. Included within in this chapter are the dates of fieldwork, laboratory processing and analyses, as well as the identification of key project staff. Chapter 2 of this report details the project’s research design and methodology. Included within this chapter are the method employed during the research process of locating the structures, excavation, pollen sample recovery, and laboratory processing. In addition, this chapter lists the research questions that guided this fieldwork. Chapter 3 of this report details the cultural context and historical background of the Wye House Plantation, particularly surrounding the standing Greenhouse. Included within this chapter is a short history of the Wye House Plantation, scientific gardening, and a contextualization for understanding West African spirit practices. Chapter 4 of this report details reported archaeological excavations at the Wye House Plantation, particularly surrounding the standing Greenhouse. Chapter 5 of this report details the results of archaeological testing conducted at the Hothouse structure in May 2012. Included within this chapter is an account of stratigraphic layers, features, and significant artifacts encountered within individual test units. Also included within this chapter are interpretations of layers, features, and artifacts. Chapter 6 of this report details the conclusions based on the data recovered from these excavations and recommendations for further investigations.
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    Site Report for Phase III Archaeological Investigations at Reynolds Tavern (18AP23), 4 Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland. 1982-1984
    (2013) Markert, Patricia G.; Cuddy, Thomas W.; Leone, Mark P.
    This report details the archaeology completed at Reynolds Tavern in the years 1982,1983, and 1984. It was completed in 2013, nearly 30 years after the excavation took place, using archival materials such as the draft interim reports, unit summary forms, original notes and photographs which are currently stored in the University Archives at Hornbake Library, at the University of Maryland, College Park. This report has been a collaboration across time and space, drawing from preliminary reports written by Anne Yenstch and Susan Mira in 1982 and Joe Dent and Beth Ford in 1983, as well as original notes from students of the field schools held there during those years, various analyses by scholars from many universities (including the University of Maryland, University of Georgia, and the College of William and Mary), and historical research by Nancy Baker. Thomas Cuddy began the writing of this report in 2002, completing the first three chapters in addition to the artifact analysis that led to the postexcavation identification of the African bundles in the Reynolds Tavern basement. This remarkable discovery was made along with Mark Leone of the University of Maryland, founder and director of Archaeology in Annapolis, who also served as the Principle Investigator during all three years of the Reynolds Tavern excavations. Dr. Leone contributed the fifth and final chapter to this report, the Conclusions and Recommendations, during its final compilation in 2013. The final report, including the fourth chapter on the archaeology itself, was written in part and compiled by Patricia Markert of the University of Maryland in the spring of 2013. Reynolds Tavern has been part of the landscape of Annapolis for two-hundred and fifty five years (at the time of the publication of this report). It sits on Church Circle facing St. Anne’s Church, and is a beautiful example of 18th century Georgian architecture as well one of the defining features of Historic Annapolis today. It currently operates as a popular restaurant and pub, but has served variously as a hat shop, a tavern, an inn, a library and a bank over time, among other things. Its long history contributes to its significance as an archaeological site, and also as a historic marker in present day Annapolis. The archaeology conducted at Reynolds Tavern shed light on life in 18th and 19th century Annapolis, illuminating details of the occupants’ lives through the material traces they left behind. These include an 18th century cobblestone road that ran diagonally through the Tavern’s yard, telling of the movement through early Annapolis; a large and intact well, which was found ii to contain a 19 foot wooden pipe; a large, ovular privy containing many of the objects used on a day to day basis at the Tavern or the structures around it; a subterranean brick storage feature in the basement of the Tavern, which may have been used by Reynolds during his days operating a hat shop; and also in the basement, two African caches of objects, providing a glimpse into West African spiritual practices alive in historic Annapolis and the presence of African American individuals at the Tavern in the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this report is to detail these archaeological investigations and their findings, so that a public record will be available and the archaeology completed at Reynolds Tavern can continue to contribute to the history of Annapolis.
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    Phase I and II Archaeological Testing at 321 and 323 South Street, Easton Maryland, Home of the Family of the Buffalo Soldier, 2012
    (2013) Jenkins, Tracy H.; Skolnik, Benjamin A.; Leone, Mark P.
    The University of Maryland, College Park, Archaeology in Annapolis Project, conducted Phase I and II archaeological excavations of the property in Easton, Maryland, known as the Home of the Family of the Buffalo Soldier (HFBS) from July 9th through July 20th 2012. The Housing Authority of the Town of Easton owns this property, located at 323 South St., and excavations were conducted at the request of Historic Easton, Inc., with the Housing Authority’s permission, and forms a part of The Hill Project to document and publicize the history of the Easton neighborhood known as The Hill, which has been home to a community of free African Americans since the late eighteenth century. This first excavation within The Hill Project successfully tested the potential for research archaeology to serve the interests of The Hill’s resident and descendant communities, and excavation at the HFBS contributed to The Hill Project’s ongoing historic preservation and community revitalization efforts. Four shovel test pits (STPs) and three 5’x5’ test units were excavated in yard spaces. The Hill’s free black community dates to the late eighteenth century. However, documentary and oral history indicated that the standing built environment at the HFBS dated only to the period of the first African American owners of the site, from ca. 1879. Shedding light on the development of the community through time, archaeological remains documented at the site suggest that this period was the first inhabitation of the property, despite the inhabitation of other properties nearby for the one hundred years prior. They indicate that much yard space has been used in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries for activities including gardening, play, and trash disposal. Two US Army buttons from ca. 1900 support the site’s association with Buffalo Soldier William Gardner and his family, who curated his discharge papers in the house. The site remained open to the general public during excavation and was actively interpreted to site visitors. During and since the excavation, the HFBS has received many visitors, including many Hill residents, and has attracted much news interest. As of the summer of 2013, it has been included in regular walking tours of The Hill’s historical heritage. The excavations determined that the archaeological record at the HFBS, and likely across The Hill, is quite intact and can support active research. Both the HFBS and The Hill are therefore eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under criterion D. Because of the integrity and uniqueness of the archaeological record at the HFBS, we recommend that the site be protected for further archaeological research. However, since the communities’ interest in researching the origins and early development of the free African American community that existed on The Hill during the time of slavery can be more effectively addressed elsewhere in the neighborhood, we recommend that excavation at the HFBS be a secondary priority for archaeologists for the present.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing at 49 Pinkney Street (18AP119), Annapolis, Maryland, 2011
    (2011) Deeley, Kathryn H.; Leone, Mark P.
    Archaeological excavations at 49 Pinkney Street began in June 2011 intensive excavations began as part of the University of Maryland Field School in Urban Archaeology. Two large, deep units, one five feet by four feet and one five feet by five feet, were excavated in the backyard of 49 Pinkney Street and produced thousands of artifacts, including broken dishes, bottles, corroded metal objects, including nails, and a large number of food bones. These artifacts were processed, cataloged and analyzed in the Archaeology in Annapolis Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park. The data from the excavations are being written up by Kathryn Deeley,a PhD student at the University of Maryland, Department of Anthropology. These many thousands of artifacts will identify the items that were consumed and discarded by predominantly African American working families. The connections between these families are examined, and the materials recovered are studied to determine if the various different communities that lived at this site, including white, black, and Filipino, are visible archaeologically.